Space crash and debris called 'catastrophic'

U.S. and Russian satellites collided 800 km above Earth, generating debris that could damage or even destroy other satellites.  Tuesday’s smashup of a derelict Russian military satellite and a working U.S. commercial satellite occurred in the busiest part of near-Earth space. David Wright of the Ploughshares-funded Union of Concerned Scientists’ Global Security likened the debris to "a shotgun blast that threatens other satellites in the region." He said the two large debris clouds will spread, forming a shell around Earth. MIT physicist Geoffrey Forden at the American Physical Science conference last April said, "We are in danger of a runaway escalation of space debris." There is currently no global air traffic control system tracking the position of all satellites.