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 [2] of the Ploughshares-funded Union of Concerned Scientists’ Global Security [3] 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 [4] at the American Physical Science conference [5]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.
Links
[1] https://www.ploughshares.org/file/202
[2] http://ploughshares.org/expert.php?id=143
[3] http://www.ucsusa.org/nuclear_weapons_and_global_security/
[4] http://ploughshares.org/expert.php?id=182
[5] http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2009-02/12/content_10806956.htm
[6] http://news.bostonherald.com/news/international/general/view/2009_02_13_Space_crash_called__catastrophic___lots_of_debris/srvc=home&position=recent