U.S. official: Chinese test missile obliterates satellite

[tw]

Originally Posted by Griff

They will snowball as debris takes out satellites, creating more debris, taking out more satellites... Basically the human race is trapping itself on earth. We need a clean up effort.

Dwayne Hickman (aka Dobie Gillis) did a TV show where he was captain of a spaceship that collected garbage. The show was far fetched. The concept not so absurd considering how legal it is to fill space with debris.

The collision of two spacecraft means debris has been ejected in numerous other directions. These two spacecraft apparently struck at right angles to each other. Debris is a threat to every other spacecraft, in part, because nobody knows yet where some of it has been redirected.