Space junk! Is there no limit to mankind's pollution.

300,000 dangerous objects! The technology to detect and track debris is amazing and plans to clean them up with lasers equally so.

A time bomb waiting to do serious damage and I don't mean no more MTV from satellites though that may not be a bad idea. I can foresee the International Space Station being equipped with a killer laser with potential war application to kill military sats. All part of the plan?.

Below is excerpted from www.strategypage.com...

The U.S. is spending nearly a billion dollars a year in an attempt to better identify, and track, the larger, more lethal bits of space junk. Two years ago the U.S. Air Force put a special Space Based Space Surveillance system (SBSS) satellite into orbit. This $830 million system uses a satellite that contains a digital camera to take pictures of space debris, and make it easier to count and track the growing quantity of space junk up there. Getting a better and timelier look at space junk has become a priority.

The U.S. has proposed using a space based laser to destroy much of the space junk. The laser either vaporizes debris, or damages the larger bits so that its orbit "decays" and the junk moves down into the atmosphere and burns up. Many nations object to this proposal, as such a laser system could also be used as an anti-satellite weapon. However, if the growing swarm of space junk destroys lots more satellites, that attitude may change.

After over half a century of humans putting objects into orbit, there is a lot of junk circling the planet. Currently, over 300,000 dangerous objects 10 mm (.4 inch) in size have been identified. The smallest of these is capable of disabling a satellite, or damaging a spacecraft. The damage is severe because these objects can hit at very high speed (9-10 times faster than a bullet) if they, and their target, are coming from different directions. There are nearly 18,000 objects 10 centimeters (4 inches) or larger. These can do some catastrophic damage to satellites or spacecraft. There are millions of objects smaller than 10mm, and these are responsible for many satellites failing early because of cumulative damage from getting hit by lots of these micro objects.

The U.S. Air Force Space Surveillance Network tracks over 18,000 objects 10mm and larger, but cut back on information sharing eight years ago, for national security reasons. The United States eased up on this policy once the SBBS went into operation. With some 900 active satellites in orbit (nearly half of them American) there is a need to provide better tracking of dangerous space junk. About 75 percent of all satellites are non-military (most of them commercial, the rest government non-military birds.) With SBBS, the U.S. will be much better able to protect its satellites from the growing debris menace. Other nations, particularly American allies, will want the same degree of safety.

Originally posted by oghamxx
300,000 dangerous objects! The technology to detect and track debris is amazing and plans to clean them up with lasers equally so.
...
The U.S. has proposed using a space based laser to destroy much of the space junk. The laser either vaporizes debris, or damages the larger bits so that its orbit "decays" and the junk moves down into the atmosphere and burns up.

What happens when micro-aliens come up against our "orbital defense system"? Do they assume we are aggressors and go to war with us?

It's not stopping there.

The moon is already littered with junk, from landings and crashes.

wiki.answers.com...

But don't worry there are still plenty of planets left in our solar system, which we havn't polluted yet

what if... some government sent a rocket into space and detonated a bomb with a billion metal ball bearings out where all our satilites orbit....

could stop all those pesky aliens

Reminds me of a science fiction book I once read by Frederik Pohl called "Homecoming",

Homecoming

Here's part of the review and why this thread reminded me of it:

Confident, natty medium-future alien-contact yarn from the veteran editor/writer (most recently The Day the Martians Came). A spaceship of the Hakh'hli, kangaroo-like high-gravity aliens, heads towards Earth; aboard, the Hakh'hli Major Seniors prepare a group of youngsters to make human contact. Among the group is Lysander "Sandy" Washington, a human bred and raised by the Hakh'hli--whose odd view of Earth derives largely from old TV programs. (About 50 years ago, the broadcasts ceased, as Star Wars broke out on and above Earth. The upshot: a warmer climate with drowned coastlines and hurricanes roaming Alaska; a population reduced by nine-tenths; and space above Earth filled with deadly orbiting junk, frustrating the survivors' attempts to return into space.)