Orbital Debris

[Gomanson]

The example given by the media during the last shuttle mission was that a puff of smoke in the path of the orbiting shuttle could destroy it. That could be an exageration but the point is well taken. Are we one low orbit explosion away from making a huge range of our orbital space uninhabitable? Are there any plans in the works for methods of "sweeping up" large areas of debris as we send more and more objects into orbit?