Here's a grim question for all of you...
what happens in 2005 (or somesuch year) when a flying piece of space debris,
a loose wrench from an old repair job, a rocket stage, or any other of the
1000s of pieces of space junk floating around up there impacts with the ISS?
The more activity up there, the more the odds increase that there's going to
be a disaster, probably involving loss of life. The 'conquest of space' has
hardly even begun yet. In comparative terms to the Age of Discovery, we've
just reached the Azores to date. Taking our little 'space caravels' all the
way to Mars or Jupiter will be the real test.
Incidentally, about 5 years ago, there was a news report in the Economist
about how a French communications satellite was impacted by a piece of space
junk; it was a total loss. So, the orbital paths are already starting to
intersect.
Quite frankly, I was surprised Saddam Hussein back in 1991, didn't simply
fill his Scud warheads with sand or ball-bearings, shoot them up into near
space, and explode them. Space technology is a terribly fragile thing, and
very expensive.
-- JH Byrne, contentious as ever
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