What do we know?
Thespace station crew has already had to shelterin place as they passed near the debris cloud.
Many anti-satellite weapons are missiles launched from the ground, like this U.S. ASM-135 ASAT.
Whats an anti-satellite weapon?
The one that Russia just tested is known as adirect ascent kinetic anti-satellite weapon.
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Space agencies have beendeveloping and testing anti-satellite weaponssince the 1960s.
Regardless of the cause, space debris is a serious problem.
Even small debris can still pose a major threat though.
Space debrisis often traveling faster than 17,000 mpharound the Earth.
At that speed, pieces of debris could destroy any spacecraft or satellite it collided with.
In the 1980s,a Soviet satellite broke upas a result of a suspected debris strike.
More worrisome is the danger debris poses to crewed space missions.
Space debris is also a significant threat to people on Earth.
Satellites play a vital role in the global economy through GPS, communications and weather data.
If services such as these were disrupted, there would besignificant economic cost.
One study found that a GPS outage couldcost the U.S. up to $1 billion a day.
The amount of space debris has only increased over time.
More collisions might then leave certain orbits completely unusable.
What to do now?
In the long run,experts recommendworking on global solutions to remove debris.
This includes taking measures to prevent debris in the first place and removing debris that is already in space.
Remediation is a tougher challenge.
Despite the difficulties, there is growing international recognition that space debris is a dangerous problem.
A consortium of private companies recently created theNet Zero Space charterto reduce debris, and theU.S.
Space Force is looking for waysto combat the problem as well.
