Watching Space Junk

Space debris in low Earth has recently begun to emerge as a serious problem for space operations, both manned and unmanned. The most recent demonstration of that potential involved ISS and STS-128.

A rather large piece of an Ariane 3 rocket launched in 2006 came within a mile of ISS this week. The shuttle is docked at ISS, and 13 people are currently in the complex. A mile might seem like a wide miss, but in orbital space, given the consequences of a collision, it's uncomfortably close. Add to that the fact that NASA had been monitoring that piece of space junk for several days and predicted it would miss ISS by two miles, and there may be even more cause for concern.

If humanity is serious about a future in space, before we get too carried away with Moon trips and Mars ships and space hotels, perhaps the governments of Earth should get together, bring in private industry, and find a way to deal with the problem of space debris in low Earth orbit before it causes a real disaster.