Space: The Trashed Frontier.

On any given day, the U.S. Strategic Command is tracking some 18,000 man-made objects that orbit our planet. These objects include spent booster rockets, satellites and the odd, 'misplaced' wrench, camera and other objects lost by clumsy astronauts. Combined, all of this astro-junk is estimated to weigh more than 11 million pounds. Since most of these objects travel at hypersonic speeds, the threat of one of them hitting a valuable national asset is a very real one.

That said, most men and women of science have dismissed the potential for collision so minuscule as to not be worthy of concern. When I hear such remarks I can't help be be reminded of the mindset of scientists who scoffed at concerns that we were polluting our watersheds and the air we breathe. Just like outer space, these earth-bound environments were thought to be too big for man to cause any real damage.

Well, two days ago the inevitable happened: two satellites - one American and the other Russian - collided in space. The resulting debris cloud has caused concern that fragments from the collision might impact the International Space Station. Major Regina Winchester, of the U.S. Strategic Command, commented that "Space is getting pretty crowded. The fact that this hasn't happened before -- maybe we were getting a little bit lucky."

No duh...you think?