According to a report released by the US Congressional Research Service this month, running into even a small piece of junk can be disastrous. An object 10 centimetres across could "catastrophically damage a typical satellite", it says. One just 1 centimetre across could disable a spacecraft.
The worst-case scenario is the Kessler syndrome, proposed by astrophysicist Donald Kessler in the 1970s. Too much trash, he warned, and the pieces would collide with each other, resulting in more and more debris .... http://www.newscientist.com
