Beaming up?   Better wear your space helmet.

Space is commonly thought of as a vast emptiness. Stars, planets, asteroids and gaseous clouds are contained within this vast void. And this is a correct view of most of space. But did you know that within the part of space known as near earth orbit there is a lot more stuff in space? It's man-made junk. Billions--BILLIONS--of pieces of old space ships, satellites, rockets are right now orbiting the earth at speeds between about 20,000 and 25,000 miles per hour, at altitudes from hundreds of miles to many thousands of miles around and above the earth. What does this mean?

A BB-sized piece of aluminum hurtling around the earth at 22,000 miles per hour has about as much kinetic energy as a bowling ball does at 60 miles an hour. In other words, if a BB-sized piece of aluminum strikes the space shuttle from a perpendicular direction, that is, comes in from the side, it will have the same force as a bowling ball would if dropped on the space shuttle from about 100 feet high. If the BB-sized piece of aluminum collides head-on with the space shuttle, the effect would be much, much worse.

The above is from a transcript of a talk given by Russell D. Hoffman on his radio show HIGH TECH TODAY.  The entire transcript can be found at Animated Software's STOP CASSINI WEB SITE.

Bibliography compiled by Mr. Hoffman:

REPORT ON ORBITAL DEBRIS:  by Interagency Group(Space) for National Security Council, Wash. DC., 1989. This report can and should be ordered and read by everyone. To request a copy, contact: Freedom of Information Act Officer, NASA, Washington D.C. 20546

JUNK COULD CREATE ORBITAL CHAOS, by William J. Broad, New York Times News Service, 1994 (I'm unsure of the specific date of this report)

ORBITING JUNK IMPEDES MAN'S FUTURE IN SPACE, edited by Christopher Lloyd, The Sunday Times (London), August 21st, 1994

THE ORBITING JUNKYARD: Shuttle Endeavor's Near Miss With Abandoned Satellite Underscores Dangers of Space Debris, by Robert Lee Hotz, Times Science Writer, the LA Times, March 28th, 1996 Section "B"

SCIENCE FRONTIERS  
On June 3rd, 1996 on The Learning Channel (TLC) a report on the Space Shuttle included a strong comment about the dangers of space debris!  Hoo-ray!