The biggest danger, however, comes from missiles and orbital projectiles that would effectively blow satellites up, since that kind of kinetic attack produces a swirling cloud of orbital debris that would fan out from the site of the strike, threatening other satellites with unplanned destruction. Accidental collisions with space junk already worry both the commercial and military sectors. There are currently nearly 15,000 operational satellites in Earth orbit, and up to 10,000 defunct ones, making for a lot of celestial traffic. Just as troubling, according to NASA’s Orbital Debris Program Office, there are an additional 500,000 objects…
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