Space traffic control
Space experts are hoping to avoid more satellite mayhem above our heads by introducing an air traffic system for orbiting chunks of metal.
Last year the dangers of the chaos around our planet was well illustrated when an American satellite collided with a Russian counterpart.
There are thought to be more than 19,000 pieces of debris larger than four inches across racing around the Earth at high speeds, while there are more than 500,000 bigger than a postage stamp.
The number of particles smaller than this are thought to exceed tens of millions.
Despite their relatively small size, most are travelling faster than 15,600mph and at these speeds a fleck of paint could do as much damage as a .22-calibre rifle bullet.
Growing numbers of satellites in orbit around the Earth have also made space a more hazardous place. Low orbits have now become so crowded with satellites that operators are regularly having to make emergency evasive manoeuvres to avoid collisions.
Officials are now proposing an international space traffic management system that will track and control the movements of spacecraft to ensure there are no accidents, much like air traffic control centres do with aircraft.
Currently the US is the only country with the ability to track satellites and debris in space, so other countries and satellite operators are reliant on the Americans alerting them to an impending threat.
The European Space Agency has already begun work on a new tracking system, the Space Situational Awareness Programme, that could form part of such an international space traffic control.
Weird Science Factoid: On average, when asked for a colour, three out of five people will say red. I say purple...
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Daniel Smith - a long time ago, in a galaxy far away just north of Watford, Daniel fancied himself as a scientist but turned out to be the worst scientist since that bloke who mapped out all those canals on Mars that turned out to be scratches on his telescope's lens. Luckily, he is now not working on the Large Hadron Collider inadvertently creating a black hole that would swallow the world but is safely behind a desk writing this blog, bringing you the fantastical underbelly of nature... weird science.
