a) the threat from near-earth asteroids
b) the threat to spacefaring enterprises from space debris.
First, the NEO:
"ASTEROID NEAR MISS: On Nov. 6th at 2132 UT, asteroid 2009 VA barely missed Earth when it flew just 14,000 km above the planet's surface. That's well inside the "Clarke Belt" of geosynchronous satellites. If it had hit, the ~6-meter wide space rock would have disintegrated in the atmosphere as a spectacular fireball, causing no significant damage to the ground. 2009 VA was discovered just 15 hours before closest approach by astronomers working at the Catalina Sky Survey."
Second, the space debris:
'Space Crashes To Boom As Debris Soars'
"It's all about speed," Dr Lewis said. "For things to be in orbit, typically they are moving at speeds of around 7.5 km per second - that's relative speed of 15 km per second for things heading towards each other. "So you only need something the size of a marble to completely destroy a spacecraft."
More:
The high price of avoiding space junk
Space debris to threaten future launches
Job growth field: Satellite collision avoidance forecasters and satellite collision avoidance maneuver engineers
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