Space junk threatens world peace

THAT might catch some attention.

Orbital Debris Threatens Peaceful Use of Space, Group Tells U.N.

In an address to the U.N.'s Committee on the Peaceful Uses of Outer Space, the Secure World Foundation – a non-profit organization committed to space sustainability – emphasized the importance of developing a legal framework and protocol for cooperating to address this problem.

Yet tensions between countries about the best way to deal with space junk could make a solution difficult, experts say.

"In order to keep the ability to work in space, we need to reduce as much as possible the amount of debris that we put in orbit," Secure World Foundation Executive Director Ray Williamson told SPACE.com. "The reason for that is that as we go to much higher-than-Earth altitudes, the debris tends to stay in space for many years. And if you go to 1,000 km [600 miles], when you get to those altitudes, debris in space stays for centuries."

Consider: if there's a collision involving a military satellite, accusations -- and attacks -- could fly.