Space junk is a problem, too (as if I didn't know)

I write a lot about climate change in this blog, and that's because I'm an employee of and a proponent for the nuclear power community.  But climate change is not the only human-caused problem I keep track of.  Another major and growing problem, with similar mitigation difficulties, is space debris, aka space junk.  If one checks back at my undangerous 2013 predictions, I predict that there will be a major space junk or satellite collision this year.   My odds of this prediction being right go up every year (as I said). 

This new article from Space.com by Leonard David is a very good discussion of how bad the problem is getting, and how little we might be able to do it about it.

Space junk menace:  how to deal with orbital debris

"NASA and the international community, Kessler said, "have already done enough research to know that the environment will continue to get worse if we continue on the same path … the only environmental issue to be resolved is how quickly the environment in various regions deteriorates."

.....

However, Kessler said that current mitigation practices are insufficient, even with 100 percent compliance. Missing in action is a plan to determine what do about the predicted worsening space environment, he said — that is, how to stop or reverse the trend of increased debris resulting from increased collisions."

One idea:

Unfortunately we don't have any Space Shuttles working any more, so this idea won't fly.