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Unless space debris is actively tackled, some satellite orbits will become extremely hazardous over the next 200 years, a new study suggests. The research found that catastrophic collisions would likely occur every five to nine years at the altitudes used principally to observe the Earth. And the scientists who did the work say their results are optimistic - the real outcome would probably be far worse. To date, there have been just a handful of major collisions in the space age. The study was conducted for the Inter-Agency Space Debris Coordination Committee. This is the global forum through which world...

Multi-nation search for debris begins for failed North Korean rocket 4:33 AM, Apr 13, 2012 (CBS/AP) PYONGYANG, North Korea - North Korea's much-anticipated rocket launch ended quickly in an embarrassing failure early Friday, splintering into pieces over the Yellow Sea soon after takeoff and setting off an international search effort for the debris to gain insight into what went wrong and what rocket technology the country has. Within minutes of the early morning launch, the U.S. and South Korea declared it a failure. North Korea acknowledged that hours later in an announcement broadcast on state TV, saying the satellite had...

After raids, Wall Street protesters shift tacticsUpdated: Nov 30, 2011 4:37 PM EST By CHRIS HAWLEY Associated Press NEW YORK (AP) - The overnight police raids in Philadelphia and Los Angeles that dismantled two of the nation's biggest Occupy Wall Street encampments leave just a few major "occupations" still going on around the U.S. But activists are already changing tactics and warning of a winter of discontent, with rallies and marches every week. The camps may bloom again in the spring, organizers said, and next summer could bring huge demonstrations at the Republican and Democratic conventions, when the whole world...

Radiation fears behind debris refusals / Remaining refuse may cause secondary damage, hinder reconstruction efforts The Yomiuri Shimbun The start Wednesday of shipments of debris from the Great East Japan Earthquake to Tokyo, the first destination for such refuse outside the Tohoku region, was a long-awaited first step toward wider disposal of the wreckage. However, an Environment Ministry survey released Wednesday showed that only 54 local governments and garbage-disposal unions, less than 10 percent the figure in a previous survey, were considering accepting debris from disaster-hit areas. A huge quantity of debris remains in the devastated areas almost eight months...

A defunct German satellite is expected to fall to Earth this weekend, with experts predicting that up to 30 big pieces of the junked spacecraft could hit the planet. But exactly when and where the satellite will fall remains a mystery. The 2.7-ton Roentgen Satellite, or ROSAT, will likely plummet to Earth on Saturday or Sunday (Oct. 22 or 23), according to the latest update from the German Aerospace Center. "Currently, the re-entry date can only be calculated to within plus/minus one day," agency officials said in a statement. "This time slot of uncertainty will be reduced as the date...

Floating Japanese Boat Picked Up near Midway Islands Los Angeles, Oct. 14 (Jiji Press)--A Japanese fishing boat and other apparent tsunami debris have been found floating near the Midway Islands, northwest of Hawaii, a research center said Friday. The boat of about six meters long was found among an array of debris such as home appliances about 3,200 kilometers away from Japan on Sept. 22, about six months after the disaster, according to the University of Hawaii's International Pacific Research Center. The boat, picked up by a Russian ship while in training, had a Japanese word reading Fukushima written on...

March disaster debris may reach Hawaii next year US researchers say some of the huge amount of debris that has been drifting in the Pacific Ocean as a result of Japan's disaster in March may reach Hawaii next year. Nikolai Maximenko, senior researcher at the University of Hawaii's International Pacific Research Center, says a huge amount of debris was spotted by a Russian training ship heading for Vladivostok from Hawaii in late September. The debris was found in a wide area in the northern Pacific Ocean about 3,200 kilometers east of Japan and about 900 kilometers west of the Midway...

A dead climate satellite that has been circling Earth for 20 years will make a fiery death plunge this week, with some pieces of the 6 1/2 ton spacecraft expected to reach the surface of the planet, NASA officials say. The bus-size Upper Atmosphere Research Satellite, or UARS, will likely plummet down to Earth sometime around Friday (Sept. 23), according to NASA's latest projections. There is a 1-in-3,200 chance that UARS debris could hit a person, though NASA considers that scenario extremely remote. "Re-entry is expected Sept. 23, plus or minus a day," NASA officials wrote in an update posted...

NORMAN, Okla. — The power generated by a tornado is hard to wrap the mind around. They can scoop up entire houses and fling them thousands of feet. Big rigs are blown apart like papier mâché toy trucks, and even cows have been known to take a ride they didn’t sign up for. And with at least 10 souls lost to the tornadoes that ripped through central Oklahoma on Tuesday, they can be — and often are — deadly. Even though Norman and much of Cleveland County was spared during the outbreak Tuesday, it was affected in a different way....

Radioactive debris hampers efforts to cool reactor The operator of the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant is facing the new challenge of removal of highly radioactive debris in order to proceed with efforts to stabilize the Number 3 reactor. Tokyo Electric Power Company on Friday found debris releasing 1,000 millisieverts per hour in an area south of the Number 3 reactor building. It is the highest level of radiation found in debris left outside. Materials emitting 900 millisieverts of radiation per hour have also been found in the plant's compound. These materials are believed to be part of the large...

abc radio news top of the hour.. a field of debris up to a mile wide and 60 miles long spotted a number of miles out to sea.. I can believe it. The hugh assembly of debris includes houses, cars, trucks, boats, etc.

PITTSBURGH (Reuters) – An elderly man was killed when his home, piled high with debris, burst into flames and he was unable to escape through a crammed door, firefighters said on Thursday. Firefighters trying to battle the blaze pushed their way into the home jammed with pizza boxes and other detritus and found the body of John Rabusseau, 77, early Wednesday morning. "He was a hoarder, which they attribute to part of why he died because he couldn't get out the door," said Crystal Rosensteel, a records clerk at the Pittsburgh Bureau of Fire. "They actually had to force the...

KENNEDY SPACE CENTER, Fla. — As the space shuttle Endeavour lifted off into orbit Monday evening, several pieces of debris fell off the external fuel tank and at least one hit the orbiter.

Debris recovered from the Atlantic by Brazilian search teams does not come from a lost Air France jet, a Brazilian air force official has said. Brig Ramon Borges Cardoso contradicted earlier reports that debris had been found, saying "no material from the plane has been recovered". A wooden cargo pallet was taken from the sea, but the Airbus A330 had no wooden pallets on board. Relatives have been told that there is no hope of survivors being found. Air France chief executive Pierre-Henri Gourgeon and chairman Jean-Cyril Spinetta briefed the passengers' relatives in a hotel near Paris Charles de Gaulle...

Space Shuttle Damaged After Lift-Off Updated 2:47 PM EDT, Tue, 12, 20 May09 The space shuttle Atlantis suffered damage to the exterior two minutes after take-off. Astronauts discovered a 21-inch stretch of nicks over four or give of thermal times on the right side of Atlantis.

The Atlantis astronauts have uncovered a long stretch of nicks on their space shuttle, the result of launch debris. They were inspecting their ship Tuesday for signs of launch damage when they came across the nicks. Mission Control informed the crew that it's a 21-inch stretch of nicks over four to five thermal tiles on the right side of Atlantis. The damage is where the right wing joins the fuselage. Mission Control says it could be related to debris that came off the fuel tank almost two minutes after liftoff. NASA says the damage does not appear to be serious,...

N. Korea warns Japan against searching for rocket debris SEOUL, April 8 (Yonhap) -- North Korea's military warned Japan on Wednesday against trying to find debris from its long-range rocket, saying mobilizing combat ships for the search would be a "military provocation." The Japanese government was considering salvaging parts from the North Korean three-stage rocket, fired on Sunday, whose first-stage booster fell into the East Sea. A search would be a "vicious espionage, interference in internal affairs, and an unbearable military provocation that infringes upon the sovereign right of our republic," the General Staff of the North's Korean People's Army...

/begin my excerpts N. Korea: U.S. Searching for 82 Pieces of Payload Debris near Hawaii Munhwa Ilbo 04/07/09 U.S. and Japan are set out to recover N. Korean rocket (debris) that fell on Pacific. Koo Sang-chan, a lawmaker from (ruling) Hannara Party and a member of Diplomatic and Trade Affairs Committee at National Assembly, said during Apr. 7 question session to government, "(N. Korea's rocket payload) fell into sea 1,500 miles to the east of Hawaii in 82 pieces of debris, and U.S. Navy ships are now searching for them." Japanese Defense Ministry is also searching for first level booster...

The international space station's three crew members climbed into their Soyuz lifeboat as a "precautionary measure" while a tiny piece of space junk passed by today, NASA said. The space agency said the debris from a spent satellite rocket motor zipped past, apparently without causing damage, and the crew was given the all-clear to return to the station and resume normal operations.

US Strategic Command is still cataloguing debris from the Feb. 10th satellite collision over northern Siberia. "The count is now at 109 catalogued fragments for Iridium 33 and 245 for Kosmos 2251," says satellite observer Daniel Deak, who has prepared some 3D maps of the debris for readers of spaceweather.com. Click on the image to view a snapshot of Kosmos fragments on Feb 26th: (see the provided spaceweather.com link) A similar image shows Iridium 33 debris, and other views are available, too: #1, #2, #3, #4, #5. (see the provided spaceweather.com link) These maps reveal in full what earlier, less...