That kind of space war would impose especially heavy costs on the U.S., because each such explosion creates debris that will linger forever — including the millions of pieces left over from that Chinese test. Even small pieces of matter traveling at 17,000 mph can do serious harm to the satellites that the United States so relies on. For example, a fleck of paint the size of a thumbnail once hit the 6-inch-thick windshield of one of NASA's space shuttles and went about 3 inches into the glass, an Air Force official said.
No way exists to clear away the lethal clouds of space junk that a shooting war would create.
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