A U.S. Defense Department report says tests of space-based missile interceptors that could take place beginning in 2012 will create debris that could threaten the international space station, space shuttles and satellites in low Earth orbit.
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Scientists warn that U.S. plans to deploy space based weapons and space based missile defense could create enough space debris to trap humans on earth indefinitely.
The U.S. plan to develop space-based missile defense systems could create a permanent halo of orbiting debris that will interfere with important scientific and communication satellites, according to Joel Primack, professor of physics at the University of California, Santa Cruz.