“There are about 18,000 identifiable, man-made objects in space, including operational and defunct satellites, spent rocket boosters and debris. Experts said that while the risk of satellite collisions like Tuesday’s was exceptionally small, now one had occurred it made another more likely.

“The problem with collisions like this is that they don’t destroy satellites, they just create smaller ones, like fast moving shotguns, that are potentially much more damaging,” said Diego.

Andrew Brookes, an aerospace analyst at the International Institute for Strategic Studies, said the area where the collision occurred — called low-Earth orbit — was the most crowded portion of space and also one of the most important for sensitive communications, science and weather satellites.” via Reuters