Recently, the International Association for the Advancement of Space Safety released a report warning that we’ve reached a critical level of orbiting space garbage, and to ignore the problem will lead to a catastrophe. Around 20 countries are now capable of launching objects into space, and most of them have lax safety protocols. Currently, satellites in geostationary orbit are supposed to be moved farther into space after they are retired, but not too surprisingly, that doesn’t always happen. In fact, it’s more common for these regulations to be ignored than adhered to.

“Failure to act now to regulate space to protect property and human life would be pure folly,” says the association's director, Tommaso Sgobba. Professor Richard Crowther, representing the UK at a UN space safety meeting in Vienna, agrees. “Eventually binding international civil aviation style laws will have to come,” he said at the meeting.

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http://www.dailygalaxy.com/my_weblog/2008/02/our-extraterres.html