Free Astronomy Magazine November-December 2021

29 ASTRO PUBLISHING NOVEMBER-DECEMBER 2021 about half are inactive. If we add all the space junk down to the size of a few centimeters to these wrecks, we find that there are tens of thousands of potential projectiles capable of seriously compromising any type of space mission. In the ‘60s, space junk was not yet an obvious prob- lem, but it becomes one in the plot of “Conflict” when Straker realizes that aliens could use the wrecks to hide hostile devices, which they do in the episode. To avert the threat, a SHADO scout begins destroying the wrecks by blowing them up (naive