Word: earth
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...ever walked through a swarm of gnats at a picnic, you have some idea of what it's like to navigate the mass of debris that circles our planet in low-Earth orbit. Space planners have long warned that the growing belt of cosmic junk would eventually lead to collisions, and on Tuesday it happened, when an American satellite and a defunct Russian satellite totaled each other 500 miles above Siberia. This has sparked new worries that space is simply becoming too dangerous a place to travel. Things aren't nearly that severe yet - but they're getting worse...
...even a small satellite into orbit, after all, much more than just the satellite comes along for the ride. There are spent booster stages, discarded adapter rings, bolts and panels and bits of insulation and even chips of paint being shed in the process. (See pictures of Earth from space...
...consortium of government organizations including NASA, NORAD and even the FCC keeps track of all the planet's high-flying rubbish, and so far, its running count is flat-out scary. There are currently at least 17,000 objects measuring 4 in. or greater circling the Earth - and in some ways, that's the good news. The government estimates that there are 200,000 objects in the 1-in.-to-3-in. range and tens of millions smaller than an inch...
...think those tiny pieces of junk can't do much harm, think again. According to a back-of-the-envelope rule the Apollo astronauts used, given the speeds involved in traveling in low-Earth orbit, a one-tenth-in. bit of chaff would collide with an oncoming spacecraft with as much force as a bowling ball traveling 60 m.p.h...
...slowly building in tempo, to drill her message of rejection into the clueless head of an unwanted suitor. At the same time, though, she cleverly unravels admissions of ways in which she’s led the poor guy on, making her repeated question “How on earth could I be any more obvious?” an ironic one. The song mocks immaturity on several levels and comes off as one of the strongest on the album.Allen’s confrontational candor makes several appearances on “It’s Not Me, It?...