A new way to launch microsatellites and space payloads is on the horizon. Boeing is working with the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) to produce this innovative 24-foot (7.3-meter) launch vehicle and conduct flight testing. Source: Boeing Inc.
A 21st Century Collision Course In Space -- CNBC
In 2007, China sent a ballistic missile arcing into space on a collision course with one of its own defunct satellites, destroying its orbital target. The U.S. responded in kind the following year, using a ship-based missile to knock one of its own malfunctioning satellites out of the sky.
The Pentagon colored its anti-satellite mission as a means to disperse the satellite's supply of toxic propellant before it de-orbited and crashed to Earth, and while that might be partially true, the launch also provided important radar and targeting data that will help the DoD monitor (and potentially target) space objects in the future. It also sent a strong message. Both exercises were demonstrations of military capabilities that reach into space, where a new game of strategic and technological one-upmanship is just beginning to unfold.
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My Comment: As costs go down I do expect more payloads being launched ....and yes .... the possibility of space getting over-crowded and collisions occurring on a regular basis will become the norm rather than the exception.
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