The collision between the commercial satellite, belonging to Iridium, and a defunct Russian satellite, was the first event of this kind, says Nicholas Johnson, chief scientist at the NASA Orbital Debris Program at Johnson Space Center in Houston. "In the past almost 20 years, there have been three other accidental collisions between objects in orbit, but they've all been very minor," Johnson says.
Judging by the enhanced graphic that is found on the right it's amazing something hasn't occurred sooner . . .maybe?
A Beehive of Satellites: The launch of the first artificial satellite by the then Soviet Union in 1957 marked the beginning of the utilization of space for science and commercial activity. During the Cold War, space was a prime area of competition between the Soviet Union and the U.S.
In 1964 the first TV satellite was launched into a geostationary orbit to transmit the Olympic games from Tokyo. Later, Russian launch activities declined while other nations set up their own space programs. Thus, the number of objects in Earth orbit has increased steadily -- by 200 per year on average.
The debris objects shown in the images are an artist's impression based on actual density data. However, the debris objects are shown at an exaggerated size to make them visible at the scale shown. Image Credit: European Space Agency