High-flying chunks of junk brought about by China’s January 11 anti-satellite (ASAT) test now total 1,344 pieces of space debris as of March 9 - a count that continues to climb.

While a few bits of ASAT-produced clutter from destroying their own old weather satellite have already reentered the Earth’s atmosphere, the Chinese target practice is rated as the largest debris-generating event in space history.

“Platforms costing billions of dollars to replace and the lives of astronauts from many nations are now at risk from debris left by China’s recent ill-advised antisatellite test,” General James Cartwright, head of the U.S. Strategic Command noted in testimony before a recent congressional hearing of the House Armed Services Strategic Forces Subcommittee.

Meanwhile, a subcommittee of the United Nations Committee on the Peaceful Uses of Outer Space (COPUOS) — or is it the Useless Pieces of Outer Space? — adopted by consensus last month a set of space debris mitigation guidelines - the product of a multi-year effort. The full UN COPUOS is expected to approve the guidelines at its next meeting in June.