It has been one year since China took aim on its own nearly one-ton meteorological satellite by way of an anti-satellite (ASAT).

That January 11, 2007 target practice spewed out a huge cloud of clutter - debris that remains a troublesome problem for operating satellites, as well as the International Space Station. Odds are that somebody’s satellite is due for a whacking - if it hasn’t already taken place.

The destruction of the eight-year-old Fengyun-1C spacecraft by a direct-ascent rocket shot from China peppered low Earth orbit with the largest amount of human-made debris in space history.

But there’s new news to report.

NASA research by orbital debris experts now peg the number of fragments created by the ASAT shot as far higher than first reported - something like 150,000 or more bits of high-speed shrapnel that are one-centimeter and larger were created.

Furthermore, space debris authorities are puzzled at that number. It far exceeds all the fancy computer models used to gauge spacecraft breakups.

No word yet on any littering ticket issued to the Chinese. Where are the space cops when you need them?