After the collision of two polar-orbit satellites this week, it is worth the time to take a look at just how crowded the ‘technosphere’ is getting. This graphic presents an interesting perspective of the situation. But, in reality, if the the relative size of satellites in this picture were in the same scale as the planet, none of them would occupy even a single pixel – that is to say, they would be invisible. Click for large image.
From today’s NASA Image of the Day:
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
Last month, we finally had our landline telephone service discontinued. I called AT&T to inform them that their services were no longer needed since we each now have a personal wireless device that does everything (and much more) than their service can provide. 
I had been wanting to make the readout of the hit counter on the “Never Forget” tribute a dynamically-updated widget, so I went to work and made it happen. Now, when you look at the tribute statistics in the sidebar, you will see the counter update in (more or less) real-time as the tribute is served up to yet another website. The rate at which it increments is higher during day and evening hours in the U.S., so I presume most of the people seeing it are in the western hemisphere. 
