White Yeti's Journal: Solar Cycle 24

It looks like most (though not all) sources are leaning toward the next solar cycle being a low one. This would leave more space junk in orbit than previously predicted. New Scientist has an article about the subject, based on an upcoming conference paper from NASA. (They mention the Chinese ASAT debris more than once, but that's just a high-profile example.) Long time scales are important because NASA likes to plan things out 25 years, and predict the debris environment out 100 years.

As usual with predictions, not everyone agrees. The regular NOAA prediction always gives both high and low values. I love the quote, "We're expecting the Sun will resolve it before the end of this year."