Needles in a Haystack

(SFX: 2001 music? space invaders)
     IN THE OLD VIDEO GAME SPACE INVADERS YOU HAD TO MANEUVER YOUR SPACE
SHIP AROUND THE INCOMING MISSILES OF AN ATTACKING FLEET OF ALIEN SHIPS.  IN REAL
LIFE, OF COURSE, THE SPACE SHUTTLE DOESN'T HAVE TO DODGE BULLETS. . .IT HAS TO
DODGE EVERYTHING.  AFTER FOURTY YEARS  OF SPACE ACTIVITIES THERE ARE TENS OF
THOUSANDS OF BITS AND PIECES CIRCLING THE EARTH, SAYS PHYSICIST ISRAEL KUPIEC AT
THE MASSACHUSETTS INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY.

     KUPIEC: "there is more man made debris in space than in natural meteorites and it
is a distribution of many sizes, it comes in big sizes, big chunks of metal. . . all the way from
the size of many feet to the size of half an inch and even smaller than that." (70;Xs)

     EVEN THE LITTLE PIECES CAN DO GREAT DAMAGE SINCE THEY ARE TRAVELLING SO
INCREDIBLY FAST.  

     KUPIEC: "It's not like you're moving in a car, you're movinat at an immense speed
and its a small half inch alumnium piece with such a speed is equivalent to a big truck at
60 miles an hour so it can cause a lot of damage." 

     SO KUPIEC IS IN CHARGE OF SOMETHING CALLED HAYSTACK RADAR--A TELESCOPE
SO POWERFUL IT CAN DO BETTER THAN FINDING A NEEDLE IN A HAYSTACK, IT CAN FIND A
NEEDLE IN OUTERSPACE.  

     KUPIEC: "it can detect a half an inch pieve of metal all the way up to 1400
kilometers altitude."

     IN THE ULTIMATE GAME OF SPACE INVADERS, KUPIECS USES THE HAYSTACK RADAR
TO TRACKS SOME 7000 BITS OF DEBRIS FLOATING AROUND IN SPACE, TO PROTECT THE
SHUTTLE, COMMUNICATIONS SATTELITE AND THE LARGEST OF ALL--THE PROPOSED SPACE
STATION IS PARTICULARLY VULNERABLE.