I’ve heard this too. Fortunately, most of it is traveling in the same direction at similar velocity. But as you say, there is a lot of energy in an orbital object and under certain circumstances it can prove catastrophic. There’s a lot of room for separation up there.I remember reading a SF book many years ago (can't remember the title or much of the details) but what I do remember was that earth could no longer put satellites into space because of all the space junk up there. I think Elon Musk has plans to put hundreds (perhaps thousands) of mini satellites up there, several other companies are planning the same thing.
There is a base somewhere in the USA that tracks all the various stuff in orbit around us and warns satellite operators when there is likely to be a collision. The thing is they can only track items over a certain size, so the more stuff that's put up there the more chance of collisions and if there is a collision, hundreds or thousands of new dangerous items are created. The amount of items they keep a check on is increasing as a phenomenal rate.
Many people don't realise that a fleck of paint traveling at orbital speed can do as much or more damage as a bullet from a gun. I don't know how many years it will take, but if we carry on at our current rate of putting things into space then the chances of what I read in that SF book all those years ago coming to pass are extremely likely.
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