How dangerous is space debris?

The answer

There are over 36,000 tracked objects larger than 10 cm orbiting Earth, and an estimated 130 million particles between 1 mm and 1 cm - each traveling at about 28,000 km/h. At this speed, even a fleck of paint carries the energy of a bullet. The ISS regularly performs debris avoidance maneuvers, and its windows have been damaged by tiny particles. The growing problem, known as Kessler syndrome, warns that cascading collisions could eventually create a dense shell of debris making certain orbits unusable. SpaceX's Starlink and other mega-constellations have intensified concerns about orbital congestion.