Compared to the cost of losing a satellite or a shuttle to space debris impact, "this looks like a bargain, " says Dr. Campbell, who works at NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Ala.

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One can imagine how 40 tons of neighboring debris might impact his bottom line and hinder other potential business investment in the area.

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The clay layer that formed from fallout of the impact debris was globally distributed.

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First, the surviving debris from the devastating impact has the same composition as Baptistina and her offspring.

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Experts focused on two main areas - containing the blast impact and reducing debris which maims and kills.

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Across the island in David Hyrenbach's lab, the impact of plastic debris is apparent among the animal species he studies: birds.

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Our correspondent said the plane broke up on impact, scattering debris and passengers' belongings across an area the size of a football pitch.

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Jantz has been studying the impact of marine debris in fish.

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Each impact is accompanied by a flash and a geyser of debris.

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The impact sites show that the spacecraft kicked up fields of dark debris as they slammed into the lunar soil.

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