Satellite collision creates copious space junk

Space weapons are dangerous - but out-of-control, defunct satellites can do just as much damage, if not more.

So says a leading space scientist who has calculated that Tuesday's collision between an Iridium communications satellite and the defunct Soviet-era Cosmos 2251 spacecraft expended a great deal more destructive energy than China's infamous anti-satellite missile test did in January 2007. The detritus could potentially hit a number of Earth observation, communication, and scientific satellites. If that happened, the satellite it struck could itself break up, creating ever more space junk in a cascade effect.

I really wonder if it was accidental or if Russia was testing if it could use a defunct satellite as a space weapon.