It's a worst case scenario - a piece of space junk obliterates a satellite, creating an avalanche of junk that wipes out more satellites until they're all gone.
There'd be no weather, communication, navigation or spy satellites in Earth's orbit.
Dr Ben Greene says NASA and all major space agencies believe there is a reasonable risk of this occurring within 15 years.
"It could happen tomorrow. It's unlikely but it could. It is a race against time for us to get a solution," he said.
Part of the solution is a new agreement between Dr Greene's company Electro-Optic Systems (EOS) and aerospace firm Lockheed Martin to develop a new network to track space junk.
With a global system of sensors, initially at EOS at Mount Stromlo, Canberra, and a new facility in Western Australia, operators can be informed of the risk of damage from space debris so they can move satellites.
"The fundamental purpose is to move satellites that are most at risk," he said.
That risk is significant.
After half a century of space travel, there are some 300,000 bits of space junk one-centimetre or larger, regarded as big enough to destroy the function of a satellite.
"At some point when there is too much debris, it creates an avalanche of collisions pretty much like you saw in the film Gravity," he said.
"If you modelled it realistically, from when the avalanche starts to when all the satellites are gone, would probably take weeks. You would lose everything."
EOS has been working on space junk for years, investing $80 million in developing laser and optical tracking systems.
Step one, covering the next five to six years, is to track the debris with EOS technology in combination with other systems such as the US Air Force Space Fence Radar, Dr Greene said.
Step two will be an orbital clean-up, involving space missions to remove dead satellites.
New technology likely in five to seven years would use ground-based lasers to nudge smaller objects into lower orbits so they burn up in the atmosphere.
"We consider the strategic partnership with Lockheed Martin a major step towards the achievement of critical mass of sensors, data and services," Dr Greens said.
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