How bad will the Space Junk problem get?

See:

http://www.spacedaily.com/news/spacetravel-04i.html

and

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/02/06/science/space/06orbi.html?

How bad will the space junk problem get?

Will Earth orbit become too dangerous for manned Spacecraft?

Will future satellites have to be armored in order to survive?

Is there any practical way to clean up the mess up there?

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