Kessler Syndrome is a search term for anyone curious to learn more about the problem of space junk. It is a hypothesis that suggests orbital debris could create cascading destruction that simultaneously destroys basically everything we have in orbit and creates a debris field dense enough that it would effectively cut ourselves off from orbital entirely. It's a proposed 'great filter' in the Fermi Paradox, suggesting that potentially advanced civilizations can inadvertently hamstring their ability to leave the planet because of this.

This is also, as an aside, why we should really want to avoid space-to-space combat.