Re: What are we going to do about all the space junk?

Spike Jones (spike66@ibm.net)
Mon, 19 Apr 1999 22:17:32 -0700

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> Danny Yavuzkurt wrote: [space junk]... this could be a serious
> obstacle to our
> >development as a space-faring species..
> Jonathan Reeves wrote:
> Absolutely.  And a waste of resources - we've spent a lot of money
> getting the stuff up there we might as well try and use it, rather
> than let it float around endangering shipping.
>
> Any ideas?

Many, just not necessarily practical ones. The problem is that everything is in different orbits. No one has figured out how to use a chunk of debris that flies past every once in a long while at several thousand meters per second. I had a notion at one time of trying to modify the orbit of a piece of a comet, to place it into earth orbit, then use this large chunk of ice to capture bits of orbitting debris. Turns out this approach is no more practical than the other ideas. spike

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Danny Yavuzkurt wrote: [space junk]... this could be a serious obstacle to our
>development as a space-faring species..
Jonathan Reeves wrote:
Absolutely.  And a waste of resources - we've spent a lot of money getting the stuff up there we might as well try and use it, rather than let it float around endangering shipping.

Any ideas?

Many, just not necessarily practical ones.  The problem is
that everything is in different orbits.  No one has figured out
how to use a chunk of debris that flies past every once in
a long while at several thousand meters per second.  I had
a notion at one time of trying to modify the orbit of a piece
of a comet, to place it into earth orbit, then use this large
chunk of ice to capture bits of orbitting debris.  Turns out
this approach is no more practical than the other ideas.  spike
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