Space debris: We need a space garbage collector

[ar81]

You may think space is mostly empty, but it is far from that.
Do you want to see all objects around Earth with Google Earth?

1.Download this file: http://adn.agi.com/SatelliteDatabase...teDatabase.kmz
2.Double click on the file and it will install a Google Earth addon.

It displays:
1.Active satelites
2.Inactive satellites
3.Debris
4.Rocket bodies.

You will notice that active satellites are a minority.
We already have seen and impact of satellites in 2009.
* U.S. Satellite Destroyed in Space Collision

This animation predicts the trajecory of the debris.
* Animation shows spread of debris from satellite collision

In space there is something called Kessler syndrome that would make orbits to be filled with dangerous debris. We need a garbage collector in real life. Why do we need it? Because a Kessler syndrome could disrupt telecommunications, weather, GPS systems, etc. Basically our world would stop working as it does nowadays.

What do you think? I'd sign up to be hanging in the back of the garbage truck.

[GGT]

A real life space garbage collector? Besides asking who'd make or man those vessels, what would we do with the debris after it's collected? Bring it back to earth?

[ar81]

No, send them to the sun.

[Tempus Vernum]

what would we do with the debris after it's collected? Bring it back to earth?

Depending on how valuable the debris is, we could either bring it back safely to be re(cycled|used) or just let it burn up in the earths atmosphere.

I'm increasingly finding myself against things being tossed into the sun. It's easy but it's also wasteful.

[GGT]

Then why don't the geeks install some tech gadget that sends the junk back down to earth after it's "garbage"?

Jetison it to an ocean, get some salvage ships to pick it up, sort and recycle.

[Tempus Vernum]

Then why don't the geeks install some tech gadget that sends the junk back down to earth after it's "garbage"?

Generally these things fail unexpectedly, if they were still responding to commands then we could get them to de-orbit pretty easily. I don't know if new satellites are designed to automatically de-orbit if they lose contact with Earth, I could see some problems with accidental glitches resulting in the destruction of a perfectly good (and expensive) satellite, but it sounds reasonable.


I think alot of the garbage in orbit though is precisely that: garbage. Lost tools and equipment that can then cause impact problems. That stuff will be hard to collect.

[GGT]

Then how about an unmanned orbit swiffer duster, with magnets, like a drone collecting misc tools and equipment?

Unless this is really about finding more ways to get more people in space, because that idea is appealing.

[Tempus Vernum]

Then how about an unmanned orbit swiffer duster, with magnets, like a drone collecting misc tools and equipment?

I dunno, if I recall that stuff is moving at pretty high speeds. You'd need some mighty powerful and precisely controlled magnetic fields to catch them. And if your trash is made of non-magnetic materials then you're shit out of luck. It's probably not worth the expense at the moment, of course once it is worth the expense it'll probably be to late and we'll be losing satellites left right and center.

I don't understand politics, but I wonder if NASA could use "cleaning up our orbits" as a platform to get more funding?

[GGT]

I don't understand politics, but I wonder if NASA could use "cleaning up our orbits" as a platform to get more funding?

And I don't understand space, the Final Frontier.

If plastics are loose and light, they'd get drawn into some orbit (maybe the sun's and fry?)

If it's the metals we want to retrieve and repurpose (the magnets was kind of a joke really....) then unmanned collectors sound more pragmatic.

[ar81]

I dunno, if I recall that stuff is moving at pretty high speeds.

Everything moves at high speed in space. In low Earth orbit it is about 8 km per second.

But if your orbit is aligned with the object and you get an intercept course, the encounter could be as smooth as a space station docking. This technique is called "align orbit" and "synchronize orbit".

[GGT]

Or....how about we put some big honking metal attracter on the moon? Then send up some salvage ship after a bunch of crap has been collected there?

[Ziggy Stardust]

Learned on QI that a lot of the debris is human waste and that most of the satellites and the ISS are covered in a thin film of shit.

[Illusions]

Learned on QI that a lot of the debris is human waste and that most of the satellites and the ISS are covered in a thin film of shit.

Yes, but its the shit of the best of the best...pure astronaut poop and cosmonaut crap...

[ar81]

Or....how about we put some big honking metal attracter on the moon? Then send up some salvage ship after a bunch of crap has been collected there?

Your metal attracted on the moon should be stronger than gravity sphere of influence of the moon...

[Flixy]

And I don't understand space, the Final Frontier.

If plastics are loose and light, they'd get drawn into some orbit (maybe the sun's and fry?)

If it's the metals we want to retrieve and repurpose (the magnets was kind of a joke really....) then unmanned collectors sound more pragmatic.

Everything IS in an orbit, around the earth/moon. Most of it probably burns in the atmosphere at some point, but it can take a while. Most of it did come from satellites in a stable orbit after all.

And collecting it? Keep in mind how HUGE that place is.

[GGT]

Hey, I didn't start this thread, just rolled into the What If....

[ar81]

And collecting it? Keep in mind how HUGE that place is.

HUGE is a relative concept...

[Flixy]

It's surrounding a planet we can't collect garbage everywhere, and here it (mostly) falls down to earth on a single layer. I call that huge.