/obscure reference.
Posted on 01/20/2015 3:35:43 PM PST by Libloather
Right now, there are more than 300,000 pieces of debris larger than a centimeter in diameter orbiting Earth.
They range from tiny shards of metal to deactivated, decades-old satellites. Most are shrapnel from discarded rocket stages that have exploded after use, or satellites that have collided. Colloquially, all this debris is usually called "space junk."
Together, the Department of Defense and NASA track the orbits of the 19,000 or so pieces of junk that are larger than a softball, alerting satellite operators when any satellite — including the International Space Station — is in danger, so they can move it.
(Excerpt) Read more at msn.com ...
I'm guessing that iron makes up a minimal portion of what's up there.
Man-made stuff, that is.
If there was real global warming, solar powered or otherwise, the atmosphere would have expanded a bit, and creating additional drag on the closer stuff, bringing it down sooner.
The Chinese will design a huge nuclear powered electro-magnet
and net to scoop up the debris, the USA will not do it , Obama won’t even take out his own garbage...such as Al Sharpton
/obscure reference.
Will the antique media never tire of this alarmist bilge?
Since space is curved, if you want to find the other end just turn around and take a look, its right behind you.
Ha!!
The solar powered electromagnet was a failed attempt at humor. Solar powered anything is almost useless. That having been said, if you want additional drag on the debris, let's spray some foam in low Earth orbit. Better yet, dump a lot of those foam peanuts up there. The debris is orbiting at better than 16,000 mph. Place a bunch of ramp-shaped walls in space going the opposite direction to direct the debris downward into the atmosphere. I have a million crazy ideas!
Ping
Maybe we should take it to heart and do it.
How about a magnet attached to a space shuttle (like a large street sweeper)?
I’ve always wondered why those “walking in space” don’t get hit by these things. Or are they all going the same direction?
Satellites are not typically made of ferrous metals. Magnets would not attract them.
I remember Star Trek episode that a giant thing that looked like a bugle to destroy space garbage.
You’re talking about “The Doomsday Machine”. It sliced up planets and digested the bulk of each for power, leaving behind a lot of “small” rubble, however. Kirk nuked it from inside. (That probably created a lot of debris too, even tho’ the hull of the thing was not destroyed.)
One of ST’s best episodes, IMO.
Even “local space” is a very big place. There is a lot of distance between each piece of even 300,000 pieces of garbage orbiting the earth. So, the odds of a spacewalker getting hit are low, but not zero.
Most (nearly all) Earth orbiting satellites are solar powered. You might want to rephrase that.
Emphasis on “crazy”?
I’m imagining a 5 oz. piece of garbage hitting a 1 degree ramp at an approach speed of over 32,000 mph.
Silent “BOOM!” (Something on the order of 6 lbs. of TNT, if I’ve calculated correctly.)
Trying to inject some off the wall humor into this topic, but no one is having it tonight, darn. Title is "... 300,000 piece of garbage orbiting earth, and it's a big problem". There are extremely few practical solutions other than the passage of hundreds of years of time, if not more, for this garbage to drift into Earth and disintegrate. At least we can joke about it...
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