Posted on 04/28/2013 5:49:27 PM PDT by BenLurkin
Action is needed soon to remove the largest pieces of space debris from orbit before the amount of junk destroys massive amounts of critical space infrastructure, according to a panel at the Sixth European Conference on Space Debris.
“Whatever we are going to do, whatever we have to do, is an expensive solution,” said Heiner Klinkrad, head of the European Space Agency space debris office, in a panel this week that was broadcast on ESA’s website.
“We have to compare the costs to solving the problem in an early stage as opposed to losing the infrastructure in orbit in the not-too-distant future.”
The panel estimated that there is $1.3 billion (1 billion Euros) worth of space satellite infrastructure that must be protected. The 200 most crucial satellites identified by the space community have an insured value of $169.5 million (130 million Euros), Klinkrad added.
Critical infrastructure, though not specified exactly by the panel, can include communication satellites and military eyes in the sky. Also at risk is that largest of human outposts in space — the International Space Station.
(Excerpt) Read more at universetoday.com ...
I’ll get up there right away with my Billygoat vacuum. Sorry, I’ve been real busy.
A new game - Dodge Debris.
Add to detecting and solving the threat of asteroid impact, a new activity for starry-eyed startups.
The result of this will be that all the space debris, including working satellites, will fall into the atmosphere and burn up. During this time we can be launching new satellites to replace the old.
It could be a money maker for someone who could pull everything together as a space salvage expert.
I the idea of “the big ball of goo”. The idea is to launch a fairly large satellite, that when in orbit extends long, hollow, telescoping rods, attached to the ends of which are a very large, spherical tent. The tent is then filled with high expansion, polymer foam.
Gas is then exhausted through the rods to help the ball navigate into the path of the smaller space junk. And even at their high average speed of 15,500mph, hopefully they would be caught by the polymer instead of punching through it. Then when enough was captured, the whole ball would reenter the atmosphere, burning up.
An expert is a swede shoe salesman hawking his BS more than 50 miles from home!
I'm not sure they will remove much debris, but then the space debris has YET to cause me problems.
a LOT of the debris are paint chips, but i guess even a paint chip at Xthousand MPH hitting the right spot can pretty much ruin your day...
All problems that Politicians invent and solve are expensive. If they were not expensive, there would be no reason to do them.
We use aerogel to collect small particles from comet tails so your idea isn’t far off. I would also get Tethers Unlimited on the job.
Using carbon fiber tethers for everything from propellant less maneuvering in space to landing or anchoring to asteroids was at least in part the brain child of physicist and Sci Fi writer Robert Forward. He was one of the founders of Tethers Unlimited and gave very detailed accounts of how the tethers could be used in his book Saturn Rukh. (Who doesn’t love a sci fi story that begins with the sentence, “I’ve got a job for you and it pays a billion.”
Well, since we already have a vacuum in outer space, it should be a snap.
That is the most profound thing I think I have ever heard.
put these dots to scale and you’ll see nothing
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