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To: proud American in Canada
I hope we have some great minds thinking of ways to bring it back to Earth (huge magnets of some sort? I don't know. I'm not a scientist/physicist), or blast it out to space farther.

There is currently no good way to trap and collect metal and composite materials circling the globe at many thousands of miles per hour, much faster than bullets or shrapnel. And given that above the atmosphere there is essentially no friction they just keep going round and round and will continue to do so. Intact modern satellites have systems to alter their course to enter the atmosphere so that they will burn up, but on the failed satellites these systems typically do not.

That is why SpaceX, the darling of many here but the current source of more dangerous space debris than all others combined has been raising a lot of red flags especially with our foreign partners. I am no fan of Bezos but he is just the latest target of Musk's ire. The FAA, NASA, FCC, OSHA and other regulatory agencies have been more frequent recipients. I admire Elon Musk a great deal but he has a long history of belittling any agency or individual attempting to rein in his sometimes ill-advised efforts.

28 posted on 08/28/2021 10:47:20 AM PDT by fireman15
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To: fireman15

Yes. He and other private investors should consult with NASA before proceeding.

This is not the Wild West. Might feel like it but the consequences of garbage in space, rather than the relatively harmless garbage on the frontier, are rather significant.


38 posted on 08/28/2021 1:34:20 PM PDT by proud American in Canada ("Fear is a reaction; courage is a decision." Winston Churchill)
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To: fireman15

BTW, thank you for your informative response. :)


40 posted on 08/28/2021 1:35:33 PM PDT by proud American in Canada ("Fear is a reaction; courage is a decision." Winston Churchill)
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To: fireman15

BTW, thank you for your informative response. :)


41 posted on 08/28/2021 1:36:06 PM PDT by proud American in Canada ("Fear is a reaction; courage is a decision." Winston Churchill)
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