NASA: Satellite debris has hit Earth

[Dreadnought]

NASA thinks it is.

Link, please. I want to read more than a one-line answer.

 

[jtb1127]

Link, please. I want to read more than a one-line answer.

A new report released today by the National Research Council says the problem of space debris is getting worse and has passed a “tipping point.” The report says that while NASA has done a good job using their available resources to research the issue, decreased funding and increased responsibilities for the space agency is not a good combination for the future, and NASA has not been able to keep pace with increasing hazards posed by abandoned equipment, spent rocket bodies, and other debris orbiting the Earth.

http://www.universetoday.com/88595/space-debris-problem-getting-worse-new-report-says/

 

[Dreadnought]

http://www.universetoday.com/88595/space-debris-problem-getting-worse-new-report-says/

Thanks man.

 

[bigdog5994]

guys do you really think we can cover something thats larger than the circumference of the earth with "garbage'?

 

[Winner]

guys do you really think we can cover something thats larger than the circumference of the earth with "garbage'?

We don't need to physically fill the space. These objects complete their orbits in about 90 minutes. Add enough of them to all orbital inclinations, and you'll turn the low-Earth orbit into a shooting gallery.

Imagine being in a confined space surrounded by walls that reflect bullets with 100% efficiency, so they don't lose any speed and will keep bouncing off the walls pretty much forever. You'd have to be crazy to start shooting from a machine gun in such a space. Yet we're doing something similar in the low-Earth orbit - and since LEO has pretty much the same status as oceans - it belongs to "everyone and no one", people think that polluting it with crap is fine. Well, it isn't.

 

[Colonel]

I say we nuke low earth orbit until all the trash is incinerated. We should put all US owned, operated, and used by into high earth orbit.

 

[Skwink]

They need to find a way to get it all near the Equator. Then send up more. Eventually we can have rings like Saturn.

Sweet, lets do it!

Maybe they can send up a robot that goes around and picks up the junk and brings it back to earth.

Shouldn't we try to get it AWAY from Earth?

So according to beeb it landed off the western coast of the US

More evidence of West Coast=Best Coast

 

[Theige]

We don't need to physically fill the space. These objects complete their orbits in about 90 minutes. Add enough of them to all orbital inclinations, and you'll turn the low-Earth orbit into a shooting gallery.

Imagine being in a confined space surrounded by walls that reflect bullets with 100% efficiency, so they don't lose any speed and will keep bouncing off the walls pretty much forever. You'd have to be crazy to start shooting from a machine gun in such a space. Yet we're doing something similar in the low-Earth orbit - and since LEO has pretty much the same status as oceans - it belongs to "everyone and no one", people think that polluting it with crap is fine. Well, it isn't.

Except it's not a confined space.

 

[Cutlass]

It's simple. Eventually we'll just have to build a laser big enough to vaporize this stuff.

 

[Valka D'Ur]

How are they going to clear out space junk?

Did none of you ever see the 1970s TV show "Salvage One"? A junkyard owner decides to build himself a homemade rocket out of scrap, blasts off for the Moon, and salvages some of the junk left there by the Apollo astronauts.

This would be a terrific opportunity for some private company to make money, salvaging that orbital and lunar garbage, and cleaning up our near-Earth space environment.

 

[Winner]

Except it's not a confined space.

It is. The "walls" are made of gravity.

 

[Disgustipated]

I say put more junk up in space. Put enough up, it will block out the sun and reduce global warming.

 

[Theige]

It is. The "walls" are made of gravity.

I'm hoping this is a language thing... I suggest you grab a dictionary.

 

[jtb1127]

Did none of you ever see the 1970s TV show "Salvage One"? A junkyard owner decides to build himself a homemade rocket out of scrap, blasts off for the Moon, and salvages some of the junk left there by the Apollo astronauts.

This would be a terrific opportunity for some private company to make money, salvaging that orbital and lunar garbage, and cleaning up our near-Earth space environment.

How are they going to profit?

 

[El_Machinae]

I'm hoping this is a language thing... I suggest you grab a dictionary.

What he means is that the garbage will be speeding at a pretty impressive relative velocity until it hits something, so each piece of garbage essentially is a 'line' of restriction in which we can access space

 

[GoodGame]

guys do you really think we can cover something thats larger than the circumference of the earth with "garbage'?

It's high speed garbage which is the problem when it disintegrates into finer pieces of garbage. Great if those pieces completely disintegrate due to friction, but bad for future space flight if they become little orbital meteorites that bombard vehicles escaping orbit.

 

[Winner]

I'm hoping this is a language thing... I suggest you grab a dictionary.

Nope, the sentence is perfectly correct (I hope ).

The pieces of debris are bound to their orbits by the laws of orbital mechanics. If you blow up a satellite in low-Earth orbit, most of the debris will stay there, because flying away from Earth would require additional delta-v. Decelerating would also require additional energy.

And although the orbits will eventually decay, this will take centuries or millennia, depending on the shape of the orbit.