Daily Archives: March 24, 2008

Cosmic Clean-up…

One of the issues that a real Space Elevator is going to have to deal with is Space Debris; garbage / junk / stuff that is in orbit around the earth due to past Space missions.  My thinking is that the only real to deal with this is with lasers; just zap anything that gets close enough to endanger the ribbon.  And, if it happens to be a still-functioning satellite?  Just tell the owners “Oh, sorry about that.  To make up for it, we’ll offer you two free launches of your satellites anytime in the future.”  It’s hard to imagine that offer being turned down.  I know, I know, that’s a bit simplistic – you can’t just unilaterally interrupt services like that – but my point is this – certainly there should be some way to make arrangements with owners of still-serviceable satellites which will make everybody happy…

In a recent article on Space.com, writer Jeanna Bryner addresses the topic of Space Debris and some of the various schemes that have been hatched to handle it.

My favorite is the giant nerf ball.  Who cares if it would work or not – the idea is cool.  One wonders if Parker Brothers ever considered cleaning up Space Debris as an application for their toy…

At the end of the article, there is a link to another website; the “10 Most Memorable Pieces of Space Debris“.

(Picture from Wikipedia – click on it for a larger version)