The quest to conquer Earth’s space junk problem (2018)

The quest to conquer Earth’s space junk problem (2018)(nature.com)

43 points by primodemus 6 years ago | 6 comments

lolc 6 years ago |

Tragedy of the commons in the space age.

How about the a rule that you have to remove trash in proportion to the mass you introduce? If you want to send up satellites now you have to organize to have some pieces of trash already there to be removed. When you finally remove the satellites you introduced, that counts towards your balance. But only at that time. As long as they are up you can't send up more without cleaning up some other people's junk.

BitwiseFool 6 years ago | |

An interesting idea, but it would be prohibitively expensive; in terms of Delta-V and cost.

You are already launching a satellite into an orbit where it will try avoid existing space debris. So, anything added to the payload to de-orbit space debris would have to spend delta-v adjusting it's orbit to match that of the space junk. Then it would need enough fuel left over to de-orbit the target.

I think it would be better if a certain amount of the launch cost would go towards a fund meant to de-orbit space junk.

lolc 6 years ago | | |

> I think it would be better if a certain amount of the launch cost would go towards a fund meant to de-orbit space junk.

It seems to me that we're in agreement.

jobigoud 6 years ago | |

And then create a market. A space company could buy space trash credits for the mass it wants to litter, from space cleaning companies that specialize in the task.

lolc 6 years ago | | |

Haha absolutely. Orgs with old satellites that will soon hit the atmosphere or which they can steer on such a trajectory would be worth a lot more suddenly.

thinkcontext 6 years ago |

Any active mitigation technique like lasers could also be used against live satellites, raising huge national security implications. Seems like a huge area of potential conflict and likely a new race for parity.

IE, "Could a Chinese Space Junk Laser Double as a Weapon?"

I also seem to recall Musk saying the lasers on Starlink satellites used for communication could also be used for cleaning space junk. I'm sure that caught the attention of many militaries around the world.