Using Lasers and Water Guns To Clean Space Debris

WSJdpatton writes "The collision between two satellites last month has renewed interest in some ideas for cleaning up the cloud of debris circling the earth. Some of the plans being considered: Using aging rockets loaded with water to dislodge the debris from orbit so it will burn up in the atmosphere; junk-zapping lasers; and garbage-collecting rockets."

Re:Water is heavy

[KlomDark]

Damn! Shut up already! The average moron will totally believe your rain concept.

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[account_deleted]

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Re:Obrigatory

[Anonymous Coward]

> Sharks can fly to space?

That's what the water is for.

Re:Well, armchair rocket science here...

[smooth wombat]

What do you think would happen if you push an old satellite with some type of nuclear fuel into the atmosphere and it doesn't burn up completely the way you want it to and it basically becomes a dirty bomb in high orbit.

ZOMG!!!! You're giving terrorists ideas!! I'm reporting you!!!

Just keep launching junk into orbit

[internerdj]

Eventually we will have that solar shield that the repair-global-warming crowd keeps raving about.

Re:Water is heavy

[u38cg]

More to the point, whoever proposed this idea seems to be completely unaware of the workings of orbital mechanics. Clue: the stuff is already falling. The problem is it keeps missing.

Re:Water is heavy

[Spazztastic]

Actually, it is likely that a lot of the water will come back to earth. In a LARGE number of years. The reason is that it will be used in LEO, and will have a relatively slow speed. IOW, it WILL come back slowly to earth.

Quiet, you. You're bringing logic to this conversation.

Re:Frickin' lasers?

[drinkypoo]

Which puts us one step closer to landsharks.

*knockknock* "Plumber!"

Re:genius at work

[Arthur Grumbine]

Yeah, someone from Caltech said the same thing, but you can't trust second-rate sources when it comes to space analysts...

Re:Hmmm. I think I smell a sitcom in this...

[SLot]

It will never last on Fox.

Re:genius at work

[pcolaman]

He's the John Madden of Science.

Re:Obrigatory

[usman_ismail]

This Summer, coming to a theater near you, Jaws, in space, WITH A FRIGGIN LASER ON ITS HEAD!!!!

Re:Water is heavy

[thewiz]

Bah! We already send large quantities of water into orbit - astronauts! How about using the urine they produce to alter the orbits of space junk? Anyone have an idea on how to let an astronaut piss out of their spacesuit without decompressing?

Re:Water is heavy

[snowraver1]

I wasn't aware that water was flammable. I'll notify the fire department that they need to rethink their strategy.

Re:Water is heavy

[fahrbot-bot]

Wouldn't it be extremely expensive to send large quantities of water into orbit...?

The water is actually for the sharks. Space-junk shot by lasers, lasers go onto sharks, sharks go into water, water goes into space. Keep up, this isn't rocket science...

I trained for this in college

[Locke2005]

We spent hundreds of hours in front of the Astroids [wikipedia.org] simulator, practicing breaking rocks up into smaller rocks!

Re:Water is heavy

[Anonymous Coward]

1999 called and wants its joke back.

1996 called, David Spade wants his joke back.