NASA's Top 10 Space Junk Missions 103
Ant writes "NASA has identified the top ten space junk missions and said over 19,000 pieces of space junk are known to exist..." That's nothing: You should see my living room.
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NASA's Top 10 Space Junk Missions
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"Look! There! Evil!.. pure and simple, total evil from the Eighth Dimension!" -- Buckaroo Banzai
Radioactive coolant (Score:4, Informative)
One of the biggest sources of space junk are the gobs of solidified radioactive coolant from old Soviet satellites.
Re:Radioactive coolant (Score:5, Informative)
A great article on the space junk problem can be found at;
http://www.satellitetoday.com/commercial/manufacturers/Space-Debris-Small-But-Growing-Problem_21599.html [satellitetoday.com]
They discuss the radioactive coolant losses from discarded satellites that were boosted into "graveyard orbits" and how the cooling systems have sprung leaks, leaving behind solidified chunks of radioactive sodium, potassium and lead.
Re:Cosmos 2421 (Score:5, Informative)
http://russianforces.org/blog/2008/03/cosmos2421_completed_its_missi.shtml [russianforces.org]
Re:Is this really a problem? (Score:3, Informative)
Well, the damage from any of these objects is potentially catastrophic. It's not like getting a flat tire ... the relative speeds here are enough to cause major damage. The pieces also look like they're fairly well spread out in orbit.
From the linked article, that Chinese satellite that got shot down has created some 2841 pieces -- imagine something the size of a pea striking your orbiter at, what, 10000 mph? That's a lot of kinetic energy.
Re:Time to develop.. (Score:3, Informative)
Nope and nope.
Most is aluminum and titanuim. Nobody has launched cast iron rockets cince the 30's.
Re:Questions questions questions (Score:5, Informative)
A ground based laser broom with adaptive optics is probably the only remotely cost effective way of mitigating the problem. From the ground you can't easily reduce an objects velocity but you can push it into a more elliptical orbit, if you can get it elliptical enough you put the perigee inside Earth's atmosphere and let that do the rest. It's the only way I've heard about that doesn't involve a ludicrous number of launches but at the same time will work only for relatively small pieces of debris in low orbit. Luckily, that's where the majority of the problem lies so it might be effective enough until we can deal with the rest.
Re:Time to develop.. (Score:2, Informative)
Methinks we need a Wile E. Coyote style ACME space-junk removing magnet!
ummm i dont think that would be the best method because ACME products always ended badly for him
The Japanese Saw it Coming (Score:2, Informative)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Planetes [wikipedia.org]
Who knew that a decent, but under appreciated manga that debuted in the late 90s would turn out to be a tale of things to come? :)
Re:Space sized bin bag (Score:4, Informative)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Planetes [wikipedia.org]
The story of Planetes follows the crew of the DS-12 "Toy Box" of the Space Debris Section, a unit of Technora Corporation. Debris Section's purpose is to prevent the damage or destruction of satellites, space stations and spacecraft from collision with debris in Earth's and the Moon's orbits. They use a number of methods to dispose of the debris (mainly by burning it via atmospheric reentry or through salvage), accomplished through the use of EVA suits.
The episodes sometimes revolve around debris collection itself, but more often the concept of collecting "trash" in space is merely a storytelling method for building character development. The members of the Debris Section are looked down upon as the lowest members of the company and they must work hard to prove their worth to others and accomplish their dreams.