space - it's not like Battlestar Galactica

[notnotabouthim]

I'd always kinda known that the space around earth had a lot of junk flying around it.

Particularly since last year, when the Chinese did this:

Comments

[t_c_da]

Maybe they need the laser thingy to clean up the debris by vaporising it?

[notnotabouthim]

I'd figured that the best solution would be something that they could drive around, and deflect the crap so it just naturally spiralled down, burning up in the atmosphere.

However, your solution sounds better. Need to be a HUGE laser - but ground based is much simpler for that sort of thing (rather than having to lift an enormous power supply).

Of course, the politics of that. Boy HOWDY that'd freak people out.

Also I'm not sure about the practicality (is it possible? how much spread? what would the cost be? would it just throw things into higher orbit? etc?) but it sounds a LOT simpler than driving something around up there to scoop or deflect things down.

but aha! google to the rescue!

the laser broom (it IS ground based)

it's also so low powered it -couldn't- be used as anti-satelliteApparently it would only cost $200m and take two years. Pretty fast, and pretty cheap - considering how expensive satellites (and the ISS) are, both to create and get up there. Seems like a very cheap option

[allanduke]

And who exactly is going to pay the $200m? Oh thats right. My tax dollars.

And who will PROFIT from the $200m budget? Well, after the $200m estimate becomes $900m, the CEOs of the companies involved with our military industrial complex will be able to afford even LARGER mansions.

[notnotabouthim]

1. They've been talking about it since 98, I don't think you have to worry about it happening any time soon.

2. The Iraq war is costing $3-700m/DAY (depending who you ask). And yes, that's your tax dollars too. (just to pick one random line item. I'm sure there's plenty of other places your money is getting pissed away. Big govt's good like that). And let's not get into the price of oil tripling since they went in (illegally and unvoted for by the US public).

The real question is - what can you do about it? Unfortunately, I haven't heard any good solutions. The suggestion that an individual has ANY effect over government spending is.. somewhat ludicrous. Government (particularly American) seems to be there primarily for the lobbying bodies, ie, big business, and screw everybody else (particularly you and I).

I agree, it's pretty ugly.

A space cleaning laser is still pretty awesome tech though :)

[lynnivere]

hrmmm.. This information sorta makes my head hurt. Aren't these people, launching things into the air, supposed to be intelligent? Y'know.. the kind of folks that have letters after their names.

[notnotabouthim]

well, part of the problem is - it's DAMN hard to get it right.

Also, many mistakes in judgment have been made.

Things blow up. Things fall off. Things spin out of control. Plus (for a while) they just threw rubbish out and didn't think about it.

Oh, and then there's politics (the Chinese) - and now the Americans have done the same thing, shooting down a satellite of their own.

It's lots and lots of small things, leading to a big, big problem that I haven't seen any decent solutions for.

[lynnivere]

How bout.. stop shootin' shit into the sky.

Or maybe some UN initiative on what is *allowed* to be shot into the sky.

[notnotabouthim]

the UN isn't going to stop either the military OR private enterprise.

besides, without "shit in the sky", we wouldn't have:

google maps
gps
weather maps
a lot of geological & environmental applications

and many countries would be either without, or severely limited telecommunications, television, general contact with the outside world.

.. and that's just off the top of my head.

Even with a seriously limited list of "what was allowed up there", a) mistakes will continue to happen. It's VERY tough (there's a reason that "rocket scientist" is a euphemism for "extremely smart"). Plus, of course, there's still going to be all the junk that's already up there.