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New York, 3:24 PM
Sun Nov 15
16 posts in the last 24 hours

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  • posts about #spacedebris more →

    Space Fence to Defend Astronauts and Satellites Against Orbital Debris

    Space Station Crew Now Basically Just Playing a Real-Life Game of Asteroids

    Space Station Crew Climb Into Escape Module To Avoid Passing Space Debris

    Too Much Space Debris? Try a Weak Laser or a Strong Water Cannon

    Space Is Full of Crap
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    Dsmvwl  Admin  Promote to frontpage Approve user Ban user ×
    Image of Mr_Biggles:Windows 7 was my idea Mr_Biggles:Windows 7 was my idea
    09/04/09

    In reply to Space Fence to Defend Astronauts and Satellites Against Orbital Debris
    I don't know much about magnets in space or the whole math thing but cant we use a giant magnet to collect all the metal bits and bolts. Or perhaps a very fine net to sweep around the planet to remove all the garbage around our planet. I apologize for the question public school systems suck at teaching about these things .... well they just suck at teaching period!
     Reply
    Barry99705 promoted this comment Mr_Biggles:Windows 7 was my idea was starred Mr_Biggles:Windows 7 was my idea was unstarred
    Image of Barry99705 Barry99705
    09/04/09

    @Mr_Biggles: Most of the stuff satellites are made of is nonmagnetic. If the net was strong enough to catch an object going 17000 miles an hour, they'd build the space station out of it.
     Reply
    Barry99705 was starred Barry99705 was unstarred
    Image of Mr_Biggles:Windows 7 was my idea Mr_Biggles:Windows 7 was my idea
    09/08/09

    @Barry99705: oh well there goes my idea... maybe if they used the a giant maid from spaceballs to suck up all the junk..
     Reply
    Mr_Biggles:Windows 7 was my idea was starred Mr_Biggles:Windows 7 was my idea was unstarred
    Image of phlavor phlavor
    09/03/09

    In reply to Space Fence to Defend Astronauts and Satellites Against Orbital Debris
    How about space garbage men flying around space garbage trucks? They could scoop the junk up and then sling it into a burn on re-entry trajectory. I'd take that job.

    Hell you don't even need people up there. Life support costs to much. Put a bunch of drones up and crowd source their operation out as a videogame. I'll do it all for $2 billion plus cost overruns and Per Diem. The game sales would be gravy.
     Reply
    SigmundTheSeaMonster promoted this comment phlavor was starred phlavor was unstarred
    Image of SigmundTheSeaMonster SigmundTheSeaMonster
    09/04/09

    @phlavor: Quark?
     Reply
    SigmundTheSeaMonster was starred SigmundTheSeaMonster was unstarred
    Image of reddingofish reddingofish
    09/04/09

    @SigmundTheSeaMonster: I loved that show.
     Reply
    reddingofish was starred reddingofish was unstarred
    Image of Michai Michai
    09/03/09

    In reply to Space Fence to Defend Astronauts and Satellites Against Orbital Debris
    Lets fix the solution by putting more stuff up there for a cool 2 bill... wtf?
     Reply
    Barry99705 promoted this comment Edited by Michai at 09/03/09 8:06 PM Michai was starred Michai was unstarred
    Image of Barry99705 Barry99705
    09/03/09

    @Michai: Dude watch the video again. They are land based radar systems.
     Reply
    Barry99705 was starred Barry99705 was unstarred
    Image of Bandit Bandit
    09/03/09

    In reply to Space Fence to Defend Astronauts and Satellites Against Orbital Debris
    2015. Just in time for us to stop sending shuttle into orbit. Nice.
     Reply
    Bandit was starred Bandit was unstarred
    Image of StupidSimple StupidSimple
    09/03/09

    In reply to Space Fence to Defend Astronauts and Satellites Against Orbital Debris
    A 2 billion dollar alarm? That's so awesome. I expected a stupid solution like shooting the debris down or something.
     Reply
    Jesus Diaz promoted this comment StupidSimple was starred StupidSimple was unstarred
    Image of Barry99705 Barry99705
    09/03/09

    @StupidSimple: You can't "shoot the debris down", it just makes more debris. You'd have to capture it manually somehow and bring it down or push it higher(high enough to escape the earth's gravity).
     Reply
    Barry99705 was starred Barry99705 was unstarred
    Image of Jux Jux
    09/03/09

    In reply to Space Fence to Defend Astronauts and Satellites Against Orbital Debris
    All that money and the best they could come up with is "Space Fence?"

    btw, video lists the speed as 17K MPH, not 70K. Hauling balls, nonetheless.
     Reply
    Geisrud promoted this comment Jux was starred Jux was unstarred
    Image of Geisrud Geisrud
    09/04/09

    @Jux: It's still early in the program...once the appropriate task forces, committees, sub-groups, and marketing people have met; a suitable acronym will be released.

    I'm thinking: Space Trash Fence Ubiety (STFU)
     Reply
    Geisrud was starred Geisrud was unstarred
    Image of Software_Goddess Software_Goddess
    09/03/09

    In reply to Space Fence to Defend Astronauts and Satellites Against Orbital Debris
    I think it would be absolutely adorable if the planet Earth had a white picket fence around it. We could plant flowers around it too.
     Reply
    Software_Goddess was starred Software_Goddess was unstarred
    Image of FightingChance FightingChance
    09/03/09

    In reply to Space Fence to Defend Astronauts and Satellites Against Orbital Debris
    Space fence to be painted by space Tom Sawyer, giant brain.

    "Tom Sawyer, you tricked me."
     Reply
    qbrad promoted this comment FightingChance was starred FightingChance was unstarred
    Image of qbrad qbrad
    09/03/09

    @FightingChance: Where's quiqueg?
     Reply
    qbrad was starred qbrad was unstarred
    Image of Sora57 is rendering Sora57 is rendering
    03/23/09

    In reply to Space Station Crew Now Basically Just Playing a Real-Life Game of Asteroids
    All they have to do is add the Asteroids "Hyperspace" button.
     Reply
    Sora57 is rendering was starred Sora57 is rendering was unstarred
    Image of gotcheeze5793 gotcheeze5793
    03/23/09

    In reply to Space Station Crew Now Basically Just Playing a Real-Life Game of Asteroids
    yes...could you imagine a hunk of metal going crazy fast in zero gravity hurtling towards you? Its a pretty dangerous job, being an ISS astronaut. Just another way they can get hurt out there.
     Reply
    gotcheeze5793 was starred gotcheeze5793 was unstarred
    Image of GitEmSteveDave_HurtHisKnee GitEmSteveDave_HurtHisKnee
    03/23/09

    @gotcheeze5793: You know you would be like trying to swim if you saw it coming. Almost like I imagine people falling w/o a parachute flapping their arms.
     Reply
    GitEmSteveDave_HurtHisKnee was starred GitEmSteveDave_HurtHisKnee was unstarred
    Image of Weihovah Weihovah
    03/23/09

    In reply to Space Station Crew Now Basically Just Playing a Real-Life Game of Asteroids
    why don't they just have scotty divert aux power to the shields?
     Reply
    Weihovah was starred Weihovah was unstarred
    Image of GitEmSteveDave_HurtHisKnee GitEmSteveDave_HurtHisKnee
    03/23/09

    @Weihovah: B/c he hasn't made it into space yet. The rockets he are on keep blowing up.
     Reply
    GitEmSteveDave_HurtHisKnee was starred GitEmSteveDave_HurtHisKnee was unstarred
    Image of GitEmSteveDave_HurtHisKnee GitEmSteveDave_HurtHisKnee
    03/23/09

    In reply to Space Station Crew Now Basically Just Playing a Real-Life Game of Asteroids
    So wait, are you saying our only hope might be Steve Wiebe, Billy Mitchell, and/or Walter Day?
     Reply
    GitEmSteveDave_HurtHisKnee was starred GitEmSteveDave_HurtHisKnee was unstarred
    Image of Software_Goddess Software_Goddess
    03/23/09

    In reply to Space Station Crew Now Basically Just Playing a Real-Life Game of Asteroids
    We really need to find a way to get a garbage truck out there before the shit really hits the fan (space station).
     Reply
    Software_Goddess was starred Software_Goddess was unstarred
    Image of ceilingFANBOY ceilingFANBOY
    03/23/09

    @Software_Goddess: I chose the wrong week to stop sniffing glue.
     Reply
    ceilingFANBOY was starred ceilingFANBOY was unstarred
    Image of DeepFriar DeepFriar
    03/12/09

    In reply to Space Station Crew Climb Into Escape Module To Avoid Passing Space Debris
    Have we learned nothing from Justice League Unlimited?
     Reply
    DeepFriar was starred DeepFriar was unstarred
    Image of spittingangels spittingangels
    03/12/09

    In reply to Space Station Crew Climb Into Escape Module To Avoid Passing Space Debris
    I read the other day an article about ideas being passed around on ways to clean up junk in orbit. A couple of ideas were discussed: lasers fired into space to change the trajectory of debris so that their orbit would collapse into the earths atmosphere and sending up rockets with water cannons that would shoot the debris out of orbit.


    So here's my idea, which seems easier and more cost effective but I'm not a scientist so I welcome any critiques. I think building a projectile system on the moon would be best. Since, in space, mass is not important to force as it would be in a gravitational pull, a turret-like projectile system on the moon could fire very small projectiles at space junk, knocking the junk back towards Earth to burn up on reentry. The projectiles could be maybe the size of marbles and made of compacted moon dust or rock (for dust, would need to be combined with some binding agent to keep it from falling apart). Make it solar powered (assuming such a device would be stationary, large reserve batteries could be provided for those times the moon is behind Earth) and add a small rover for harvesting the material to make the projectiles with and the entire machine would be self-contained and could be remotely controlled. This would readily take care of smaller debris but could potentially take care of larger debris as well, so long as the trajectory is carefully calculated to minimize potential landfall damage upon re-entry.

     Reply
    spittingangels was starred spittingangels was unstarred
    Image of GitEmSteveDave_HurtHisKnee GitEmSteveDave_HurtHisKnee
    03/12/09

    @spittingangels: Did it look anything like this?: [i.gizmodo.com]
     Reply
    GitEmSteveDave_HurtHisKnee was starred GitEmSteveDave_HurtHisKnee was unstarred
    Image of Gann Gann
    03/12/09

    @spittingangels: It's an interesting concept. A laser would be more practical since you would only need to harvest energy and not matter. To avoid blinding any people, the laser would only fire at the debris as it rounded the horizon so a miss would just shoot past the earth. Of course, the cost savings of implementing this on the moon rather than the earth would probably be more than offset by the cost of getting all this to the moon in the first place.
     Reply
    Gann was starred Gann was unstarred
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