Space Junk ? A scary overview. Woah...

[DRR]

gabester wrote:
The graphics charting some of the debris as white dots around the earth really bring the message home. That junk field portrayed in WALL-E? We're well on our way to it already.
g=

That graphic charting the debris as white dots around the earth is horribly misleading. In that graphic, the dots are all the relative size of Rhode Island. There isn't one piece of space junk that's up there that's even a quarter of that size.

[Pam]

Black wrote:
I hope the folks at Nasa are reading the comments because there are some very clever ideas there.

It's NASA, not Nasa, nor is it pronounced Nassau!!!

[bazookaman]

[mikebw]

DRR wrote:
[quote=gabester]
The graphics charting some of the debris as white dots around the earth really bring the message home. That junk field portrayed in WALL-E? We're well on our way to it already.
g=

That graphic charting the debris as white dots around the earth is horribly misleading. In that graphic, the dots are all the relative size of Rhode Island. There isn't one piece of space junk that's up there that's even a quarter of that size.
Indeed, at that scale the relative size would be smaller than the pixels on your screen!

[mrlynn]

Just vacuum them up. One of these should do the job:



Planet Eater, from the original Star Trek.


/Mr Lynn

[freeradical]

DRR wrote:
[quote=gabester]
The graphics charting some of the debris as white dots around the earth really bring the message home. That junk field portrayed in WALL-E? We're well on our way to it already.
g=

That graphic charting the debris as white dots around the earth is horribly misleading. In that graphic, the dots are all the relative size of Rhode Island. There isn't one piece of space junk that's up there that's even a quarter of that size.
Yes, but if you run into even a tiny piece of junk at a high relative velocity, it will be like getting hit by an artillery shell.

[Paul F.]

We came very close to losing one of the shuttles on a mission due to an impact of a paint chip about 3/16" across....
It impacted one of the rear (as I recall) windows overlooking the cargo bay.
It left a deep "pit" in the window, coming dangerously close to punching a hole in it.

It was suspected that the paint chip may have been from a Saturn V launched in the 1960's.

[decay]

[DRR]

freeradical wrote:
[quote=DRR]
[quote=gabester]
The graphics charting some of the debris as white dots around the earth really bring the message home. That junk field portrayed in WALL-E? We're well on our way to it already.
g=

That graphic charting the debris as white dots around the earth is horribly misleading. In that graphic, the dots are all the relative size of Rhode Island. There isn't one piece of space junk that's up there that's even a quarter of that size.
Yes, but if you run into even a tiny piece of junk at a high relative velocity, it will be like getting hit by an artillery shell.
Not doubting the seriousness of the problem, just pointing out the flaws in the graphic. It's more propaganda than it is useful. Invokes an emotional response rather than conveying any useful information.

[MrNoBody]

mrlynn wrote:
Just vacuum them up. One of these should do the job:
...
Planet Eater, from the original Star Trek.

/Mr Lynn

This might just work....



Brown POS, from the sweaty MonkeyBoy of Redmond :thumbsup: