Naked Science Forum
Non Life Sciences => Physics, Astronomy & Cosmology => Topic started by: Geezer on 17/11/2009 03:47:42
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Will all the junk we have put into space eventually form a ring around Earth, or will it even form into a small moon?
(BTW, Our astrosheepy asked me to pass along this question - personally I don't think it's worth tuppence.)
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Looking at the first three pics...
http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Space_debris
Description fits the geo image.
The following graphics are computer generated images of objects in Earth orbit that are currently being tracked. Approximately 95% of the objects in this illustration are orbital debris, i.e., not functional satellites. The dots represent the current location of each item. The orbital debris dots are scaled according to the image size of the graphic to optimize their visibility and are not scaled to Earth. These images provide a good visualization of where the greatest orbital debris populations exist. Below are the graphics generated from different observation points.
The GEO images are images generated from a distant oblique vantage point to provide a good view of the object population in the geosynchronous region (around 35,785 km altitude). Note the larger population of objects over the northern hemisphere is due mostly to Russian objects in high-inclination, high-eccentricity orbits."
As to what will happen to it.. looks like it's already in a ring of sorts, perhaps as the moon gets further away so will the debris, or all come crashing back to earth.
Science - It'll either save the world or destroy us all.
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If the UN had any
balls teeth, it might do something about "space littering".
(BTW - Astrosheepy told me to say that.)
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I think someone is already doing something about this
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Way cool! If they can use a fusion reactor to convert all that crap into energy, they'll easily beat everyone else to Andromeda.
(BTW - That idea had B-all to do with Astrosheepy.)
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I think same amount of effort will be put into controling it as is put into reducing global warming !.
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I think same amount of effort will be put into controling it as is put into reducing global warming !.
wait.. if we keep sending stuff up there soon it'll be dense enough to block out the sun completely...
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wait.. if we keep sending stuff up there soon it'll be dense enough to block out the sun
Someone else has had that idea ...
At the NASA Institute for Advanced Concepts (NIAC) meeting last fall, Roger Angel, an astronomer and optics expert at the University of Arizona, produced a highly detailed – and highly futuristic -- proposal for a sunshade huge enough to cut incoming sunlight by 1.8 percent. That, he says, should counteract the warming expected from a doubling of atmospheric carbon dioxide... Angel suggests that the shield, covering an area of 4.7 million square kilometers (slightly smaller than the area of the continental United States west of the Mississippi River), would be best made as a cloud of 16 trillion free-flying circular refractors, each 0.6 meter (2 feet) in diameter. . Each refractor would be about 5 microns thick and weigh 1.2 grams. The refractors would be launched in stacks and then deployed upon reaching the target zone.
http://www.astrobio.net/includes/html_to_doc_execute.php?id=2309&component=news
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I expect a mad scientist to build something really exciting from the junk. Like a new coca cola machine, shooting bottles of death on the invading XtrTrstrls or however they spell it. Anyway, it reminds me of my room, a lot of junk.