Space Debris: A Subtle Way to Doom Humanity

[Lorence.xD]

Let's be honest, while countries/private corporations are not interested in space exploration so much that they will be hindered by space debris no one will do anything about it.
So catch a great business idea for now, the business of clearing the orbit from space debris. I am sure that the first person to do this will become one of the richest people on earth simply because the longer humanity lives the more garbage will appear in orbit.

That is what exactly this problem will make, new businesses. This time, it will be a race on who will be the first to come up with a practical and efficient solution to this profound problem. The pioneer cleaners will be swimming in money. There are solutions being developed and they are pretty sci-fi to be honest. If you watch Youtube video, they have there the proposed solutions.

[Lorence.xD]

Space junk cannot orbit Earth forever. It will either be pulled towards us or away from us into space. If it gets pulled towards it's going to burn in the atmosphere and if away we shouldn't really care. The only thing this junk can interfere with is orbital stations and satellites, but if that happens people will have to find a way to shield from the debris.

If we wait for them to go down, it will take a long time and we will accumulate more space debris the more we neglect it. It is funny that you posted that we should wait it out, did you know that space debris orbit the LEO like satellites which means they will stay there for a long period of time. Have you seen the damage of a speck of space debris because it is moving at orbital speed which means when it comes in contact with a satellite, it will be an obliteration.

[fiulpro]

One should understand the fact that taking all this debris out would cost millions , the only thing that can work is :

Don't leave things there in the first place.

I do believe that the space centers like Nasa are very capable of teaching this to their workers and implying this as a rule. Space Debris has been there for years and it could actually cause fatal accidents too.

The situation is already into consideration and the project OSCaR (full for : Obsolete Spacecraft Capture and Removal) is already on this , I read the news regarding this on google and if you are interested you can try and search for the project.

They are going to use inexpensive equipments and try and clear up the non useful materials revolving around earth. It does not even end there , they have to then find a proper way to not litter the earth too and dispose off these things safely. It's a two way project. If you are keeping space from littering you have to take care that this material is not thrown anywhere without any consideration and steps taken to ensure the safety of the material and recycle.!!

[CarnagexD]

This has been the issue with realizing the starlink program of Elon Musk, we have tons and tons of Space Junk floating around our Exosphere that we haven't even thought about on how to cleanup. Starlink's promise of uktra-fast internet speeds is ultimately undervalued considering the amount of costs and hazard the junks will cause in future space missions.

[Lorence.xD]

This has been the issue with realizing the starlink program of Elon Musk, we have tons and tons of Space Junk floating around our Exosphere that we haven't even thought about on how to cleanup. Starlink's promise of uktra-fast internet speeds is ultimately undervalued considering the amount of costs and hazard the junks will cause in future space missions.

The most expensive space junks are those that are too small for eyes to see, they are by far the most dangerous because one hit from this micro space debris can be fatal for satellites or anything that comes its path. There are solution proposed and by far, shooting lasers in these micro space debris is the best call.

[yhiaali3]

Each time has different problems from the time that follows it and the time before it, before the space age and the satellites this problem did not exist and I think that scientists will definitely find a solution to it in the future.
This problem is really frightening. I have read that there are many industrial wastes around the Earth and their number exceeds the number of working devices and the most dangerous of all is the presence of explosive waste as a result of excess fuel and batteries on board rockets and old spacecraft.
I think that the big countries are aware of these risks and are working to find solutions and scientists are conducting research to do a project to try to collect space debris, but of course this requires heavy costs and international cooperation, especially from the rich countries.

[Hydrogen]

Its been said the cost to transport one kilogram of cargo into orbit, is so overwhelmingly expensive. If the moon were composed of pure gold. It would cost more to mine and transport gold from the moon, than the gold would be worth. That rule of thumb is pre Elon Musk, pre Space X. But still holds true. Claims of asteroids with "quadrillion" size net worths of rare minerals and metals trend towards marketing hype, with cost to extract and transport not factored in.

NASA says here it costs $10,000 to launch 1 pound (0.45 kilograms) of payload into orbit:  https://www.nasa.gov/centers/marshall/news/background/facts/astp.html

It could be more cost effective to salvage and repurpose space debris. Than it is to build new structures on the ground and blast them into space.

[Lorence.xD]

Its been said the cost to transport one kilogram of cargo into orbit, is so overwhelmingly expensive. If the moon were composed of pure gold. It would cost more to mine and transport gold from the moon, than the gold would be worth. That rule of thumb is pre Elon Musk, pre Space X. But still holds true. Claims of asteroids with "quadrillion" size net worths of rare minerals and metals trend towards marketing hype, with cost to extract and transport not factored in.

NASA says here it costs $10,000 to launch 1 pound (0.45 kilograms) of payload into orbit:  https://www.nasa.gov/centers/marshall/news/background/facts/astp.html

It could be more cost effective to salvage and repurpose space debris. Than it is to build new structures on the ground and blast them into space.

Most space debris are targeted to be that but the problem is the micro space debris that will have no recycling purposes, the clean up will be expensive but it will be worth it since we need as a civilization to advance further.

[DrG]

Its been said the cost to transport one kilogram of cargo into orbit, is so overwhelmingly expensive. If the moon were composed of pure gold. It would cost more to mine and transport gold from the moon, than the gold would be worth. That rule of thumb is pre Elon Musk, pre Space X. But still holds true. Claims of asteroids with "quadrillion" size net worths of rare minerals and metals trend towards marketing hype, with cost to extract and transport not factored in.

NASA says here it costs $10,000 to launch 1 pound (0.45 kilograms) of payload into orbit:  https://www.nasa.gov/centers/marshall/news/background/facts/astp.html

It could be more cost effective to salvage and repurpose space debris. Than it is to build new structures on the ground and blast them into space.

Most of the cost is human labor as there is essentially no mass production in rocketry up until this point. SpaceX has reduced the cost by essentially refurbishing all their rockets up to 10 tens (per Elon) but there's still no mass production. Give it another 10 or 20 years and you will see the cost lowered by several fold (probably not a magnitude) due to mass production of components and automation of many of the stages.

[Lorence.xD]

Most of the cost is human labor as there is essentially no mass production in rocketry up until this point. SpaceX has reduced the cost by essentially refurbishing all their rockets up to 10 tens (per Elon) but there's still no mass production. Give it another 10 or 20 years and you will see the cost lowered by several fold (probably not a magnitude) due to mass production of components and automation of many of the stages.

Human labor is not a problem, if I am correct, they might use automation instead of human workforce, the human resource is almost alloted in scientists and researchers. The most expense will be on the material that they are going to use, since the scarcity of some materials like platinum. If we were to wait a decade or two, the problem will only get worse.

[DrG]

Most of the cost is human labor as there is essentially no mass production in rocketry up until this point. SpaceX has reduced the cost by essentially refurbishing all their rockets up to 10 tens (per Elon) but there's still no mass production. Give it another 10 or 20 years and you will see the cost lowered by several fold (probably not a magnitude) due to mass production of components and automation of many of the stages.

Human labor is not a problem, if I am correct, they might use automation instead of human workforce, the human resource is almost alloted in scientists and researchers. The most expense will be on the material that they are going to use, since the scarcity of some materials like platinum. If we were to wait a decade or two, the problem will only get worse.

I volunteered at JPL and SpaceX is right next to my work. I can assure you that human labor is a bigger component than the actual materials. For something like the SR71 which had to use exotic alloys and needed new foundries created the materials costs were through the roof - Skunkworks admitted that the skin of the blackbird was responsible for much of the cost overrun. The current mindset of NASA JPL and SpaceX is to keep material costs down and reduce complexity to prevent failure - they would rather have cheaper successive missions that could only do 3 studies than 1 mission that does 9 and has a critical error and is a complete loss.

Elon launching SN8 which is basically a water silo with a rocket on the butt lol.

[mixerbtc]

Now we get to see that governments and corporations don't really care about our well-being. Space debris is bound to lead to a lot of issues, as you've said. And nobody is really doing anything against it at a high level.

[Lorence.xD]

Now we get to see that governments and corporations don't really care about our well-being. Space debris is bound to lead to a lot of issues, as you've said. And nobody is really doing anything against it at a high level.

Bureaucracy and government funding is the problem yes, but most of the research are still on its early phases which has skeptics on the side, one good funding and a go signal is only needed for this to go full scale. Do not worry, space agencies have a lot of persuasion power when it comes to this and governments know the trillion dollar space industry.

[coolcoinz]

Space junk cannot orbit Earth forever. It will either be pulled towards us or away from us into space. If it gets pulled towards it's going to burn in the atmosphere and if away we shouldn't really care. The only thing this junk can interfere with is orbital stations and satellites, but if that happens people will have to find a way to shield from the debris.

If we wait for them to go down, it will take a long time and we will accumulate more space debris the more we neglect it. It is funny that you posted that we should wait it out, did you know that space debris orbit the LEO like satellites which means they will stay there for a long period of time. Have you seen the damage of a speck of space debris because it is moving at orbital speed which means when it comes in contact with a satellite, it will be an obliteration.

Yet we have so many satellites orbiting the Earth and let's not forget about the ISS. Why aren't they getting obliterated if the dust is so dangerous?
Honestly, I'll start worrying when there are real cases of spacecraft being destroyed by these specks of dust. AFAIK Elon is launching every month and none of his rockets were affected.

[Vod]

Ten years ago I made a video of the earth in peril - one of the scenes was the amount of debris in orbit. I also showed scenes of famine, climate change, viruses, and even an AI takeover.   I was an activist for a couple decades, but now there is no need to warn anymore.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Owk4nICQLi0

Luckily, we will have technology in the next five years that will be able to move/capture debris from orbit, so we won't be completely helpless for centuries.

Yet we have so many satellites orbiting the Earth and let's not forget about the ISS. Why aren't they getting obliterated if the dust is so dangerous?
Honestly, I'll start worrying when there are real cases of spacecraft being destroyed by these specks of dust. AFAIK Elon is launching every month and none of his rockets were affected.

The ISS takes damage all the time, mostly from specks of paint that come off the rockets.  They do emergency maneuvers often.

Just recently, one of Elon's rockets was on a collision course with a $400 million satellite, and SpaceX couldn't do anything.   The satellite had to move.