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Satellite Collision Debris May Hamper Space Launch
Matt_dk writes "The debris from a recent collision involving two communications satellites could pose a serious threat for future launches of spacecraft into a geostationary orbit, a Russian scientist said on Friday. Future launches will have to be adjusted with regard to the fact that the debris [from the collision] has spread over an 800-km area and will gather at a common orbit in 5-6 years."
Unfortunately, this is not Star Trek, where we can just point some magical energy beam at something and "vaporize" it, rendering it harmless. We have to deal with Real Physics here, especially energy constraints. How much energy does do you think it takes to boil a few hundred kilograms of iron? Do you think we have anything remotely like that which we could feasibly launch into orbit? What do you think happens when it inevitably cools?
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to get into geostationary you have to pass the 300 mile mark. If you were to hit anything on the way.. bad stuff!
Vaporizing the crap is not feasible, nor is putting extremely large lasers in orbit. Fortunately, neither is necessary. You build a very high peak-power pulse laser on the ground and use it to hit the bits of debris with femtosecond pulses that vaporize a few micrograms off each of them. The vapor acts like a rocket engine, its reaction force slightly changing the orbit. Hit each bit again every time it comes around and soon it is in a decaying orbit. Space Broom
Warning: this article may contain humor, sarcasm, parody, and perhaps even irony. Read at your own risk.
> I thought the collision was at like 300mi altitude. Now they'r saying this causes
> problems at Geosynchronous orbit?
> What am I missing?
The fact that in order to get from here to there one must cross the intervening space.
> I thought GEO was at like 30,000 miles above the earth.
Closer to 22,000.
> I didn't think the shuttle planned on traveling that high anyway.
Some of the wreckage was scattered into orbits that could intersect that of the Shuttle while it is on its way to Hubble.
Warning: this article may contain humor, sarcasm, parody, and perhaps even irony. Read at your own risk.
All the cool planets sort their space debris into convenient rings using the gravitational pulls of small moons. We just need to invest in placing a few in low orbits and they will quickly destabilize anything in orbits not resonant with their own.
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