Using Lasers and Water Guns To Clean Space Debris

WSJdpatton writes "The collision between two satellites last month has renewed interest in some ideas for cleaning up the cloud of debris circling the earth. Some of the plans being considered: Using aging rockets loaded with water to dislodge the debris from orbit so it will burn up in the atmosphere; junk-zapping lasers; and garbage-collecting rockets."

Comments

What is this cartoon physics shit?

[Profane MuthaFucka]

Seriously, the image of something moving fast until you hit it with a cold beam or a bucket of cold water and then it STOPS dead in its tracks is cartoon physics.

What is spraying water at satellites going to do to them? Nothing at all. That's because cartoon physics was invented by cartoon artists. Duh.

God damn I hate it when English majors try to do physics. It's almost as bad as when Journalists try to write Perl code, or when an Art History major tries to write a fast-paced book about computer hacking. Before you know it, you've got a kid hacking the space shuttle with an empty USB drive enclosure.