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Space Sails Could Bring Used Rockets Back To Earth

Posted by Soulskill on from the how-about-a-space-hoover dept.

GordonCopestake writes "An article from New Scientist proposes that all new spacecraft have sails attached to bring them back to earth — a measure that would reduce the amount of garbage in space. From the article: 'The risk to spacecraft from a collision with space debris could be reduced by equipping launchers with a gossamer-thin "sail." The idea is to deploy the sail after the rocket has released its payload to amplify the drag of the last vestiges of the atmosphere, and so force the rocket out of orbit.'" Wired has a related story about the risks faced by the space shuttles as they share orbits with tons of drifting space debris. "... in the 54 missions from STS-50 through STS-114, space junk and meteoroids hit shuttle windows 1,634 times necessitating 92 window replacements. In addition, the shuttle's radiator was hit 317 times, actually causing holes in the radiator's facesheet 53 times."

5 of 76 comments (clear)

  1. Proud to be White by Anonymous Coward · · Score: -1, Troll

    I am so thankful that I'm White, and not a subhuman monkey ape like Obama.

    Obama == Chimp.

  2. i just got off the toilet by Anonymous Coward · · Score: -1, Troll

    i shit out an obama.

    plop!

    1. Re:i just got off the toilet by Anonymous Coward · · Score: -1, Troll

      Obama smells like shit. Looks like one too.

    2. Re:i just got off the toilet by Anonymous Coward · · Score: -1, Troll

      The fascinating thing about Obama is that despite the fact that he will be president for a few years, it is all for naught--the plain truth is that he will be a nigger all his life.

  3. Re:Where's Scotty when you need him? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: -1, Troll

    True, but remember, Obama is a nigger.