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Ugly Truth of Space Junk
fysdt writes "Dealing with the decades of detritus from using outer space — human-made orbital debris — is a global concern, but some experts are now questioning the feasibility of the wide range of 'solutions' sketched out to grapple with high-speed space litter. What may be shaping up is an 'abandon in place' posture for certain orbital altitudes — an outlook that flags the messy message resulting from countless bits of orbital refuse. US General William Shelton, commander of Air Force Space Command, underscored the worrisome issue of orbital debris during a presentation at the National Space Symposium on April 12, 2011. In a recent conference here, Gen. William Shelton, commander of the US Air Force Space Command, relayed his worries about rising amounts of human-made space junk."
The creators of PlaneteS basically stated that they tried to get everything about oribital mechanics correct, except for the central premise of hiring people solely for collecting space junk, which would be massively ineffective and inefficient.
I've always been partial to the 'puffball' technique: using a large (on the order of tens of kilometres in diameter when deployed), low mass loose mesh of fine fibres, with any incident debris vaporising the fibres and coming to a halt over a distance of a kilometre or so, without breaking it up and creating more debris.