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ISS Could Be Fitted With Lasers To Shoot Down Space Junk
An anonymous reader writes Japan's Riken research institute has suggested a new idea for dealing with space junk. They say a fiber optic laser mounted onto the International Space Station could blast debris out of the sky. From the article: "To combat the increasingly dense layer of dead satellites and miscellaneous space debris that are enshrouding our planet, no idea — nets, lassos, even ballistic gas clouds — seems too far-fetched to avoid. Now, an international team of researchers led by Japan's Riken research institute has put forward what may be the most ambitious plan to date. They propose blasting an estimated 3,000 tons of space junk out of orbit with a fiber optic laser mounted on the International Space Station."
Does poking holes space junk make it disappear or make more of it?
The idea of using lasers to de-orbit space debris has been around for a while.
http://adsabs.harvard.edu/abs/...
Back when I was working on lasers for power beaming, the idea was discussed as an alternate use for the ground-based lasers.
http://www.geoffreylandis.com
See, that's the mistake supervillains make... You need to start small. Start with a wealthy but small place, like Martha's Vineyard, so that the powerful know that this is coming for them, so that they can put pressure on their private government officials to make it happen. Then move on to bigger and bigger wealthy suburbs and cities until you get to Washington.
After all, if you destroy DC, you destroy the people that are authorized to pay you in the first place.
Do not look into laser with remaining eye.
Here is the problem. Blowing up or melting items does not work.
But if you heat up one side of an object, that side out-gasses or vaporizes and alters the orbit. Pick the side intelligently and you can slowly nudge stuff into a decaying orbit.
W..w..W - Willy Waterloo washes Warren Wiggins who is washing Waldo Woo.
Just imagine, you are done with they days duties on-board the ISS, then you slip into your jumpsuit and grab a stick and shoot down space junk. This is simply put, SPACE INVADERS for real :D
And the answer is...
None! We're not even talking enough laser to blind someone at that range, much less vaporize something/someone....
"I do not agree with what you say, but I will defend to the death your right to say it"
> Just leaves smaller material in orbit.
Yes, then you have to shoot them again to score more points. At least this doesn't have B&W vector graphics.
so why bother.
"Win treats sysadmins better than users. Mac treats users better than sysadmins. Linux treats everyone like sysadmins."
there is a better article here: http://www.csmonitor.com/Scien...
you can read the full paper (for free) here: http://www.researchgate.net/pr...
Anons need not reply. Questions end with a question mark.
Ok, this is a nice plan and all, but there is one little problem: how do you keep the sharks alive in a vacuum?
The only thing necessary for evil to triumph is for it to be pitted against a slightly greater evil
Planetes was a cool anime until near the end when the characters all when off the damn rails.
Anyhow, the headline and description are terrible. The plan is not "blasting" debris out of space. They're using the lasers to degrade the orbit. The atmosphere would then destroy the debris. Of course, using lasers to "burn", "propel", or "push" the debris out of orbit doesn't sound nearly as sexy as "blasting" it. So, for everyone talking about how "blasting" will simply create more debris, it's not an issue.
Irony: Agile development has too much intertia to be abandoned now.
How does heat affect the orbit?
You vaporize one side of the object, and the expanding gases provide some thrust.