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White House Issues Strategies To Combat Growing Orbital Debris Risks (wsj.com)
White House space officials have explicitly ruled out international treaties to combat hazards from orbital debris, even as they roll out strategies to revamp U.S. responses to the growing problem. From a report: President Donald Trump on Monday signed a directive formally establishing the Department of Commerce as the lead agency in providing collision-risk data to commercial satellite operators. The order, as expected, also calls for stepped-up efforts to develop voluntary industry standards covering satellite construction, orbit locations, and de-orbit plans -- all intended to reduce collision risks posed by aging satellites and thousands of pieces of debris circling the earth. Mr. Trump said the changes, among others he is championing, aim to ensure that "America will always be first in space" in both military and commercial arenas. The Pentagon will continue to maintain the central catalog of orbiting spacecraft and debris posing potential hazards to U.S. government and private satellites. But commerce department officials will have the authority to pass on that information to the industry, combined with data gathered from private or foreign government sources. Further reading: President Trump Directs Pentagon To Create New 'Space Force' Military Branch.
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Know those nets polluting the ocean, yes, tie them on a rocket, and pray for no Kessler effect! Easy Humm
Actually, this might also be a way to combat global warming. Get enough junk in orbit reflecting sunlight and the Earth will cool.
All by yourself without treaties...and voluntary self regulation? good luck with that. .The .DoC .has .done .so .well .handling .the .internet .too .!
Democracy Now! - uncensored, anti-establishment news
And right there you have ANOTHER mission for the new "Space Force". I had previously suggested that the "Space Force" should be structured like the Coast Guard; in that role, preventing or removing "hazards to navigation" would be right in their wheelhouse. SAR. Maintenance of navigational beacons. Removing - harvesting, more likely - junk or derelict satellites.
The test was especially troubling because it exposed the vulnerability of America's dependence on low-orbiting satellites, which are used for military communications, smart bombs and surveillance. In theory, last week's exercise could give Beijing the capability to knock out such satellites - a realisation that underlay the protests from Washington.
Goodbye, Slashdot!
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That would work right up until we need to stop the cooling. Might want to start building a train while working on the first project.
It is uncomfortable for me that a U.S. president is said to do things that are developed, communicated, and recommended by agencies and staff.
I think credit should be given in detail to everyone who was involved.
"explicitly ruled out international treaties to combat hazards from orbital debris"
Good move to save US manufacturing! Canada should pay to clean up space junk in orbit above Canada, NOT the US. And don't get me started on Mexico's orbit junk. We'll keep our orbits clean first with more surplus job trade creation! Another 18 dimensional plan for "leverage" that will pay off...err...next month.
I doubt this has anything to do with the (probably violating many treaties) "Space Force" he wanted to create. But in order to get buy in from him, the agencies convinced him that this was all his idea and what he asked for. And it seems to have worked, so I really don't care who is taking credit (we don't want to burst his bubble, do we?).
Only when things go well. When things go poorly, the underlings are the first to fall on their sword under a bus.
Any war in orbit leads to more deadly space junk, ending humanity's road to space.
Space wars can destroy whole continents with one asteroid, and end life on earth.
The Chinese test was against a satellite that was already de-orbiting and barely above the atmosphere. Of course China conducted their test without any regard to the satellite debris that continued orbiting. Earth based ASAT weapons are currently useless against the military and intelligence satellites which orbit in much higher orbits. The US already has a viable weapons platform capable of destroying satellites orbiting the earth. X-37B
Let the SkyClearance festivities begin!
Anything to escape the real issues he's facing ongoing, lol...
any one else feel like Trump is trying to remove science from space by going outside of NASA.
Pretty much the same as any other CEO... He is the CEO of the country, so gets credit for the R&D.
Nah, he probably watched it on the SyFi channel. For a Fox News Segment on "The Future"
If something is so important that you feel the need to post it on the internet... It probably isn't that important.
You're replying to a headline and article that credits the White House, not the President.
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Space mining will arrive as soon as they are done with creating AI and autonomous driving.
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I'm all for giving people credit for their work. In my daily work, I advise, mentor, coach, and team-up with others whenever possible. During our daily scrum, when we report what has been completed, I make it a point to say "Al did this really cool thing." I do not mention "Al did this really cool thing exactly the way I told him to" :) I hand out credit and congratulations, and deflect when they object with "but Ray you're the one who designed it", because part of my leadership style is to give out recognition rather than seek out recognition.
Having said that ...
The summary says "the President signed ...", and that is in fact the news. That Bob Jones, an intern in Boston, suggested something isn't news. When it becomes national policy by the President signing it, that's news.
Also, if the president chooses a bad leader him, choosing an art major with no relevant experience as Chief Security Officer, whose fault is it when the organization gets hacked big time? If a company president sets up a compensation structure that rewards opening accounts, and creates a corporate culture where being sneaky and underhanded is the norm, whose fault is it when low-level employees do sneaky, underhanded things to get new accounts open? Sure, the low-level employees are responsible for their own personal behavior, but the leader is responsible for what's going on throughout the organization, policies and widespread practices. I hold them responsible for bad or for good, when it comes to the broad policies.
Somebody suggested that policy, someone else probably suggested the opposite, or something totally different, and the leader chose and set the policy.
Does that mean the leader shouldn't point out where the idea came from? In a positive way, I think they should. I try to. And whatever policies Trump selects and puts into force, I'll hold him responsible for - credit or blame.
This is actually not a terrible point in that it would demonstrate being able to deorbit materials in a cost-effective manner, but I think you would burn too much fuel matching different inclinations to collect many satellites. Also I think overall the composition of satellites would be disappointingly low on valuable minerals.
The USA and Russia both tested such weapons on LEO objects. Chia was not the first to do this. They where the ones that made the biggest mess though..
I don't think you are cutting insolation by any measurable amount with space debris.
Insolation is improved with every collision. For a given mass, total insolation is inversely proportional to the debris radius.
In Donald Trump's presidency that's the case but it was NOT the case under all previous presidents. I know of a several incidents where the commander in chief took full responsibility for the actions of executive staff that he likely had nothing to do with. But don't expect that same behavior from the current occupant, he'll blame everyone but himself even when he's directly involved. That's what happens when you elect a narcissist.
It's not violating any treaties. The move is actually more of a reorganization than creating something new - isolating the space-related units from other forces and consolidating them.
And as for "has anything to do with it" - do you think Obama invented Obamacare?
Projects like this lie in desk drawers for decades, and get presented to any president that happens along. The one who decides to give the project a go-ahead gets to claim the credit.
45 5F E1 04 22 CA 29 C4 93 3F 95 05 2B 79 2A B2
It's not violating any treaties.
I was talking about the original vision when he named it months ago:
Trump in March 2018:
"Space is a war-fighting domain, just like the land, air, and sea," Trump told a an audience of service members at the Marine Corps Air Station Miramar. "We may even have a Space Force, develop another one, Space Force. We have the Air Force, we'll have the Space Force."
In Twitler's case it's the Dems that get blamed. He'll claim there's some law the Dems passed that requires him to do it (even though it was really passed by Republicans.) Even with control of the house and the senate he can't manage to get anything passed.
What a fucking loser he is. Jeebus H Christ, I almost wish we had W back.
Look on the bright side! Trump has promised to make the Martians pay for the cleanup..
Even with control of the house and the senate he can't manage to get anything passed.
And he blames the Dems for that too.
Get a job, or at least get an education.
Wrong venue Pasadena is a huge Reptilian Nazi Hive where the Borg Hiveheads eat Human people. A better location is Fry's Electronics in Burbank with the UFO crashed into the front. They should have rented out the huge parking lot for the 3 days and put up event tents. Plenty of hotels and transportation across the street at the Bob No Hope Airport.
Space living quarters with ion drive and a number of teeny ion robot rockets. Attach to debris, de-orbit, which doesn't take that much, rocket flies back to living quarters ship.
For that matter, don't need living quarters just a little remote control ion ship.
A few dozen ships and ground techs to run it.
(-1: Post disagrees with my already-settled worldview) is not a valid mod option.
The standard line of reasoning for most people seems to be:
.. giveHimCreditForEverythingGoodThatHappens();
.. blameHisStaffForEverythingBadThatHappens();
.. blameHimForEverythingBadThatHappens();
.. giveHisStaffCreditForEverythingGoodThatHappens();
if (you like the President)
{
}
else if (you dislike the President)
{
}
This isn't the first President who's taken undue credit or shirked deserved blame, nor will he be the last. And it works the same across the entire political spectrum. e.g. Clinton got credit for balancing the budget, while blaming the Republican Congress for making the budget cuts which actually balanced the budget.
And as for "has anything to do with it" - do you think Obama invented Obamacare?
Do you think it was Obama (or the Democratic Party) that started calling it that?
I'm getting a sense of deja vu about that
Idea: fire Trump into orbit so that his soft body parts can aborb some of that space junk.
When all you have is a hammer, every problem starts to look like a thumb.
Well, except that tax break they managed to pass. Sadly, it sounds a lot like the Democrats in 2010. They managed to pass the ACA but that's about all they really accomplished. Just like many people dislike the tax cut bill, many people disliked the ACA.
Both were bad ideas but that didn't stop the government from ramming it through anyway. Thanks Congress. Thanks SCOTUS. Thanks POTUS.
Can't wait to see what they will do to us next.
Yeah, you still haven't read the treaties , and you haven't a clue what the fuck your talking about. Grow up, progressive idiot.
"America will always be first in space"
America never has and never will be first in space. Y'ALL missed out on it. Sputnik and Gagarin.
First to the moon? Yeah, sure. Space? Nope!
I've said it before, and I'll say it again.
Instead of nukes, North Korea just needed to demonstrate the capability of lofting a few tonnes of sand and ball bearings into retrograde orbit, packed around some high explosives and a timer.
America has been spouting off about having the right to "deny our adversaries access to space". Well what's good for the goose is good for the gander.
When was the last time we launched a man into space on our own hardware, not begged and pleaded for someone else to take us up.
I am always troubled when I find myself not disagreeing with an A/C.
Just fire all the extra un-attached children into orbit, tell them to grab anything they see while they're up there and throw it downward.
Space Force for underage workers.
Trump haters sure do love George W Bush.
How much does Trump pay you to post this garbage?
Seriously either this is part of a slick, smooth, subtle campaign to reelect Trump... or else Democrat partisans have completely lost their minds.
Do you people really think doing mean-spirited, obvious character assassination is going to make people like you? You're doubling down on all the loathsome behavior that caused you to lose the last election.
And as for "has anything to do with it" - do you think Obama invented Obamacare?
Nope, the name and most of the shit in the bill is definitely the result of Republicans. Obama had a plan for universal healthcare, not what he was forced to push out through concessions.
And as for "has anything to do with it" - do you think Obama invented Obamacare?
The name "obamacare" was coined by republicans trying to hurt the ACA. Naive liberals thought "what's the problem?" Racist conservatives heard the dog whistle.
But in the Fatnixon Presidency: The Buck Stops Over There
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Big Giant Orange Head is setting up one agency to clear orbital debris, and another (the juvenile-named Space Force) to make debris.
Since making a mess is vastly easier than cleaning a mess, it's clear already who will win.
And there's the magic word, Winning!
wow, you really are ignorant. Do you know what the impulse of an ion motor is? Deorbiting a satellite would take months/years using current ion motor technology. ion motors are not there yet. that is why we are still doing R&D with them.