[SpaceProgram] We’ve Already Passed the Tipping Point for Orbital Debris - IEEE Spectrum

[Matt Johnson]

Cole, I find your depth of knowledge and enthusiasm for this idea to
be disconcerting. Also keep in mind that the poo cannon requires
firing a projectile. That adds some complexity to the approach. I
think the grapple or harpoon method sounds more practical. Those
methods could also be tested on a small scale.

--
Matt Johnson

On Thu, Oct 4, 2012 at 9:35 PM, cole santos <cksantos85 at gmail.com> wrote:
> Poo is mostly water and will volitize relatively soon. Anything not volitile
> will become extreamely light weightn when it cooks in the sun.
>
> On Oct 3, 2012 8:07 AM, "Lee von Kraus" <leevonk at gmail.com> wrote:
>>
>> I liked the poo cannon too but I just realized that since it would take
>> more than one poo to eject each piece of space junk, you would get rid of
>> the metal junk but would be left with a lot more pieces of frozen poo flying
>> around, a potentially more dangerous situation, right?....
>>
>>
>>
>> On Wed, Oct 3, 2012 at 1:59 PM, Jerry Isdale <jerry at mauimakers.com> wrote:
>>>
>>> I love the idea of trash cannons!
>>>
>>> And do check on PsyTek's links to the USAF Space Fence.
>>> One of the main purposes for the Maui astro observatories and
>>> supercomputing center is space debris tracking.
>>> They have some science-y scopes up there, but original DARPA funding was
>>> for debris tracking.
>>> One project they have is a laser satellite tracker/measurement system
>>> where they bounce a laser off sats to get high res distance measurements.
>>> hmm, maybe I can interest some of their techs in our program.
>>>
>>> Jerry Isdale
>>> http://MauiMakers.com
>>> http://www.mauimakers.com/blog/thursday-public-meeting/
>>>
>>> On Oct 3, 2012, at 5:21 AM, Matt Johnson wrote:
>>>
>>> > Cole, can you imagine the reaction when an obsolete Russian military
>>> > satellite is taken down by a frozen turd from the ISS. The diplomatic
>>> > repercussions would be huge.
>>> >
>>> > The idea is amusing though.
>>> >
>>> > --
>>> > Matt Johnson
>>> >
>>> >
>>> >
>>> > On Wed, Oct 3, 2012 at 4:19 AM, cole santos <cksantos85 at gmail.com>
>>> > wrote:
>>> >> Space based ablation with a laser would be best. Small bursts of an
>>> >> extremely high powered laser would vaporize one side creating a small
>>> >> amount
>>> >> of thrust, if fired repetitively it would deorbit the object
>>> >> eventually.
>>> >>
>>> >> On the other side of things waste from the iss could be ejected as
>>> >> projectiles frozen into optimal shapes for pushing objects. Toilet to
>>> >> ice-cube maker, to canada arm mounted with steam powered cannon.
>>> >> Projectiles
>>> >> impact objects over and over until they deorbit.
>>> >>
>>> >> Anything large should be sent to the local hackerspace in that
>>> >> orbit...
>>> >>
>>> >> On Wed, Oct 3, 2012 at 1:04 AM, Matt Johnson <railmeat at gmail.com>
>>> >> wrote:
>>> >>>
>>> >>> The BBC has a report of another idea for capturing space debris. It
>>> >>> is
>>> >>> to harpoon old satellites and drag them down:
>>> >>> http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-19803461. This seems
>>> >>> like an idea that might be testable on a small scale. Perhaps it is
>>> >>> relevant to SpaceGAMBIT.
>>> >>>
>>> >>> --
>>> >>> Matt Johnson
>>> >>>
>>> >>>
>>> >>>
>>> >>> On Tue, Oct 2, 2012 at 7:49 AM, Matt Johnson <railmeat at gmail.com>
>>> >>> wrote:
>>> >>>> I think the typical human behavior has been to move on to a new area
>>> >>>> once one becomes polluted. I am not sure how that would work in near
>>> >>>> earth orbit.
>>> >>>>
>>> >>>> Here is an article from 2/12 about a Swiss university effort to use
>>> >>>> a
>>> >>>> picosatellite to remove an older picosatellite:
>>> >>>> http://www.thespacereview.com/article/2032/1 This is an 11 million
>>> >>>> dollar effort so a bit too expensive for SpaceGAMBIT, but it is an
>>> >>>> interesting and useful idea and a lot cheaper then most things in
>>> >>>> space.
>>> >>>>
>>> >>>> --
>>> >>>> Matt Johnson
>>> >>>>
>>> >>>>
>>> >>>>
>>> >>>> On Tue, Oct 2, 2012 at 3:23 AM, Jerry Isdale <isdale at gmail.com>
>>> >>>> wrote:
>>> >>>>>
>>> >>>>>
>>> >>>>>
>>> >>>>> http://spectrum.ieee.org/aerospace/satellites/weve-already-passed-the-tipping-point-for-orbital-debris
>>> >>>>>
>>> >>>>> Interesting article from IEEE - although we are not seeing the
>>> >>>>> major
>>> >>>>> fallout
>>> >>>>> from this overpopulation yet, the effects will rise as time goes
>>> >>>>> on.
>>> >>>>> Perhaps some of our (SpaceGAMBIT) relatively near term effort could
>>> >>>>> be
>>> >>>>> on
>>> >>>>> addressing this problem.  We need to clean up our local area before
>>> >>>>> we
>>> >>>>> go
>>> >>>>> off trashing the rest of the solar system, and galaxy!
>>> >>>>>
>>> >>>>> Jerry Isdale
>>> >>>>> isdale at gmail.com
>>> >>>>>
>>> >>>>>
>>> >>>>>
>>> >>>>>
>>> >>>>> _______________________________________________
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>>> >>
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>>
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