Two articles for the price of one in this aside. The Australians have figured out they can use their widefield array to help track debris orbiting the Earth, and that’s elaborated on (a little bit) in this article. This will help by adding another asset to the space situational awareness problem. It’s a bigger problem if only because the budget in the United States Air Force is being slashed to not do this mission (the old way–apparently there’s a new way–but of course no funding yet).
And then there’s the Swiss, who are working hard on how to get all these pieces out of the way, all described in this article. Of course, the answer is simple: get a robot satellite out there to grab all that trash and fling it towards Earth, so the trash burns up through re-entry. There is a video, with dramatic music, describing the problem and their solution. I keep thinking there is money to be made in this particular endeavor, but I’m not sure this particular answer is it.
We shall see…
Related articles
- Will ‘space junk’ problem intensify? (spacemart.com)
- Do we need a Space Party? (io9.com)
- WA radiotelescope helps track space junk (sbs.com.au)
- Swiss Space Janitor Satellite to Remove Space Junk by 2018 (nsnbc.me)
- The Rise of Chinese Space Junk (thediplomat.com)
- Air Force might shutter satellite- and space junk-tracking Space Fence soon (engadget.com)
- How the USAF Keeps Tabs on Space Junk (gizmodo.co.uk)
- Space Junk Expert Donald Kessler: We’re Polluting Space Faster Than Nature Can Clean It Up (VIDEO) (halyardconsulting.com)
- Could space junk become a thing of the past? (redferret.net)
The Mad Spaceball 