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How can this really be a question? It's obvious that it's expensive to launch things in rockets: that has very little to do with the orbital mechanics nerding o
by dmurray 6y ago
How can this really be a question? It's obvious that it's expensive to launch things in rockets: that has very little to do with the orbital mechanics nerding out of "actually you can't just fall into the sun, you need a surprising amount of delta-v" and everything to do with the cost of building skyscraper-sized shiny single-use machines that are 90 parts fuel, 9 parts expensively machined metal, and 1 part "garbage" payload.
In other words, launching garbage in any kind of rocket is incredibly inefficient compared to dumping it on the ground or into the ocean, so the consideration of "would it be cheaper to send it to the Sun or Jupiter" doesn't really come into question.
- coldcode 6y agoBut could we accelerate the payload using something other than a rocket? After all G-forces are not an issue for garbage. Assuming you could get to orbit, how much fuel would it take to get it going in the right direction and then have gravity do all the work?
- okl 6y agoYou would need a delta-v of roughly 30km/s to decelerate the garbage sufficiently to let gravity do the job.
- kalium-xyz 6y agoSadly its also a waste of garbage to throw it in the sun, we can burn it or recycle metals later
- coldtea 6y ago>But could we accelerate the payload using something other than a rocket? As in?
- throwaway744678 6y agoA giant slingshot?
- alexpetralia 6y agoIf it clarifies, it is Forbes...