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Would it be feasible with some near-future technology to have an autonomous space rover in orbit that goes around collecting space junk?
by TulliusCicero 5y ago
Would it be feasible with some near-future technology to have an autonomous space rover in orbit that goes around collecting space junk?
- lrem 5y ago3 major options are discussed in https://youtu.be/yS1ibDImAYU https://youtu.be/yS1ibDImAYU Edit: that's an 8 minutes Kurzgesagt video.
- deleted 5y ago[deleted]
- beefield 5y agoOne of my plans for my retirement days is to make a cubesat that uses a solar sail to gain momentum and then somehow give that momentum to space junk so that the junk falls down to atmosphere faster. Then use the sails again to increase the momentum of the space garbage collector for the next piece of garbage. Unfortunately this plan has still quite a few gaping holes in it.
- allendoerfer 5y agoSounds like a good plan to add some space junk in form of a cubesat with solar sails.
- cromulent 5y agoElsa-D is up there now running some tests. https://asia.nikkei.com/Business/Aerospace-Defense/Japan-s-Astroscale-launches-space-debris-removal-satellite https://asia.nikkei.com/Business/Aerospace-Defense/Japan-s-A...
- nix23 5y agoNo not really, the massive stuff yes..maybe, but small stuff no. Just imagine the power you need to go on the same orbit and around the same speed just to pickup a fist sized trash piece, then you need energy again to slow it down so it can fall back to earth, or you take i with you (and that needs more energy too for you next trash pickup, because your mass got bigger). It's the old story: Oh we cut all the trees, time to invent a machine that can extract CO2 from the atmosphere.
- ultimape 5y agoYou can shoot lasers at it and the vapor knocks it out of orbit.