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You can deorbit things by pushing them "up" from Earth which lowers their perigee on the other side of the orbit. A ground based high energy laser could ablate
by XorNot 1y ago
You can deorbit things by pushing them "up" from Earth which lowers their perigee on the other side of the orbit.
A ground based high energy laser could ablate material from Earth which would provide propellant mass and incrementally knock objects into deorbiting trajectories.
- dotancohen 1y agoAnd what happens to the ablated material? One large stage that is easily tracked via radar is preferable to tens or hundreds of milimetre size chunks that could potentially flake off while ablating the surface of a rocket stage or derelict satellite.
- mr_toad 1y agoAblation turns the material into individual molecules.
- dotancohen 1y agoYes, when done perfectly in a lab. Under less than ideal conditions, temperature gradients cause cracks and then flakes are released and expelled.
- RandomBacon 1y agoDrag brings those flakes to the ground.
- dotancohen 1y agoFlakes of solid material are typically far more than dense than structures made of the same material. Therefore flakes' orbital lifetimes are likely longer than structures made of the same materials.
- mnw21cam 1y agoPushing "up" on an orbiting body causes no change to the altitude at the other side of the orbit (that is, 180 degrees around the orbit). However, it does raise the orbital altitude 90 degrees ahead, and lowers it 270 degrees ahead.