a thoughtful web.
Good ideas and conversation. No ads, no tracking.   Login or Take a Tour!
comment by glitchinthematrix
glitchinthematrix  ·  4225 days ago  ·  link  ·    ·  parent  ·  post: Kessler Syndrome

This is so very interesting. I don't understand why it isn't space agencies' prerogative to clean some of that stuff up. I don't understand why those satellites were not programmed to re-enter Earth after their mission has expired.





neptath  ·  4224 days ago  ·  link  ·  

It's the 21st century equivalent of "Nah man, we'll just take this water out of the lake, put our excrement in it, then dump it back into the lake and everything will be fine!"

In about a century, I expect someone will realize this is a problem (maybe we'll realize a use for the graveyard orbits or something along those lines) and then there will be a mad dash of policy-making to try to preserve what orbits we have left and clean up all the other junk that's floating around.

mk  ·  4225 days ago  ·  link  ·  

Typical human behavior: Never preserve a resource when it's easier to waste it.