China has a plan to clean up space junk with lasers

phys.org ^ | 01/17/2018 | by Matt Williams, Universe Today

[mrsmith]

Death Star benevolent Space Debris Remover.

[Elderberry]

So the Junk would be vaporized by a laser.

Then the vaporized metals would cool, liquefy, and then solidify back into Junk again.

[Red Badger]

only smaller.....................

[Buckeye McFrog]

Why not a satellite containing a giant magnet that would orbit several times and then re-enter and plunge into the ocean?

[Red Badger]

Most of these parts are not iron. Some are, but light weight is what’s the norm. Aluminum, magnesium, zinc, titanium etc..............

[RinaseaofDs]

I think they use a lot of titanium, aluminum, and magnesium in those things. None of that is magnetic.

Cool idea though.

[cyclotic]

Some of my son’s buddies in the aerospace engineering major at his college are working on a clean up idea. They are doing a prototype with a cube sat soon that will do several orbits to try to catch some small debris.

I think they are using aerogel.

[jonascord]

If memory serves, didn’t China test an anti-satellite system, and all the debris from the test is still up there, screwing the launch windows for the rest of the planet?

[Red Badger]

Yes..............

[Red Badger]

Back in 2007, China conducted a anti-satellite missile test that resulted in the creation over 3000 of bits of dangerous debris. This debris cloud was the largest ever tracked, and caused significant damage to a Russian satellite in 2013. Much of this debris will remain in orbit for decades, posing a significant threat to satellites, the ISS and other objects in LEO.

Yes..............

[BeauBo]

Bull - Justification for violating treaties to put offensive weapons in space.

Hitting space junk with lasers will produce more smaller pieces of space junk - harder to track and avoid.

[Red Badger]

They must be aware that these pieces of junk are doing maybe 18k mph?

The kinetic energy of just a small paint chip would be like a 22LR round...................

[cyclotic]

It’s something they’ve been working on with NASA for several years so I’d guess they have any idea what they are trying to accomplish.

[Moonman62]

US Satellites are Space Junk to the Chinese.

...

Yep. This is cover for building a weapon.

[Oscar in Batangas]

RIGHT:

Take one piece of junk travelling at 17,500 MPH and turn it into TEN pieces of junk travelling at 17,500 MPH.

What’s not to like???

There’s a reason why I go quail hunting with shotgun shells rather than .22 cartridges.

[yefragetuwrabrumuy]

I like the idea suggested years ago to create a “big ball of goo” that would catch lots of such objects. A satellite that would deploy a large ‘airbag’, first filled with inert gas than a high expansion polymer foam.

Satellite retros would guide it into the path of high speed space junk.

[butlerweave]

China put the most junk up there when they blew up 1 satellite in a test

[Red Badger]

Now that might work!

A giant wad of chewing gum!

We could collect it free off city streets all over the planet!.....Except Singapore................

[dr_lew]

Yeah, I envisioned a gigantic styrofoam ball, or the like. A very naive concept, I’m sure.

[2001convSVT]

Yes, it looks more like a way to develop and test offensive Laser technology.

I have read about using thick Kevlar blocks to soak up space debris, after the blocks absorbs enough space debris they are de-orbited over the Pacific Ocean. The Kevlar blocks are the size of minivans and are combinable with radar and reaction jet modules to place them into the path of debris.