Earth's orbit trash to be reused

[Phenix]

As the begining to the mobile factory complex construction, how about using the space shuttles to transit parts from Earth for a foundry module construction.

The foundry module will be powered by solar energy.

The shuttles would then in the same mission grab materials on Earth's orbit and bring them to the foundry module.

It would also help to remove the trash floating around Earth's orbit and be reused as raw material for orbital constructions.

[Boxy]

I'd rather use the Atlas V rockets, or perhaps the Falcon 9 Heavy rockets. The Space Shuttle has poor cargo-carrying capacity and if I recall correctly, they were banned from messing with civilian hardware after the Challenger disaster -- the Challenger mission, which killed seven astronauts and destroyed a significant portion of USA's spaceflight capacity, was to put up a communications satellite. But enough about the Space Shuttle; I think Prado and others have already railed against it sufficiently.

Do you know how much "space junk" there is? I'm curious if anyone has any stats on the matter. From what I recall, things as small as screwdrivers are significant enough to need to be tracked. Even if we got a thousand screwdrivers together, it probably wouldn't be enough for an industrial-capacity foundry.

[joertexas]

{Do you know how much "space junk" there is? I'm curious if anyone has any stats on the matter. From what I recall, things as small as screwdrivers are significant enough to need to be tracked. Even if we got a thousand screwdrivers together, it probably wouldn't be enough for an industrial-capacity foundry.}

I don't know about the stats, but I think there's still a business opportunity to play garbage truck as a service to the spacefaring "public".

JR

[Phenix]

Yes, that is the point. If a database of space junks is available, an excellent business could start on garbage transit. Are there any customers ?

[Bluesteel]

Yes, that is the point. If a database of space junks is available, an excellent business could start on garbage transit. Are there any customers ?

NASA seem to be on the case:

http://orbitaldebris.jsc.nasa.gov


Julian

[Phenix]

Thanks Bluesteel,

NASA is doing analyzes based on observations and predictions. I think at the time where governments started their space programs, the heads of those programs did not think of having databases or even creating a junk database.

In the event that some super computers were used for engineering modeling at the time, there was no such datastorage capacity that we have for really low price now on.

A good fund starter would be to create for each ground launch an ecotax proportional to the launcher model and other ecotax on the company or oganization owning the payload.

The main caveat on the nations space military/defense programs where all devices being at orbit will all be cloaked for ever in a database for obvious reasons. For sure, no traces of these object even if they were decommissionned are to be rowed in commercial or public databases.

Now, it is to the government's responsability to salvage those junks and the safest would be to recycle in a foundry module at Earth's orbit for prefab manufacturing using prefab factory modules. As an exception, the sensible parts would be returned to Earth by Government/military missions for destruction or any other processes or be throwned toward the Sun.

Any part being 1mm (if possible) up to 10m are to be reused for building in priority space infrastructures.