[Tommy]

Originally Posted by Wes Tausend

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Geez, Ron.

I wonder if this threatens Hubble?

I suppose this was bound to happen sooner or later. There is no way, IMO, that they can keep track of all the debris that happens to stay in orbit; and even if they could, nothing can be done about it now ...yet.

Now we need a commercial Space Waste Management Service to "sweep" the streets ...er orbits.

The real 2010 Space Odyssey. Figures that would be one of the first actual jobs up there, eh?

Probably won't pay much, the mafia will get involved, and if you fall off the truck, stop-to-stop, you're really, really screwed.

Wes


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Actually, they do keep track of every object large enough to observe. I developed software systems that did that very thing way back when I was in the North American Air Defense Command in the mid 1970s. What makes the job manageable is that the orbit of an object will not change rapidly unless it has maneuvering thrusters or it hits something. So, once you know the orbit of an object, you can predict its future path with a high degree of accuracy. .... BTW, there's plenty of room up there unless you want to put your satellite in the very same popular orbit other people already use.