Senators introduce bill to thin out the 900k pieces of orbiting junk

Re:Senators introduce bill to thin out the 900k pieces of or... by DocTomoe on Friday September 16, 2022 @01:32AM (#32862468)

Much like surface trash cleanup, the perfect is the enemy of the good. The goal is "less junk on the streets", not necessarily "absolutely squeaky-clean streets". First get rid of that rusty fridge that someone dumped in the woods before we deal with all the cigarette butts.

Let's focus on the more problematic, larger objects first, that are at risk of creating much more debris if hit.

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Re:Senators introduce bill to thin out the 900k pieces of or... by rich_sasha on Friday September 16, 2022 @02:42AM (#32862871)

What's the minimum size at which debris is dangerous?

Since everything is moving at orbital speeds, and generally at an angle to each other, i understood even small fragments move at a few km/sec relative to what they hit, so don't need to be particularly large.

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Re:Senators introduce bill to thin out the 900k pieces of or... by gattilorenz on Friday September 16, 2022 @07:17AM (#32864614)

True, but I imagine that, the smaller the object, the smaller the chance that it will be hit/it will hit something, and a smaller amount of fragments that the hit can generate.

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