Guys It’s space. Don’t crash the junk into the Moon. Just point it it nearly any other direction, give it a kick, and it’s off into the endless nothing.
strvn_artist on
Waiting for the Andy Weir novel where someone gets stranded on the moon, then uses the moon graveyard to build a ride home…
ADearthOfAudacity on
We can’t be satisfied with junking up this planet, we need to take it to other worlds too.
jekewa on
Pushing a satellite that’s orbiting a few hundred miles to impact on the moon a couple hundred thousand miles away is not as easy as “go up.” Neither is just “shoot it into space.” They weren’t sent with escape velocity capabilities.
Satellites are unfortunately in the “what goes up must come down” category, and the best we can hope for is complete destruction in the atmosphere without hitting the ground or something in the air.
Or we need to develop collection technology that can accelerate them into space. If we can do that, the sun is a better graveyard, as it probably already collects more space junk than we’ve ever created, and is gravitationally helpful, if we can get something far enough from the Earth and moving in its general direction. A little more care than that, but easier than trying to hit the moon.
DivineMomentsOfWhoa on
Wow they are already planning the future moon slums.
dark_knight097 on
Crazy they’re already planning on where to litter and dump garbage on the moon
CollegeStation17155 on
A while back, Niven wrote a story about using a specific crater on the Moon (a real crater; named after Del Rey) to dispose of high level nuclear waste, and people later needing to send robots into the crater to scavenge it as a “kick start” in He3 fusion reactors.
Calenchamien on
Pretty sure I just recently saw a post asking if we’d really treat exploit another planet for resources if we could get there Pandora-style.
And then this: using the moon as a dumping ground, with at least one person thinking “let’s just blast it off to become some other planet/sun/system’s problem”.
This is not encouraging
gadget850 on
Middens are an archaeological treasure trove.
Andy Griffith approves.
Garriganpielax on
Didn’t the Navajo sue over this like last year?
NamesAreHard119 on
Ah yes, a lunar landfill is exactly what I I wanted to see in my telescope.
slatchaw on
What about the blow back from the collision on the moon, the amounts of regolith flying into the orbit? Is that not any concern?…..on the other side, if there was a spot it would be a good place to send recyclers to later recover materials
sandyman88 on
We’ve crossed a new threshold, we will now begin to pollute the moon
Takakikun on
Paywalled. Can you paste the article or provide a free link? Or just list the lunar sites the title suggests are included?
jcrestor on
We couldn’t possibly have called it a junkyard, because that’s what it is. We are now planning junkyards on other celestial bodies. But it has to be dressed up in vocabulary that is reserved for our beloved dead. Because it sounds so much nicer.
I just don’t like euphemisms. There is nothing wrong in having a junkyard somewhere if it is worth it. But please let’s call it what it is.
15 Comments
Guys It’s space. Don’t crash the junk into the Moon. Just point it it nearly any other direction, give it a kick, and it’s off into the endless nothing.
Waiting for the Andy Weir novel where someone gets stranded on the moon, then uses the moon graveyard to build a ride home…
We can’t be satisfied with junking up this planet, we need to take it to other worlds too.
Pushing a satellite that’s orbiting a few hundred miles to impact on the moon a couple hundred thousand miles away is not as easy as “go up.” Neither is just “shoot it into space.” They weren’t sent with escape velocity capabilities.
Satellites are unfortunately in the “what goes up must come down” category, and the best we can hope for is complete destruction in the atmosphere without hitting the ground or something in the air.
Or we need to develop collection technology that can accelerate them into space. If we can do that, the sun is a better graveyard, as it probably already collects more space junk than we’ve ever created, and is gravitationally helpful, if we can get something far enough from the Earth and moving in its general direction. A little more care than that, but easier than trying to hit the moon.
Wow they are already planning the future moon slums.
Crazy they’re already planning on where to litter and dump garbage on the moon
A while back, Niven wrote a story about using a specific crater on the Moon (a real crater; named after Del Rey) to dispose of high level nuclear waste, and people later needing to send robots into the crater to scavenge it as a “kick start” in He3 fusion reactors.
Pretty sure I just recently saw a post asking if we’d really treat exploit another planet for resources if we could get there Pandora-style.
And then this: using the moon as a dumping ground, with at least one person thinking “let’s just blast it off to become some other planet/sun/system’s problem”.
This is not encouraging
Middens are an archaeological treasure trove.
Andy Griffith approves.
Didn’t the Navajo sue over this like last year?
Ah yes, a lunar landfill is exactly what I I wanted to see in my telescope.
What about the blow back from the collision on the moon, the amounts of regolith flying into the orbit? Is that not any concern?…..on the other side, if there was a spot it would be a good place to send recyclers to later recover materials
We’ve crossed a new threshold, we will now begin to pollute the moon
Paywalled. Can you paste the article or provide a free link? Or just list the lunar sites the title suggests are included?
We couldn’t possibly have called it a junkyard, because that’s what it is. We are now planning junkyards on other celestial bodies. But it has to be dressed up in vocabulary that is reserved for our beloved dead. Because it sounds so much nicer.
I just don’t like euphemisms. There is nothing wrong in having a junkyard somewhere if it is worth it. But please let’s call it what it is.