Page 10 - Trashing the Planet: Examining Our Global Garbage Glut

would travel from one piece of space junk to the next, deorbiting debris
one object at a time. The 4S designers note that a cleanup system like the
ESA garbage truck would require massive amounts of fuel to travel between
pieces of space junk. The 4S would solve this problem by capturing a piece
of debris and flinging it down into the atmosphere. The momentum from
the flinging motion would propel the 4S to the next piece of space junk,
minimizing fuel use. Researcher Jonathan Missel explains the urgency
behind his work:

It is well understood that we are past the point of no return.
Relying solely on improved tracking and avoidance [of space
junk] is not enough. . . . It is simply a technical form of sticking
your head in the sand and crossing your fingers. We are at
a point where the problem needs to be solved, with active
removal, not just avoided.

While Missel’s statement is accurate, no government or space agency is
yet committed to a full-scale cleanup of space junk. Such an undertaking
would be enormously expensive.

WHAT GOES UP

Can space junk land on Earth? In January 2016, three air tanks from a
Russian satellite fell from space and landed in a town in the Southeast
Asian nation of Vietnam. Unlike most pieces of space junk, the tanks
hadn’t burned up as they fell through Earth’s atmosphere. The junk
didn’t hit anyone or damage any structures on the ground. But local
residents reported that before the objects struck, they heard a sound
like thunder.
The largest piece of space junk ever to plunge toward Earth, without
making landfall, was Mir, a defunct Russian space station. In March 2001,
the 286,600-pound (130,000 kg) craft provided a light show to those on
the ground when it burned up high in the atmosphere and broke apart into

88 TRASHING THE PLANET