SPACE FLIGHT 2011 (interactive discussion)

[Entangled Proton]

Thanks for posting that. I've been following the articles from several orgs and companies who want to do something with the dead Sat's and boosters in orbit. It would make a great topic of discussion if we had a good following here on Ihub.
There's a number of companies who want the Sats to be declared "hands off". Presently recent gov regulations require new Sat's have the ability to self de-orbit when it is no longer performing a job. The biggest problem with space junk are the second stage boosters that eventually end up exploding in orbit.

The ESA "Space Harpoon" is a tool that can be used, but there are also other options these days being worked on. Is a dead Sat a hazard or an asset waiting to be claim ? Both the DOD and Nasa are spending millions to develope a robot to recycle parts from Sats in orbit and bring some back to life.

I hope to have a forum on Lagrange City dedicated to discussing "Is that piece of Space Junk a hazard or an asset waiting to be harvested ?".

Here's a couple articles I pulled up quickly dealing with the recycling dead sats;
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/07/26/space-junk-robots-recycle-debris-satellites-darpa_n_1705081.html
http://articles.boston.com/2012-07-30/business/32924231_1_defunct-satellite-telecommunications-satellite-orbit