Japan has come up with a new gadget. The Japanese gadget is a giant net, which Japan hopes to deploy in orbit to sweep up space junk. The Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency and Nitto Seimo Co, a fishing net company have joined forces, and are planning to tackle the problem of debris in space that threatens to wreck space shuttles and satellites. The thin metal net, spanning several kilometers, will be deployed by satellite and sweep up waste in its path as it circles the earth. After several weeks, the net will become charged with electricity and be drawn back towards the earth, with both the net and its contents burning up on entering the atmosphere.
What do you think? A World Wide Web for junk or a waste of space?
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I always feel we left too much junk in space. It's only right to clean it up. We are not the only ones in this universe.
ReplyDeleteThat is so cool... Reminds of an manga/anime about a group of astronauts whose full time occupation was collecting debris (planetes, by Mokoto Yukimura).
ReplyDeleteAdmittedly, this sounds much more efficient than having a team of people up in space going after junk piecemeal... ah, the marvels of technology.
I also imagine the electrodynamic tether technology involved will have a number of other practical applications too! (yes I looked up more info on jaxa)
Thanks for the heads up, I'm going to have fun dreaming up stories about this to myself for weeks to come! : j
Thanks Lina and Alesa,
ReplyDeleteAgree with you Lina that we need to keep space clean and not pollute it with junk. Sounds like a cool manga, Alesa, I'll have to check it out.