Riding a laserbeam into space

[rocketeddy]

Back when I was 17, I went through the process of applying for university courses. I knew I wanted to study Physics with a specialization in a space related field, but at the time it wasn't really clear to me what the difference between "astrophysics" and "space science/technology" was. Somebody, and I confess I have sadly forgotten who, explained

Comments

[rocketeddy]

It wouldn't spread anything around in the same way spreading dirt from a tidy pile across the floor would. Debris isn't stationary, it's flying around at HUGE speeds. The laser would simply change its direction slightly so that it misses another spacecraft (or even another piece of debris) instead of flying straight into it.

There have been lots of studies looking into cleaning up the debris, but it's a really difficult thing to do. You can't just go up with a hoover. The two biggest problems are:
1. the immense distances between objects. This makes it difficult for your womble to get to and clean up more pieces of debris than you added by launching it - and more expensive.
2. the huge speeds involved. We're talking about several km per second, or thousands of mph. How do you "collect" something that is capable of punching a hole straight through you like a rail gun? If you try to match speed with each object, the propellant you'd need to carry with you goes up exponentially

[rocketeddy]

Oh... and I know you were joking, but you also hit on a very important point. If we were to "contract out" a cleanup job to a private company, who would pay for it? It's not an easy question to answer!