Junkyard on the Moon

I would guess that junk in space that crashes down is confined to a reasonable debris field when it lands. Could there be an agreement to sent orbiting scrap into a designated debris zone ? This limits the hazard it presents, facilitates clean up , and may be a useful source to scavenge for usable bits.

20 tons is nothing, a few cars, maybe a tractor trailor but nothing to complain about..

Well what are the options for removing it? Surely we can't load it up and bring it back to earth. Maybe in the decades to come we can recycle it after we establish a base on the moon. Or we can just set it a drift in space. Those are the only two options I see.

Until we figure out how to reduce the cost of space transportation, this will be a ongoing problem. It is simply cheaper to fly to a distant location, discard "used" parts to save on fuel and return to earth.

It would be wise to reuse discarded lunar rovers and LEM bases if we were going establish a lunar based, but they are so spread apart that even this idea might unfeasible.

The best idea would be re-engineer our thinking about space exploration and figure out to travel cheaply without drumping our trash along the way.

Lets get working on the "impulse engines" and that "anti-gravity thing"

adrift in space is NOT an option. we hope to fly there some day. is this the beginning of an environmentalist movement to "save" the moon? what ecosystem are we hurting? sure, there is allot to learn from the moon. but let's not get all environmentally correct (EC) about the moon. a few probes here and there are not going to "kill" the lunar habitat. ultimately, anti-exploration translates to anti-progress.

the environmental community looks more and more like the Flat Earth Society every year. non-progressive zealots out to grind civilization to a halt. is there a list some where of all the benefits to mankind that have been derived from space travel? what kind of guilt drives a person to be so anti-human?

-A-

Progress is NOT progress if we do more harm than good by exploring space. This is our learning process and with continous improvement, we will be able to overcome these problems associated with space travel.

The ONLY zealots are the ones who simply prefer to ignore the problem rather than respect constructive feeback to engineering an effective solution.

EARTH FIRST!! (we'll trash the other planets later)

I am far more concerned about all the trash in earth orbit than a few probes on the moon. the dangers associated with orbital debris pose a far greater risk to space travel and human progress than stationary hulks abandoned on the moon. also, one needs to get into perspective the magnitude of the issue. these probes on the moon are like a hundred BBs spread out in a cow pasture. to claim this as a junkyard is nothing short of fear-mongering and alarm-ism.

yes, we need to reduce debris in space. yes, we need to continuously improve our practices. yes, pollution is a problem.

However, the assertion that the "ONLY zealots" are those not freaking out over the hundred BBs in the cow pasture is a bit extreme.

-A-

We should be both concerned about the all the trash in Earth orbit as well as those pieces we leave behind on other terrestrial objects. They both are directly related - it far cheaper to discard used pieces because of the high cost (~$10,000/lb) of space travel.

People are "not freaking out," as some would suggest. We are simply concerned. If this wasn't the case, why are NORAD and NASA continuously tracking space junk? The risk of impact with space junk is slight for orbiting space vehicles, but they are also concerned about contamination of other terrestrial environments as evident in NASA's protocols for the Viking and Pioneer space probes built back in the 70's.

Why put such effort in space exploration? Because they Understand the need to think about these scenarios in the Science of space exploration.

One civilization's trash is another civilization's archeological finds.

how can you be doing harm in a vacuum? and have the 'clangers' complained about the trash to their local council?? who exactly is complaining?...its all high quality scrap dontcha know...

if we ever build a manned station on Mars

i am sure that junk will become very useful

from trash to treasure

You don't seem to understand. The Chinese are going to bring all that stuff back and sell it on eBay so they can pay for thier space program :)

E

the chinese economy is BOOMING they dont need it

if thats what theywant to do

dont whinge get there first ..........