We've got a lot of environmental problems going on right now on Earth. But it appears as though our problems are soon (if not already) going to extend past our atmosphere and into orbit.
Last month, two satellites collided while in orbit. One was a defunct Russian satellite, but the other was an American telecommunications satellite that was still in operation. Hundreds of thousands of people temporarily lost their signals.
It was considered a fairly big deal since this was the first time something like this has ever happened. Notions of another Cold War were even brought up. But the everlasting impacts of this are very notable. With the crash, at least 600 pieces of debris were created and now float freely in the atmoshphere.
Add that to the already 18,000 or so man-made objects in orbit and you've got one hell of a mess. Not only is this making satellites more vulnerable, but the space programs, which already face billions of different risks, are also now at greater risk of damage due to 'space waste'.
Space has the potential to become another victim of the Tragedy of the Commons. I wonder if the environmental movement will ever encompass space?
Showing posts with label Space. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Space. Show all posts
Monday, March 23, 2009
It's a bird! It's a plane! It's...Water?
In the weeks before Tim and I's presentation on water conservation, I read a book aptly titled "Water". It's written by an ecologist from England, Julian Caldecott, and provides a wonderful overview of the topic.
In his chapters discussing the history of water on Earth, he describes a well-accepted theory on how water first appeared on Earth. It basically works like this. Comets and asteroids have been found to contain vast amounts of water, usually contained as ice. Throughout the Earth's billions of years in existence, comets and asteroids (many containing water) crashed into the planet, gradually filling up the Earth's oceans, rivers, lakes and aquifers.
I think that's pretty cool. So here's something to ponder: The Earth is running out of fresh water. What if we were to somehow access that water on those galactic rocks? Perhaps by landing on them and steering them to Earth and safely getting the water from inside. Or even directing them to hit Earth's surface. The human and environmental costs of that would be massive, but at least we'd get some water. There's all this talk regarding comets destroying the Earth and whatnot, but maybe it could have some benefits.
I think it's quite the idea.
Outlandish? Yes.
Expensive? Absolutely.
Technilogically feasible? Not even close (yet...).
Necessary? Probably not.
But it does have the makings of a ridiculous Hollywood motion picture. Let's see what you got, Spielberg.
In his chapters discussing the history of water on Earth, he describes a well-accepted theory on how water first appeared on Earth. It basically works like this. Comets and asteroids have been found to contain vast amounts of water, usually contained as ice. Throughout the Earth's billions of years in existence, comets and asteroids (many containing water) crashed into the planet, gradually filling up the Earth's oceans, rivers, lakes and aquifers.
I think that's pretty cool. So here's something to ponder: The Earth is running out of fresh water. What if we were to somehow access that water on those galactic rocks? Perhaps by landing on them and steering them to Earth and safely getting the water from inside. Or even directing them to hit Earth's surface. The human and environmental costs of that would be massive, but at least we'd get some water. There's all this talk regarding comets destroying the Earth and whatnot, but maybe it could have some benefits.
I think it's quite the idea.
Outlandish? Yes.
Expensive? Absolutely.
Technilogically feasible? Not even close (yet...).
Necessary? Probably not.
But it does have the makings of a ridiculous Hollywood motion picture. Let's see what you got, Spielberg.
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