# Expel all the trash to space! **URL:** \ **Category:** Great Debates\ **Created:** [November 8, 2011, 3:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/expel-all-the-trash-to-space/602245 "2011-11-08T03:47:29Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 18\ **Page:** 4
**Author:** ![Naxos](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/50afbb/32.png) [@Naxos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Naxos)\ **Post date:** [November 9, 2011, 2:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/expel-all-the-trash-to-space/602245/61 "2011-11-09T02:51:09Z")
> [@jrriojase](#): > > So, What do you think? Besides the cost and the potential of doing grave environmental damage in case of an accident while trying to eject it to space, etc, producing such huge amounts of waste that our society does is at least two orders of magnitude more damaging than the resulting waste. For example, the waste in energy and resources to bring a bottle of water to your local store for you to purchase, is significantly more damaging and costly than the plastic bottle in the trash after consuming it. For any unit of effort spent in trying to determine what to do with the waste, there should be at least 100 times the effort spent in trying to devise ways not to produce it in the first place. ---
**Author:** ![Princhester](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/3e96dc/32.png) [@Princhester](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Princhester)\ **Post date:** [November 9, 2011, 3:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/expel-all-the-trash-to-space/602245/62 "2011-11-09T03:04:09Z")
> [@BrainGlutton](#): > > Not even if the Lunar “seas” were real ones and filled with petroleum. Because it would all have evaporated by the time you got there, right? ---
**Author:** ![vivalostwages](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/d07c76/32.png) [@vivalostwages](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/vivalostwages)\ **Post date:** [November 9, 2011, 3:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/expel-all-the-trash-to-space/602245/63 "2011-11-09T03:17:58Z")
I give you… “Space Junk” by Wang Chung: [Wang Chung - Space Junk (The Walking Dead - soundtrack) - YouTube](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b5Xfch1oERc) ---
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [November 9, 2011, 3:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/expel-all-the-trash-to-space/602245/64 "2011-11-09T03:22:04Z")
Based on the thread title, I was expecting a penal-colony proposal . . . ---
**Author:** ![Dissonance](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/85f322/32.png) [@Dissonance](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dissonance)\ **Post date:** [November 9, 2011, 3:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/expel-all-the-trash-to-space/602245/65 "2011-11-09T03:42:28Z")
> [@Grumman](#): > > NBC materials on the other hand… what happens the first time a rocket fails, and dumps all that toxic waste into the atmosphere? [Radioactive zombies](http://zombieresearch.net/2011/04/17/zombies-created-by-radiation/) rise from the dead, obviously. ---
**Author:** ![Candyman74](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/ad7895/32.png) [@Candyman74](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Candyman74)\ **Post date:** [November 9, 2011, 12:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/expel-all-the-trash-to-space/602245/66 "2011-11-09T12:44:29Z")
> [@Candyman74](#): > > Would the processes of a space flight probably create more trash than it could actually carry, anyway? 11 is a query, and 19 refers to parts of the vehicle falling back to earth. My query’s the same as (as far as I can tell) post 11. The civilian and manufacturing infrastructure required to send a rocket into space presumably generates a lot of trash (from engineers’ lunches to transportation waste to a million other things). I don’t know, though; thus the query. ---
**Author:** ![John\_DiFool](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/john_difool/32/19543_2.png) [@John\_DiFool](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_DiFool)\ **Post date:** [November 9, 2011, 2:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/expel-all-the-trash-to-space/602245/67 "2011-11-09T14:34:06Z")
A [mass driver](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mass_driver) might be more economical and less foolproof-maybe. ---
**Author:** ![kanicbird](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/5f8ce5/32.png) [@kanicbird](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kanicbird)\ **Post date:** [November 9, 2011, 4:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/expel-all-the-trash-to-space/602245/68 "2011-11-09T16:20:13Z")
It’s a common school level answer to the trash issue, nothing to get worked up about, all it shows is she is normal and thinking outside the box. This is where great ideas come from. Hindering, and demeaning her is exactly the stuff that holds back humanity to the fairly primitive level of technology we have achieved. At one time cave-people laughed at Thor’s son for his idea of building a home out of wood, citing costs and the man hours required for a single home, that it would never be worth it, lucky Thor was a great father and encouraged him, and the teacher stopped much of the criticism too, and still to this very day Thor’s son gets a royalty for every home build out of wood 😉 ---
**Author:** ![jrriojase](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/d26b3c/32.png) [@jrriojase](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jrriojase)\ **Post date:** [November 9, 2011, 11:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/expel-all-the-trash-to-space/602245/69 "2011-11-09T23:44:15Z")
> [@kanicbird](#): > > It’s a common school level answer to the trash issue, nothing to get worked up about, all it shows is she is normal and thinking outside the box. This is where great ideas come from. > > Hindering, and demeaning her is exactly the stuff that holds back humanity to the fairly primitive level of technology we have achieved. > > At one time cave-people laughed at Thor’s son for his idea of building a home out of wood, citing costs and the man hours required for a single home, that it would never be worth it, lucky Thor was a great father and encouraged him, and the teacher stopped much of the criticism too, and still to this very day Thor’s son gets a royalty for every home build out of wood 😉 It’s not really hindering her, it’s just realistic thinking. Building a home out of wood is compeltely feasible, whereas lanching all trash to space is very, very different, although I see the comparisonand the way that story is related to this. I was also a bit… bothered, by her ignorance on other things, not just the proposal of launching all trash to space, but her general attitude towards the things said, such as “any cost is worth our lives”, which implies ignorance from her part. Tried talking to her about this, reasoned about all the costs. Her response: “If it’s going to cost that much, Why can’t they do it for free?” That pretty much sums up my effort to convince here, good bye, Ale\*, and I didn’t even care about your friendship or anything. \*the girl’s name ---
**Author:** ![Boyo\_Jim](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/87869e/32.png) [@Boyo\_Jim](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Boyo_Jim)\ **Post date:** [November 10, 2011, 1:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/expel-all-the-trash-to-space/602245/70 "2011-11-10T01:00:20Z")
> [@jrriojase](#): > > … > Tried talking to her about this, reasoned about all the costs. Her response: “If it’s going to cost that much, Why can’t they do it for free?”… That’s just breathtaking. I am in awe!. Genius! ---
**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\ **Post date:** [November 10, 2011, 1:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/expel-all-the-trash-to-space/602245/71 "2011-11-10T01:20:57Z")
> [@kanicbird](#): > > It’s a common school level answer to the trash issue, nothing to get worked up about, all it shows is she is normal and thinking outside the box. This is where great ideas come from. > > Hindering, and demeaning her is exactly the stuff that holds back humanity to the fairly primitive level of technology we have achieved. I disagree. Rebuttal of stupid ideas is the filter by which the decent ideas can get some elbow room, and the spur that makes promising thinkers go back to the drawing board to try again. Not reliably every time (some stupid ideas slip the net and some potentially good ideas get waved off. And some smart people give up, and some idiot crackpots keep going), but as a general rule, it’s not a bad thing. Far from being the thing that’s held us back, this is actually the method by which we got this far so quickly. > [@](#): > > At one time cave-people laughed at Thor’s son for his idea of building a home out of wood, citing costs and the man hours required for a single home, that it would never be worth it, lucky Thor was a great father and encouraged him, and the teacher stopped much of the criticism too, and still to this very day Thor’s son gets a royalty for every home build out of wood 😉 Argument by irrelevant analogy, I think. People laughed at Edison’s electric light bulb, and were wrong, therefore the people laughing at my plan to make a helicopter out of strawberry jam are also clearly wrong. ---
**Author:** ![Boyo\_Jim](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/87869e/32.png) [@Boyo\_Jim](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Boyo_Jim)\ **Post date:** [November 10, 2011, 1:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/expel-all-the-trash-to-space/602245/72 "2011-11-10T01:30:22Z")
Mmmmm… delicious helicopter! I want one. How much of it can you eat and still keep it flying? ---
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [November 10, 2011, 1:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/expel-all-the-trash-to-space/602245/73 "2011-11-10T01:34:22Z")
> [@Boyo\_Jim](#): > > Mmmmm… delicious helicopter! I want one. How much of it can you eat and still keep it flying? That depends on how long you let it ferment. ---
**Author:** ![Kobal2](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kobal2/32/20_2.png) [@Kobal2](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kobal2)\ **Post date:** [November 10, 2011, 1:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/expel-all-the-trash-to-space/602245/74 "2011-11-10T01:42:59Z")
> [@kanicbird](#): > > At one time cave-people laughed at Thor’s son for his idea of building a home out of wood, citing costs and the man hours required for a single home, that it would never be worth it, lucky Thor was a great father and encouraged him Well yeah, of course it’s cost-effective to build houses out of wood when you have a magic indestructible hammer that can level mountains :rolleyes:. Frickin’ daddy’s boy. Loki 4 President ! ---
**Author:** ![Dr.Strangelove](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dr.strangelove/32/6613_2.png) [@Dr.Strangelove](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dr.Strangelove)\ **Post date:** [November 10, 2011, 1:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/expel-all-the-trash-to-space/602245/75 "2011-11-10T01:43:33Z")
> [@Candyman74](#): > > My query’s the same as (as far as I can tell) post 11. The civilian and manufacturing infrastructure required to send a rocket into space presumably generates a lot of trash (from engineers’ lunches to transportation waste to a million other things). I don’t know, though; thus the query. It’s impossible to know for sure, but we can estimate. The US produces [220 million tons](http://wiki.answers.com/Q/How_much_garbage_do_humans_make_a_year) of trash per year. US GDP is [$14.58 trillion](https://www.google.com/search?source=ig&hl=en&rlz=&q=us+gdp&oq=us+gdp&aq=f&aqi=g10&aql=&gs_sm=e&gs_upl=1275l2202l0l2457l6l5l0l1l1l0l194l501l2.2l4l0) a year. Therefore, we produce about $33 per pound of trash overall. SpaceX launch costs for the Falcon 9 are about the lowest in the industry, and are about [$2153](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SpaceX#Launcher_versions) per pound. Therefore, if you assume that the full supply chain for a rocket is similar to the economy as a whole (probably not far from the truth), about 65 lbs of trash is produced for every one pound launched into low Earth orbit. ---
**Author:** ![Euphonious\_Polemic](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/euphonious_polemic/32/3002_2.png) [@Euphonious\_Polemic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Euphonious_Polemic)\ **Post date:** [November 10, 2011, 1:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/expel-all-the-trash-to-space/602245/76 "2011-11-10T01:44:41Z")
> [@kanicbird](#): > > At one time cave-people laughed at Thor’s son for his idea of building a home out of wood, citing costs and the man hours required for a single home, that it would never be worth it, As has been said, bad analogy… A better one would be: At one time cave-people laughed at Thor’s son for his idea of building a home out of fur that had been shaved off of the tails of thousands of mice, that Thor’s son would catch by putting out millions of sticky traps baited with the tribes only supply of food. So the cave people sent Thor’s son out into the wasteland, where he tried his other idea to get water out of poison plants, and expired. ---
**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\ **Post date:** [November 10, 2011, 1:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/expel-all-the-trash-to-space/602245/77 "2011-11-10T01:45:24Z")
> [@Boyo\_Jim](#): > > Mmmmm… delicious helicopter! I want one. How much of it can you eat and still keep it flying? It doesn’t matter, as long as when it crashes, you contrive for this to happen on a massive piece of toast. ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [November 11, 2011, 8:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/expel-all-the-trash-to-space/602245/78 "2011-11-11T20:19:30Z")
> [@](#): > > Quoth **Miller** : > I’m no astrophysicist, but I imagine that it would not actually be possible to fire anything “into” the sun. Long, long before it reached the outer corona, anything we fired at the sun would be blasted into its component atoms and flung back out into the system by the solar wind. It wouldn’t happen that way. Anything that would be blown away by the solar wind near the Sun would also be blown away by the solar wind far from the Sun: The force exerted by the solar wind falls off in the same way that gravity does. Very, very small particles (microns at most) can be blown away, but anything bigger than that will keep on falling until it hits the surface of the Sun. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/expel-all-the-trash-to-space/602245.md?page=3)