# How do we remove existing space junk from orbit? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [October 1, 2023, 1:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-we-remove-existing-space-junk-from-orbit/990938 "2023-10-01T01:19:17Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 6\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Robot\_Arm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/robot_arm/32/18280_2.png) [@Robot\_Arm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Robot_Arm)\ **Post date:** [October 2, 2023, 5:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-we-remove-existing-space-junk-from-orbit/990938/21 "2023-10-02T05:16:19Z")
> [@jharvey963](#): > > Yeah, while a kevlar or carbon fiber net is a nice idea, is it really feasible? Bulletproof vests can stop handgun and some rifle rounds (which are moving from 1000 FPS to a little over 3000 FPS). Objects in LEO are moving at about 17,500 MPH or 25,666 FPS. Can kevlar or carbon fiber survive a hit with objects moving this fast with so much energy? Would you really need a net that captured the debris? How 'bout a large balloon full of foam, like the insulation you can spray in crevices in your house. A bolt hits the balloon and passes through, but it loses enough velocity that its orbit decays and it burns up in the atmosphere. Once enough objects hit the balloon that it’s in danger of breaking up, it deorbits and burns up. ---
**Author:** ![kanicbird](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/5f8ce5/32.png) [@kanicbird](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kanicbird)\ **Post date:** [October 2, 2023, 10:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-we-remove-existing-space-junk-from-orbit/990938/22 "2023-10-02T10:15:45Z")
If all goes bad up there, things will self clear from the bottom up (and the top down) and it won’t be long before the lowest usable orbit is safe ‘enough’ again. Yes it will require more boosting but it can be used if we had to. ---
**Author:** ![jharvey963](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/54ee81/32.png) [@jharvey963](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jharvey963)\ **Post date:** [October 2, 2023, 3:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-we-remove-existing-space-junk-from-orbit/990938/23 "2023-10-02T15:51:14Z")
> [@Robot\_Arm](#): > > Would you really need a net that captured the debris? How 'bout a large balloon full of foam, like the insulation you can spray in crevices in your house. A bolt hits the balloon and passes through, but it loses enough velocity that its orbit decays and it burns up in the atmosphere. > > Once enough objects hit the balloon that it’s in danger of breaking up, it deorbits and burns up. What about the debris from the foam? Each object passing through the balloon will create multiple pieces of foam debris, themselves becoming hazards for objects in orbit. To be able to slow down the debris that passes through the balloon, the foam itself would have to be pretty “stiff”. Designing the foam so that it degrades over time in sunlight might help, but that just changes the size of the foam particles from pebble-sized to sand-sized. J. ---
**Author:** ![Robot\_Arm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/robot_arm/32/18280_2.png) [@Robot\_Arm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Robot_Arm)\ **Post date:** [October 2, 2023, 4:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-we-remove-existing-space-junk-from-orbit/990938/24 "2023-10-02T16:07:13Z")
> [@jharvey963](#): > > What about the debris from the foam? Hopefully a formulation can be found that’s sufficiently sticky; it would either adhere to the mass of foam in the balloon, or to the piece of debris that passed through it. ---
**Author:** ![Telemark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/telemark/32/372_2.png) [@Telemark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Telemark)\ **Post date:** [October 4, 2023, 7:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-we-remove-existing-space-junk-from-orbit/990938/25 "2023-10-04T19:11:32Z")
There’s at least some government concern about space junk with real world implications. > **[FCC fines Dish Network $150,000 for leaving retired satellite too low in space](https://www.cbsnews.com/news/dish-fcc-satellite-space-junk-settlement/)** > > Dish was supposed to dispose of its satellite farther out into "junk orbit" — but the device ran out of fuel. ---
**Author:** ![LSLGuy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lslguy/32/5813_2.png) [@LSLGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LSLGuy)\ **Post date:** [October 4, 2023, 7:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-we-remove-existing-space-junk-from-orbit/990938/26 "2023-10-04T19:39:25Z")
There’s a few posts on the deorbit / debris topic over the last couple of days over here: > [@The Great Ongoing Space Exploration Thread](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-great-ongoing-space-exploration-thread/925703/921): > > Excellent work by the FCC: It’s not a big fine and this sort of fine will not be dealt out by the Chinese or the Russians to their own agencies who are some of the worst offenders, but it’s good leadership and sets an important precedent. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-we-remove-existing-space-junk-from-orbit/990938.md?page=1)