Space Pollution

Ryan Healey wrote:

> In terms of polluting space changing from something other then vaccum could be
> considered pollution. Besides we can't pollute all of space but we can pollute
> orbits. We're already doing it to LEO. Pollution in space is easy to do.
> Just add some extra rocks to it, that's about the only way I know to do it.

'Space is big- really big. You don't believe how mind boggling
big it really is. You might think its a long way down to the
chip shop, but that's just peanuts to space!' - Douglas Adams.

A 'few' rocks... that might work as few tends to infinity. LEO
has only about the same volume as the atmosphere. 'Polluting'
that isn't too hard when your junk travels at 7km/s, but
as you go higher, it becomes proportionately harder.

The main reason the earth gets hit by asteroids is because it
has a lot of gravity.

> Besides you wouldn't want to run into a bit of junk left over by someone who
> was sloppy.

You won't. See the above quote. Actually aeroplanes have quite
a hard time managing to collide with each other in the
atmosphere. Its only because they get herded into airlanes and
because they have to land at the same airports that they ever
impact.

> As for the tree analogy I never said that cutting down trees was pollution. I
> was using it to show that it is a fallacy to assume we can do whatever we like
> because space is so vast.

Anything gaseous or really fine powder just blows out of the
solar system. The solar wind is pretty fast, and takes
anything small with it. Big things are another matter.

> --- Ravenart@... wrote:
>
>>Ok, now that this quto is done, I will say it again. You can't pollute
>>space, it's too generalized a place. For pollution to happen it have to be in
>>small localized place like in New York City and it have to be mixing with
>>something like soil, water, or what have you. You can't pollute hard vacumn.
>>Also, you don't pollute by cutting trees, cutting is cutting and pollution
>>is pollution so try to be more careful in using words. You'll have to be a
>>lot more specific when throwing away big words.

--
- Ian Woollard (ian.woollard@...)

"Is a planetary surface the right place for an expanding
technological civilization?"
- Gerard O'Neill