The Cost of Space Junk

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All kinds of propositions have been made from nets to land-based lasers. An 18 mile cloud of fine tungsten dust sweeps lighter particles into reentry with it burning as it accelerates toward earth but what about a space tugboat? A little space tug sent up in this way would have to take so much feel with it to do more than get just one thing that you know it hardly becomes worth doing.

Gaze into the cosmos and wonder at broken satellites, retired rockets and shattered contraptions. Archaeologist Dr. Alice Gorman is a leading expert on orbital debris and chats about what’s up there, how it got there, and how to get it down. Strap in to hear about everything from Sputnik to sports cars, flaming garbage bonking us, alien clutter, collision potential, the most adorable space rubbish, cosmic burials and how one does this type of archeology without boarding a rocket. Also: steaming hot cruise ship gossip.

Follow Dr. Alice Gorman at Twitter.com/DrSpaceJunk

A donation went to Deadly Science: https://deadlyscience.org.au/

Dr. Gorman’s book: Dr. Space Junk vs. The Universe

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Sound editing by Jarrett Sleeper of MindJam Media & Steven Ray Morris

Theme song by Nick Thorburn