The Importance of Space Junk

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How do you define space junk? I picture just like broken satellites and like a booster that's just up there rusting. What is it exactly? But this my answer to that I guess relates to what we've just been talking about because I'm kind of really uneasy with the term junk. Okay there's all kinds of other words for things that are discarded or considered to be waste. There is actually a definition of space junk, a technical definition. A piece of space junk is an object that does not now or in the foreseeable future have a use.

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