An idea I had that might be worth discussion;
Remember the Echo satellites? Huge (200 foot) mylar balloons that were orbited as passive communications satellites.
After not too much time in orbit, they were a bit misshapen because of puncturing by micrometeorites.
As you can imagine, with that much surface area, they are bound to be hit frequently.
Now, what if we had a huge (100 meter or larger) balloon in orbit with a self-sealing envelope (a number of ways you can do that) and with a gas generator designed to keep it inflated with a quarter pound of pressure? When small objects hit the balloon, they enter, the hole they make closes, and the air inside checks their velocity such that they probably cannot exit the other side.
Eventually the balloon is hit by a larger piece than it can seal up the hole for, and at that point you de-orbit the balloon and all of the material it has collected. You also have a a propulsion unit for changing the orbit to intersect debris streams deemed a problem.
Thoughts?
Remember the Echo satellites? Huge (200 foot) mylar balloons that were orbited as passive communications satellites.
After not too much time in orbit, they were a bit misshapen because of puncturing by micrometeorites.
As you can imagine, with that much surface area, they are bound to be hit frequently.
Now, what if we had a huge (100 meter or larger) balloon in orbit with a self-sealing envelope (a number of ways you can do that) and with a gas generator designed to keep it inflated with a quarter pound of pressure? When small objects hit the balloon, they enter, the hole they make closes, and the air inside checks their velocity such that they probably cannot exit the other side.
Eventually the balloon is hit by a larger piece than it can seal up the hole for, and at that point you de-orbit the balloon and all of the material it has collected. You also have a a propulsion unit for changing the orbit to intersect debris streams deemed a problem.
Thoughts?
via JREF Forum http://forums.randi.org/showthread.php?t=269770&goto=newpost
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