Escaping The Junk Belt of Earth.

Forty-plus years of space travel has made the orbit of earth a dangerous place.  Objects discarded during space missions have collected in a developing belt of junk around the earth.  Some of the objects naturally decay in orbit and fall to earth, but much of the debris remains, leading to the stockpile of scraps amassed in earth's low-orbit.  The U.S. military actually monitors twenty-thousand pieces of debris in orbit.  This developing belt is making it more dangerous for space travel, as the stray debris causes a critical threat of collision.  Nasa scientists have proposed using robots similar to those used in auto-manufacturing to 'shoot' the debris with low-grade laser lite in order to 'nudge' the debris out of collision courses.... Really.  I wasn't aware that you could push something with light until reading this article.    I think that every entity that has a satellite or has a space program should unite together to collaborate on removing this belt together.  The earth is ours collectively, and we will ALL suffer together if the earth actually has a HALO of JUNK.


http://www.wired.com/wiredscience/2011/03/lasering-space-junk/