6 Decades of Space Junk

[Caelib]

This is pretty cool video, shows all of the space junk orbiting Earth.  This probably resembles a lot of KSP careers ...

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wPXCk85wMSQ

Edited January 1, 2016 by Caelib

[Aser]

Years...*cough* 

 

I wish I could have that many debris in my KSP save. Whenever I do, it's nothing but lag city.

[insert_name]

is that ring of debris I see the graveyard orbit near gso, or gso itself?

[Nibb31]

15 minutes ago, insert_name said:

is that ring of debris I see the graveyard orbit near gso, or gso itself?

The GEO graveyard orbit is only 200 km above actual GEO orbit, so at this scale, it's pretty much the same ring.

We've spoken about this representation before, and it's rubbish. The dots are not to scale, they look like they are 50 km wide. In reality, you wouldn't be able to see them.

Edited December 31, 2015 by Nibb31

[Findthepin1]

Cool video did you make it 

Six hundred years of debris on the wall, six hundred years of debris! Take one down, pass it around, five hundred ninety nine years of debris on the wall!

 

Wait that's 600 again  Happy New Years 

Edited December 31, 2015 by Findthepin1

[K^2]

1 hour ago, Nibb31 said:

The GEO graveyard orbit is only 200 km above actual GEO orbit, so at this scale, it's pretty much the same ring.

We've spoken about this representation before, and it's rubbish. The dots are not to scale, they look like they are 50 km wide. In reality, you wouldn't be able to see them.

It represents quantity and expanse occupied by debris. The only thing it doesn't represent is the actual density, but that's not very relevant. And if you think this representation is rubbish, you must also think that every single representation of Solar System is equally rubbish. When you talk about things on cosmic scale, even this close to home, maintaining proportion between objects is a fool's task. You can't come up with anything useful by doing so.

[legoclone09]

The better part was the comments. If you look you'll see that I replied quite a bit.

 

EDIT: We at least have a shield against alien attacks! 

Edited January 1, 2016 by legoclone09

[Nibb31]

13 hours ago, K^2 said:

It represents quantity and expanse occupied by debris. The only thing it doesn't represent is the actual density, but that's not very relevant. And if you think this representation is rubbish, you must also think that every single representation of Solar System is equally rubbish. When you talk about things on cosmic scale, even this close to home, maintaining proportion between objects is a fool's task. You can't come up with anything useful by doing so.

It depends on what you want to convey and how your audience will interpret your representation. This sort of representation is bound to be misleading unless it's accompanied with an explanation in very large letters.

Edited January 1, 2016 by Nibb31

[K^2]

1 minute ago, Nibb31 said:

It depends on what you want to convey and how your audience will interpret your representation. This sort of representation is bound to bring up misinterpretations unless it's accompanied with an explanation in very large letters.

What it conveys to me, and dare I say, what it is meant to convey, is that we've been waaaaaaaaaay busier in space than most people seem to think. Yes, a disclaimer might be nice, because a few people might get confused. But calling it rubbish is absolutely unfounded.

[RainDreamer]

If this is 60 years, I wonder what it is going to be like in 60 decades

[K^2]

2 hours ago, RainDreamer said:

If this is 60 years, I wonder what it is going to be like in 60 decades

If all goes right, significantly less debris. We should be establishing stations, with all of the Earth-to-Orbit hops being very low energy, leaving debris to decay. Something like a launch loop would be ideal, of course, but either way, we can't be leaving this sort of mess behind even in the 21st, let alone consecutive centuries.

Edited January 1, 2016 by K^2

[Caelib]

Oops yeah, I meant to make title "6 Decades", not 60

Fixed!

Edited January 1, 2016 by Caelib

[legoclone09]

7 hours ago, K^2 said:

a few people might get confused.

A few more than a few did. By that I mean alot if you look at comments.

[Dfthu]

This is really cool!

Edited January 1, 2016 by Dfthu