[ExI] [Extropolis] The Starlink-Ukraine Scandal, Phase 2

[Stuart LaForge]

On 2026-10-27 09:55, Adrian Tymes via extropy-chat wrote:
> On Tue, Oct 27, 2026 at 10:54 AM spike jones via extropy-chat
> <extropy-chat at lists.extropy.org> wrote:
>> A Kessler meltdown doesn’t reduce everything to dust however, or not 
>> in our lifetimes, which is why it is a very bad thing.  The orbit of 
>> the very small particles will decay quickly, but the kinds of debris 
>> from satellite collisions could hang up there messing up 
>> astrophotography for several decades.  I don’t have several decades or 
>> longer.
> 
> If Kessler happens, there are ways to clean it up.  If properly
> funded, it wouldn't even take a decade; the biggest risk, if Kessler
> happens, is that everyone would give up on orbit and no one would be
> willing to pay for cleanup.  "No bucks, no Buck Rogers" remains true.

The Kessler issue makes Earth orbit vulnerable to the tragedy of the 
commons. I have a couple of ideas that may help solve the problem, but 
as you said solutions cost money. The thing is, it will be cheaper to 
implement solutions to clean up space-junk before Kessler happens. We 
need to do something about it soon, while we still have the ISS and 
Tiangong to act as orbital staging platforms for experimental methods. 
Once Kessler happens, it would probably take out assets currently in 
LEO, and make clean up immensely more expensive. Kessler syndrome has 
been cited as a potential explanation for the Fermi paradox.

Stuart LaForge