OT - Golden Age is Upon Us

Ozzie_Isaac

Cool article with lots of interesting tidbits for Scifi fans.

Musk is a visionary, regardless of your personal feelings towards him, he is really moving the needle.

My favorite item is the name of his next rocket: BFR

https://www.fool.com/investing/2018/02/25/could-elon-musk-lose-the-satellite-market-and-win.aspx

HeavyG

All that will be cut short by - space junk. As the cost of entry into LEO plummets everybody will be lofting stuff into space.

A few companies have talked about constellations of tens of thousands of small satellites to provide internet access to all parts of the globe. LEO is going to get VERY crowded and as a result stuff is going to start bumping into stuff which begets even more space shrapnel.

Won't be long before it may become too risky for human flight.

Would be kinda ironic if making it too cheap to go into space is also what kept humans earthbound for another 100 years as we wait for stuff to naturally de-orbit.

If Musk is a true visionary (and I too tend to believe he is) he'll come up with a plan for a fleet of space garbage collector vehicles in order to clean up the litter created by all the likely collisions.

Ozzie_Isaac

I am with you on space junk being a major issue.  This was highlighted by a company a few months ago that put up an "art project". I highly reflective sphere you could see from earth.  It messed up a lot of science experiments and added to the clutter.  All done as a marketing stunt.