Well here we are in the year 2006 and what do we have? We have humans polluting space? Thats right we have space junk. We have old debris floating around out there and it is a dangerous thing. We need to get this stuff out of the way and also collect some of this debris to recycle? Why not, why waste it? It costs $100s of dollars to send up a single ounce and we have tons of debris floating up there now you see.

While we are on this most interesting subject, it maybe possible to tow the Hubble Space Telescope to the moon and any old modules we need to up grade on the ISS.

http://worldthinktank.net/wttbbs/index.php...er&f=105&t=1287

It is too bad MIR burned up or the old Space Lab, as we could have used that too on the moon and towed it there with a Space Shuttle or some future better suited and more advanced craft?

I guess it makes sense to see a chart of the space debris out there and the size of each piece and its value to see if this is feasible. It appears to be doable. The Space Debris Collection Vacuum also has military applications as it could also deliver a piece of space debris to an enemy missile, which went into orbit or an enemy killer satellite. Oh no the Anti-Space War Activists are going to want to kill me now?

But we might also use a piece of space debris against another piece of space debris to knock an old satellite out of orbit which has died due to electrical failure from a solar flare or space radiation too. So, although one might think of a military application, we probably will not need to worry about that need for two-decades, but it makes sense now to think about what we could use the space debris and space debris collectors for in that regard also?

Perhaps a rogue nation has a satellite, which they are using in mischievous ways and the United World Franchise Space Council [UWFSC] passes a resolution to remove it? I made that up, but we need one. There would be a United World Space Franchise Corp, each member would be a Franchisee and agree to basic standards. Meaning all the air-locks, mutual assistance systems, etc. would all be on the same page, for safety and smooth transitions as new technology becomes available. Incremental modularization would be much easier and smarter long-term.

Although in the original idea collecting and recycling space junk seems smart, we will have to check that against the ROI, but also we must collect the space junk anyway? So, do we let it burn up entering our atmosphere, use it on the moon or simply collect it and decide later? All interesting questions indeed.