Half a croissant, on a plate, with a sign in front of it saying '50c'
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Giant Lump of Blu-tac in Low Earth Orbit

 Tidy up orbiting junk by sticking it together
  (+4, -1)
(+4, -1) 		  [vote for,
against]

Junk consisting of broken satellites and the like is becoming a hazard to new satellites. This idea provides a way of cleaning up an orbit ready for use by a new satellite. A giant ball of specially-formulated blu-tac is launched into orbit at the required height. The junk in the orbit is slowly mopped up as it collides with the blu-tac and sticks to it. Once the orbit is clear of junk, the blu-tac can be collected and recycled.
—prufrax, Jan 02 2011

50 lb ball of silly putty dropped from parking garage http://www.youtube....watch?v=uWYxc8xhihg
with spectacularly unexpected shattering goodness. [baconbrain, Jan 02 2011]

Another approach... Space_20Jam
[RayfordSteele, Jan 02 2011]

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       Silly Putty, Shirley.
—marklar, Jan 02 2011
   

       Silly putty would shatter under high-velocity impacts, Shirley. [+]
—baconbrain, Jan 02 2011
   

       [-] for lack of gratuitous and irresponsible deployment of directed energy weapons.
—8th of 7, Jan 02 2011
   

       I think the main problem would be how to deploy it. If you shot it up in a rocket, or railgun capsule, or space elevator car, or whatever, that's fine. Then you have a large lump of blu-tac, up there, inside of a container or capsule. My question is this: how do you get it out? I think it will stick to the inside.
—pocmloc, Jan 02 2011
   

       // how do you get it out? //   

       Easy - explosives.
—8th of 7, Jan 02 2011
   

       I think the Blu-tac would freeze solid, rendering it less than useful. We should research liquid nitrogen-based glues. Then when the heat of re-entry melts the glue away, all the accumulated junk will separate and burn up in the atmosphere.
—gisho, Jan 03 2011
   


 

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