Venus as a garbage disposal

Discussion in 'Astronomy, Exobiology, & Cosmology' started by original, Oct 24, 2006.

  1. original sine Registered Senior Member

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    A lot of complaints about pollution, unhealthy bacteria, and wasted land have often made me wonder if there was a way to unload our planets waste, be it radioactive waste, human waste, or just waste from materials like food wrappers. What if we took all of the garbage that was unfit or unable to be recycled and loaded up a massive rocket that was able to disperse it's contents onto the harsh Venusian surface? From what I know (which admittedly isn't impressive), the acidic rain would destroy most of the things we unload. Is this not a viable solution? I have not done enough research or speculation as to the cost of producing a ship with the ability to haul such cargo, or the number of trips it would need to make to remove the waste from our planet. I would imagine that the ship would be built with the intent of using it for multiple disposal missions. What do you think?
     
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  3. Nickelodeon Banned Banned

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    Why Venus? Why not empty space?

    Build a space elevator and just run the garbage up into deep space.
     
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  5. tablariddim forexU2 Valued Senior Member

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    It could be done, but your refuse collection bill would rise to 3 million, 635, 217 pounds a day.
     
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  7. sderenzi Banned Banned

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    Remember Superman IV when he threw the nuclear missles into the sun and they exploded? I think this idea has been around as long as space travel has, the real question is whether or not it's feasible.

    Considering the expense the only method I see of overcoming costs would be to build an orbital tether which would allow us to transport waste into slightly above earth orbit, there we could then launch it into the vast reaches of space, although one can only wonder if someday we'll find ourselves being bombarded by someone elses junk!
     
  8. Nickelodeon Banned Banned

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    What was that Futurama episode?
     
  9. Roman Banned Banned

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    Why bother with trash? Let's just throw the entire planet earth into the sun!
     
  10. original sine Registered Senior Member

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    I considered empty space, as the distance to reach that destination is much shorter; however, the possibility of space travel and the amount of debris we would unleash is far to dangerous to leave in Earth's orbit. I thought it would be best to leave on a celestial body that was able to accomodate our waste. The moon is another option, but it is visible to the naked eye, and unless we buried it underneath the lunar surface, it would be visually unappealing, though it would be slightly hard to see.

    Anyway, I would reject the idea of unloading debris in space due to the hazards it presents.
     
  11. Roman Banned Banned

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    It would be way cheaper to recycle "garbage" than lift it out of orbit.

    Does it seem very wise to you to be dumping resources in places where we can't get them back? There's only a finite amount of metals in easy to reach places.
     
  12. original sine Registered Senior Member

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    924
    I know. I certainly support any effort made to increase recycling capacity and efficiency, but there are some materials we have that are not being recycled. Underwater landfills of old automobile tires, underground storage of radioactive waste, piles of shit-filled diapers... I realize that we have finite resources, but there are some things we aren't recycling, and are not worth keeping.
     
  13. Roman Banned Banned

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    Why get rid of it? The stuff is far more valuable here on earth than not having it at all.
     
  14. sderenzi Banned Banned

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    We should get rid of it so that it doesn't clutter up our neat lifestyles, LOL

    Oh wait, ok ummm well who wants old recycled tires anyways? Pretty sick if you ask me.
     
  15. Nickelodeon Banned Banned

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    Chop them up and mix them with tarmac. Makes for quieter roads.
     
  16. geodesic "The truth shall make ye fret" Registered Senior Member

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  17. Fraggle Rocker Staff Member

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    Re: Shooting nuclear waste into space. We produce a lot of nuclear waste so eventually it will become a problem. One lot will be knocked out of orbit by a meteor and it will land in Philadelphia--or perhaps the container will vaporize a few thousand feet above the city and the waste will scatter over a wide area.

    Re: Shooting nuclear waste into the sun. That will utilize a significant amount of energy. My accountant's instincts warn me that this might increase the cost of nuclear power to the point that we start moving back to fossil fuels.

    Re: Dumping nuclear waste on Venus. That will still utilize a fair amount of energy and might also increase the cost of nuclear power plants. Furthermore, I would like to do a much better job of exploring the planet first to make certain that there is no strange lifeform evolving there that we're going to irradiate into extinction. We've spent the last ten thousand years saying to each other, "Let's just dump our trash over there. We'll never need that space for anything else." Over there has always turned out to be some place that we really want back. Are we stupid enough to keep doing this?

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  18. geodesic "The truth shall make ye fret" Registered Senior Member

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    Not to mention that energy costs associated with moving stuff into space are horrendous, even with a space elevator, it's not as simple as just pointing it in the direction of the sun and giving it a push. You've got to get rid of the velocity that will keep it orbiting the Earth, and the Sun, which will need a lot of energy.
    Not feasible in any way.
     
  19. domesticated om Stickler for details Valued Senior Member

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    The main problem I see is that it would be extremely inefficient (which also means it's probably alot more expensive than it's worth). I mean--

    -- you're taking trash, putting it into orbit, waiting for a window, finally burning a bunch of fuel to send it towards this teeny tiny dot in horizon at the exact precise moment, finally (hopefully assuming everything went right) arriving at venus, going back into orbit around venus while burning a bunch of fuel, dropping payload, wait for the next window, then burn even more fuel to get back to earth, and if you made it back to earth, burn more fuel to go back into orbit and re-dock with the facility........ and all this just to dispose of trash.

    I think an easier idea would be to build a space elevator that leads to a "mass driver" facility. The elevator is reusable-- the mass driver is reusable..... and point the mass driver towards the sun.
     
  20. original sine Registered Senior Member

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    The only disagreement I have with that is the intention to blast objects at the Sun. I hesitate to disrupt the natural processes of a star that makes our survival possible.
     
  21. Stryder Keeper of "good" ideas. Valued Senior Member

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    It's best recycling the rubbish or making products that don't produce waste. Afterall recycling isn't just a fad, it's actually something that we need to become more ergonomically assertive over as we are constantly in need of more resources which are in limited supply.

    Sending waste into space (Venus, the sun or a blackhole) would be a waste in the long run.
     
  22. Killjoy Propelling The Farce!! Valued Senior Member

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    5,289

    Now you're talkin' !

    We can build 2 gigantic rocket engines at the poles, and 2 processing plants to separate the ice caps into the water's component gasses for fuel.

    "Set the controls for the heart of the sun..."

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  23. Mr. G reality.sys Valued Senior Member

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    The trashing of Planet Earth -- until it's a survival liability -- is going to be our best rationalization for investing in the even more expensive pursuit of suitable planetary alternatives.

    In very much the same way that there are way too many ex-Californians now living in Oregon on the cheap.
     

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