Autzoo.1622
net.space
utzoo!henry
Mon May 3 19:50:45 1982
projectile pollution
Gerry O'Neill (sp?) and his folks have already considered this one.
You never eject solid slugs of mass. In the early stages, you eject
powdered mass, perhaps powdered External Tanks. You put a static charge
on the stuff as it leaves the mass-driver, so it disperses itself as
soon as it's free. A few micrometeorites, insignificant compared to the
volume of natural sky junk that's already out there. Later on, when you
are drawing reaction mass from lunar or asteroidal materials, you eject
liquid oxygen extracted from rock. The LOX evaporates into space and
the problem goes away completely.
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