Lockheed's Space Fence Prototype Starts Tracking Space Junk With Advanced Radar

3.5billion to monitor something that should not be up there in the first place...pathetic

Perhaps NASA and the other countries were hoping it all fall in the ocean and collect it later on the soft landing of the state size plastic floating islands.

The space scientific agenda:
Why find solutions for earth people and solve their problems quickly. We the wise and with lots of money given to us by our countries will focus all our knowledge and abilities to the stars, with the hope we might give our earth people a possible solution, sometime later..... maybe

Robotic space ships have been around for a while. They should build an army of them for cheap, capable of self guidance with a garbage container built in. Go up, suck up some debris and then plunge into the atmosphere for inceneration.

Why don’t all these engineering geniuses that create things that go into space come to the realization that those devices have an end life? In the creation of this space device, put into a plan to bring it back to Earth in a controlled way and let in burn up and be gone safely. I know the answer to my own question, added cost, lost of outer space and the political belief it will just be somebody else problem.

Maybe the idea of an engineered preplanned disposal of the space device could be a bad idea in the extreme long run too. There are a lot of heavy metals, exotic things and chemicals that go into those space devices. As they burn up, we on Earth are just polluting ourselves more. The public media makes us really aware of these toxins, when a space device contains a lot of nuclear components.

Still, everyone just continues on with the belief it is some bodies else’s problem.

@Amun-Ra
That's a fancy pic you got there. Must have been taken by a digital camera. ...digital camera, concept by the military to replace film camera for surveillance from high altitude and in space.

Do you use a GPS?
Do you use a satellite radio?
Do you rely on weather forecasting?
and many more...

If you use any one of those three, then you're part of the problem. Instead of complaining about it, how about providing a solution.

@Delkomatic
Do you use a vehicle or have ridden in one? Pathetic, polluting the air just to go from point A to point B quicker. Yes $3.5 billion is a lot of money but they are trying to do something about it.

People in glass houses my friends.

Let's move on to another planet, breed there until the population hits 9 billion, then move on to another planet once the current one is dead and void of all life. It's the human way or is it.

There is also the possibility that space junk might someday be a great resource of refined metals already in orbit (why pay to put material into orbit twice).

One of the reasons for tracking is military - notably the ability to put new satelites into space in a crowded debris field (as would be left after a war with as anti-satelite capable country).

The human race needs to grow up. Living in this universe is a privilege. Take responsibility and stop polluting it.

antaro,
I am very much for science. Are of the belief the only way we technical could of advance in science was by going to outer space? That is the part I do not believe. I believe in many things we could of gotten to a scientific solutions quicker in technology had we just focus on the local problems, rather than NASA to grow in technology and it trickel down to the rest of the scientific community.

All those electronics we use are made on the ground you know. Stars is a goal. How about 'human health and suffering' as a goal first!

More than half of the debris that is currently in orbit was produced by the Chinese ASAT test in 2007 (the largest man-made debris event to ever have taken place). With the additional debris created by the Iridium 33 / Cosmos 2251 collision - it is imperative that the Space Fence gets online as soon as possible. The United States is paying for the Space Fence. When are the Chinese going to pay to mitigate the debris for which they are responsible?

Bob

The Universe provides many problems for us to solve, and they are in never ending supply... To overcome even the greatest adversity is possible according the human delusion of reality, although, this is hardly the greatest adversity we have to face, and so, given time, the efforts of many humans and machines alike will adress the problem of orbital pollution, at least, as soon as the reach for the stars escalates its priority...

emperokanshasa,
Science, technology, electronics and more are all manufactured on terra firma, Earth. They are not made in outer space. To go to outer space is just a goal.
Yes we can shoot for the stars and in 5 or 20 years the trick down technology may fix below problems or
as you are love one is suffering, perhaps you wish the humanity has made 'human health and suffering' a first priority.
I really do enjoy the sciences and electronics. I have spent a career in electronics. I get to play like a kid for the last 25 years. It is all toys for me. I get a wonderful GeeWiz feeling as we explore the stars, but people come first in my heart! As our government makes choices of cut backs on the budgets, I can wait on the stars.
Today’s problems with people are most important!
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As of 2010 USA statistics. 'deaths in one year'
•Heart disease: 599,413
•Cancer: 567,628
•Chronic lower respiratory diseases: 137,353
•Stroke (cerebrovascular diseases): 128,842
•Accidents (unintentional injuries): 118,021
•Alzheimer's disease: 79,003
•Diabetes: 68,705
•Influenza and Pneumonia: 53,692
•Nephritis, nephrotic syndrome, and nephrosis: 48,935
•Intentional self-harm (suicide): 36,909

We can't solve everything by going into space but to hit on 1 item on your list... Cancer-skin cancer, we wouldn't know about solar radiation if we didn't go into space. And sunscreen was developed. They are developing medicine in space, requiring 0Gs, something they can't do on the ground.

This is off topic but it must be said. in 2010, National Cancer Institute's budget was $5.1 Billion. This is just 1 institute. Now if you add up all the budgets from all the cancer research and just for 1 year. And think of how long cancer research has been going on. With all that money and time, you'd figure there would be cured by now. The others on your list isn't well funded as cancer research but they are funded in one way or another and scientists are looking into the problem.

The issue here is space junk. It's like the automotive and power industry, polluting for decades. We're only now trying to clean things up. We're learning as we go. It also doesn't help when China goes and blows up a satellite.

Space Junk is a self induce by humanity, caused outer space cancer, completely preventable. It could of be prevented had the goal of clean up the mess, once we depart it was included in going into space.

Why do I call it a cancer now? Because for the countries that cause it, they put a blinds eye to it and it is now growing larger.

As we continue and explore the outer planets and their moons we are continue the cycle of inducing the space junk cancer and putting a blinds eye to it.
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Stars are pretty. They will always be there.
Humans are beautiful and do not last, we must love and adore our humanity first!
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I do not see any country coming others aid of cleaning up the space junk of outer space.
Our USA government is a budget wall, so hold off for space exploration.
FOCUS, FOCUS, FOCUS on local ground human problems directly on terra firma, Earth, USA! US the PEOPLE need science the science and technology directly!