Can space junk be cleaned up?

Thanks to my sister Laura for sharing this one....very important issue.

The only US Astronaut to ever speak at a peace in space rally at the Kennedy Space Center was Apollo 14's moon walker Edgar Mitchell.  He accepted our invitation to speak in 1989 at an event organized by the Florida Coalition for Peace & Justice.  (You can see a short clip from his speech in the documentary called Arsenal of Hypocrisy.)

In his speech Mitchell told those assembled that if the space junk problem gets much worse - particularly after a 'first war in space' - it would be the end of human ability to get a rocket into space.  A virtual minefield of space debris would hover over the Earth and rockets would not be able to get through the ring of junk - speeding thru orbit at 15,000 mph.  Rockets would be destroyed and contribute even more debris to the graveyard above the Earth.

The technologists and profiteers who view space as a new market for exploitation, occupation, militarism, nuclear power and more have treated our space environment in much the same way they have treated the oceans, rivers and lakes back on Earth.

There are only a limited number of parking spaces in Earth's orbits for satellites that these days are being launched faster than you can blink.  As legions of more launches take place the debris problem grows worse - lots of 'aerospace' people talk about it but few try to bring the world together to discuss how us earthlings should go about launching ourselves into the heavens. More international cooperation is called for here rather than more of the present ethic of control and domination.

Seems like every rich guy these days starts a new company to build a rocket to fly to some planetary body so they can bury their corporate flag into the regolith.  Underneath the cosmic dust they dream will be their fortune after mining for precious minerals.

It's the Wild West Show and the Gold Rush all over again - and lots of horses are being hitched.  The problem is that the barn is getting full and some horses ain't gonna make it inside.  What happens then?

Space junk is the most visible and striking early sign that the corporate investment plan to control and dominate space for massive profit is already crashing off the rails.

Edgar Mitchell warned that because of space junk we might be entombed to the Earth.  We should listen closely to those words.  We could start by cleaning up our Mother Earth and slowing down the rush into the unknown.

Bruce