Ask A Scientist© Environmental Science Archive

Author:      jennifer l wingert
Someone told me that it is O.K. to develop a way to put trash into space 
because space is never ending.  First of all, do you think space is really 
never ending?  It seems like we always seem to use up what we have, so I 
cannot imagine that we would not eventually run out of "space" also.  I am 
also wondering what research has been done, and what plans have been made in 
regards to putting waste in space.

Response #:  1 of 1
Author:      mortis
Space is very large compared to Earth.  Even if we "threw away" the whole 
planet, it would be a tiny speck in the vastness of space.  There are probably 
lots of planets orbiting other stars, but we cannot even see them.  There is 
no danger of filling space with junk.  Now there is a problem with filling 
Earth orbit with junk, because Earth orbit is a fairly small region of space.  
But it takes so much energy to get into Earth orbit that it will never be a 
practical junk heap.  We are not even sure it is worth the cost of putting a 
space station up there, let alone a pile of garbage.  Garbage on Earth is 
something we are just going to have to learn to live with.