Interstellar Garbage Collectors

Trek Books, Games and General chat
User avatar
Bryan Moore
Captain
Captain
Posts: 2729
Joined: Sat Jul 14, 2007 4:39 am
Location: Perpetual Summer Camp
Contact:

Interstellar Garbage Collectors

Post by Bryan Moore »

Think about how much space junk is out there? I think it would be exceptionally logical for the Federation to have some sort of ship devoted to matter reclaimation. Forget the idea of a garbage scow, the big crap can be towed away or something. I'm talking something that basically "eats" space rubble and converts it into usable matter.

I don't believe this would be a hugely efficient way of producing energy, but "space junk" is admittedly a problem in real life.

If nothing else, having something to collect the matter in orbit of large planets to do the same would be great. Imagine how much crap is floting around our solar system by the 24th century? We've got wreckage from a Breen invasion force, remnants of 2 borg cubes, and how many countless other things that would be floating around. Maybe the danger isn't as real as it would be for a simple space shuttle, but you could probably use that matter wisely if there was a sort of "skimmer" field or something of the sort, deployed in orbit.
Don't you hear my call, though you're many years away, don't you hear me calling you?
Monroe
Rear Admiral
Rear Admiral
Posts: 5837
Joined: Sun Jul 22, 2007 3:17 am

Re: Interstellar Garbage Collectors

Post by Monroe »

Well I think the Federation's MO is to wait until the garbage has collected together via gravity into a mass large enough to threaten the planet then make sure only one ship is in range at the time it does this (hey with those computers they can predict that) and have the ship come in to save earth.
How many Minbari does it take to screw in a lightbulb?
None. They always surrender right before they finish the job and never tell you why.

-Remain Star Trek-
Nickswitz
Rear Admiral
Rear Admiral
Posts: 6748
Joined: Sun May 25, 2008 5:34 pm
Location: Home
Contact:

Re: Interstellar Garbage Collectors

Post by Nickswitz »

:laughroll:
The world ended

"Insanity -- a perfectly rational adjustment to an insane world" - R.D.Lang
User avatar
Captain Seafort
4 Star Admiral
4 Star Admiral
Posts: 15548
Joined: Thu Jul 19, 2007 1:44 pm
Location: Blighty

Re: Interstellar Garbage Collectors

Post by Captain Seafort »

I wonder what the name of the ship would be? :roll:

OT: I doubt it would be worth it. Sure, there's plenty of crap out there, but as Douglas Adams put it, space is big, really big. Plus shuttles are pretty fragile; certainly more so than starships that can shrug off nuclear weapons.
Only two things are infinite - the universe and human stupidity, and I'm not sure about the universe: Albert Einstein.
Lazar
Captain
Captain
Posts: 2232
Joined: Sun Oct 12, 2008 8:29 pm
Location: Massachusetts

Re: Interstellar Garbage Collectors

Post by Lazar »

Captain Seafort wrote:OT: I doubt it would be worth it. Sure, there's plenty of crap out there, but as Douglas Adams put it, space is big, really big. Plus shuttles are pretty fragile; certainly more so than starships that can shrug off nuclear weapons.
I think it would be a legitimate concern - a decent sized piece of orbital junk traveling at 30 000 kph might be able to do significant damage to a ST shuttlecraft or even a ship. With centuries of space flight, including one destroyed Borg cube, I think Earth's orbital space would be teeming with junk if it didn't get cleaned up.
"There was also a large horse in the room, taking up most of it."
Tsukiyumi
4 Star Admiral
4 Star Admiral
Posts: 21747
Joined: Fri Oct 12, 2007 2:38 pm
Location: Forward Torpedo Tube Twenty. Help!
Contact:

Re: Interstellar Garbage Collectors

Post by Tsukiyumi »

Couldn't they just cruise around beaming junk into a ship's cargo hold? It's not like they'd need to be super-precise about targeting.
There is only one way of avoiding the war – that is the overthrow of this society. However, as we are too weak for this task, the war is inevitable. -L. Trotsky, 1939
Aaron
3 Star Admiral
3 Star Admiral
Posts: 10988
Joined: Thu Aug 23, 2007 10:01 pm
Location: Timepire Mobile Command Centre
Contact:

Re: Interstellar Garbage Collectors

Post by Aaron »

Tsukiyumi wrote:Couldn't they just cruise around beaming junk into a ship's cargo hold? It's not like they'd need to be super-precise about targeting.
That sort of depends on how power hungry transporters are, in TOS they were hogs and I hear in NuTrek that they are quite hungry for juice. So depending how big you want your reactor and how much fuel you want to carry it might be easier to just have a ship with one of these:

Image

On the front.
Sionnach Glic
4 Star Admiral
4 Star Admiral
Posts: 26014
Joined: Fri Jul 13, 2007 10:58 pm
Location: Poblacht na hÉireann, Baile Átha Cliath

Re: Interstellar Garbage Collectors

Post by Sionnach Glic »

Lazar wrote: I think it would be a legitimate concern - a decent sized piece of orbital junk traveling at 30 000 kph might be able to do significant damage to a ST shuttlecraft or even a ship. With centuries of space flight, including one destroyed Borg cube, I think Earth's orbital space would be teeming with junk if it didn't get cleaned up.
That's what the navigational deflectors are for. Junk just bounces off the shields. Anything large enough to be a threat would be ridiculously easy to see and go around.
"You've all been selected for this mission because you each have a special skill. Professor Hawking, John Leslie, Phil Neville, the Wu-Tang Clan, Usher, the Sugar Puffs Monster and Daniel Day-Lewis! Welcome to Operation MindFuck!"
Nickswitz
Rear Admiral
Rear Admiral
Posts: 6748
Joined: Sun May 25, 2008 5:34 pm
Location: Home
Contact:

Re: Interstellar Garbage Collectors

Post by Nickswitz »

Or shoot for that matter.
The world ended

"Insanity -- a perfectly rational adjustment to an insane world" - R.D.Lang
User avatar
Bryan Moore
Captain
Captain
Posts: 2729
Joined: Sat Jul 14, 2007 4:39 am
Location: Perpetual Summer Camp
Contact:

Re: Interstellar Garbage Collectors

Post by Bryan Moore »

Rochey wrote:
Lazar wrote: I think it would be a legitimate concern - a decent sized piece of orbital junk traveling at 30 000 kph might be able to do significant damage to a ST shuttlecraft or even a ship. With centuries of space flight, including one destroyed Borg cube, I think Earth's orbital space would be teeming with junk if it didn't get cleaned up.
That's what the navigational deflectors are for. Junk just bounces off the shields. Anything large enough to be a threat would be ridiculously easy to see and go around.
Correct on the deflectors, no doubt, but you've still got a LOT of matter. I mean as a matter of basic housekeeping, if you've got small bits of trash in your yard, you likely don't leave them even though they're probably not a threat to be stepped on. Likewise, with the absurd amount of debris orbiting Earth or any other planet with a battle site or even frequent orbital use, you're bound to get a lot of trash.

Lets try this in a non-Earth scenario. Lets imagine that there's a huge debris field that came into orbit over DITLonis IV, an M-Class planet that is in the equivalent of late 22nd century Earth development, protected by the Federation against the Dominion during the war. Hundreds worth of damaged/destroyed ships were hauled out by the Feds after their victory, but Starfleet can't divert resources/time to get rid of everything. Now it's a hazard for these folks to travel in their own solar system due to countless bits. Wouldn't some sort of garbage ship that could "skim" these pieces and get them out of orbit be logical? Also, if this was something developed by the DITLonians and not unique to Starfleet, they'd have a great source of material now.

The ship wouldn't have to be complicated. A cockpit, enegineering section, large cargo hold, tractor beam, and some matter reclaimation sections.
Don't you hear my call, though you're many years away, don't you hear me calling you?
Sionnach Glic
4 Star Admiral
4 Star Admiral
Posts: 26014
Joined: Fri Jul 13, 2007 10:58 pm
Location: Poblacht na hÉireann, Baile Átha Cliath

Re: Interstellar Garbage Collectors

Post by Sionnach Glic »

Why bother? Anything large enough to pose a threat is big enough to be noted on sensors and easily avoided.
"You've all been selected for this mission because you each have a special skill. Professor Hawking, John Leslie, Phil Neville, the Wu-Tang Clan, Usher, the Sugar Puffs Monster and Daniel Day-Lewis! Welcome to Operation MindFuck!"
Monroe
Rear Admiral
Rear Admiral
Posts: 5837
Joined: Sun Jul 22, 2007 3:17 am

Re: Interstellar Garbage Collectors

Post by Monroe »

Bryan Moore wrote:
Rochey wrote:
Lazar wrote: I think it would be a legitimate concern - a decent sized piece of orbital junk traveling at 30 000 kph might be able to do significant damage to a ST shuttlecraft or even a ship. With centuries of space flight, including one destroyed Borg cube, I think Earth's orbital space would be teeming with junk if it didn't get cleaned up.
That's what the navigational deflectors are for. Junk just bounces off the shields. Anything large enough to be a threat would be ridiculously easy to see and go around.
Correct on the deflectors, no doubt, but you've still got a LOT of matter. I mean as a matter of basic housekeeping, if you've got small bits of trash in your yard, you likely don't leave them even though they're probably not a threat to be stepped on. Likewise, with the absurd amount of debris orbiting Earth or any other planet with a battle site or even frequent orbital use, you're bound to get a lot of trash.

Lets try this in a non-Earth scenario. Lets imagine that there's a huge debris field that came into orbit over DITLonis IV, an M-Class planet that is in the equivalent of late 22nd century Earth development, protected by the Federation against the Dominion during the war. Hundreds worth of damaged/destroyed ships were hauled out by the Feds after their victory, but Starfleet can't divert resources/time to get rid of everything. Now it's a hazard for these folks to travel in their own solar system due to countless bits. Wouldn't some sort of garbage ship that could "skim" these pieces and get them out of orbit be logical? Also, if this was something developed by the DITLonians and not unique to Starfleet, they'd have a great source of material now.

The ship wouldn't have to be complicated. A cockpit, enegineering section, large cargo hold, tractor beam, and some matter reclaimation sections.
Starfleet would quote the prime directive and leave them to their own devices. >.>
How many Minbari does it take to screw in a lightbulb?
None. They always surrender right before they finish the job and never tell you why.

-Remain Star Trek-
User avatar
Graham Kennedy
Site Admin
Site Admin
Posts: 11561
Joined: Mon Jul 09, 2007 2:28 pm
Location: Banbury, UK
Contact:

Re: Interstellar Garbage Collectors

Post by Graham Kennedy »

I would imagine that a tractor beam could be set to a wide field and scoop up junk out of quite a large area in one go.
Give a man a fire, and you keep him warm for a day. SET a man on fire, and you will keep him warm for the rest of his life...
Coalition
Lieutenant Commander
Lieutenant Commander
Posts: 1142
Joined: Tue Dec 02, 2008 3:34 am
Location: Georgia, United States
Contact:

Re: Interstellar Garbage Collectors

Post by Coalition »

At the very least, you are dealing with already-refined materials, rather than having to mine and process them normally. If it is easier to recover the materials from the scrap than from mining new resources, then recycling will be used.

One stunt might even be lithobraking for melting and separating the materials. Just take the debris, cut it up into smaller chunks, then drop it through an atmosphere to melt it properly. Every couple of years, you go to the impact sites, and process the materials.
Relativity Calculator
My Nomination for "MVAM Critic Award" (But can it be broken into 3 separate pieces?)
User avatar
Bryan Moore
Captain
Captain
Posts: 2729
Joined: Sat Jul 14, 2007 4:39 am
Location: Perpetual Summer Camp
Contact:

Re: Interstellar Garbage Collectors

Post by Bryan Moore »

Coalition wrote:At the very least, you are dealing with already-refined materials, rather than having to mine and process them normally. If it is easier to recover the materials from the scrap than from mining new resources, then recycling will be used.

One stunt might even be lithobraking for melting and separating the materials. Just take the debris, cut it up into smaller chunks, then drop it through an atmosphere to melt it properly. Every couple of years, you go to the impact sites, and process the materials.
Thats sorta what I was going for. Set a wide beam, scoop up the refined stuff, bam.
Don't you hear my call, though you're many years away, don't you hear me calling you?
Post Reply