Communities

Writing
Writing
Codidact Meta
Codidact Meta
The Great Outdoors
The Great Outdoors
Photography & Video
Photography & Video
Scientific Speculation
Scientific Speculation
Cooking
Cooking
Electrical Engineering
Electrical Engineering
Judaism
Judaism
Languages & Linguistics
Languages & Linguistics
Software Development
Software Development
Mathematics
Mathematics
Christianity
Christianity
Code Golf
Code Golf
Music
Music
Physics
Physics
Linux Systems
Linux Systems
Power Users
Power Users
Tabletop RPGs
Tabletop RPGs
Community Proposals
Community Proposals
tag:snake search within a tag
answers:0 unanswered questions
user:xxxx search by author id
score:0.5 posts with 0.5+ score
"snake oil" exact phrase
votes:4 posts with 4+ votes
created:<1w created < 1 week ago
post_type:xxxx type of post
Search help
Notifications
Mark all as read See all your notifications »
Q&A

Can space debris be used as a heat sink for re-entry?

+0
−0

In the world I'm building, a nuclear war and subsequent repressive chaos have led all satellites to be destroyed by the powers that be, around 10 years from now. A few years later, a small spacecraft, which doesn't have a heat resistant cover to allow it to enter the atmosphere, reaches Earth orbit and proceeds to gather space debris. Of course, with all the destroyed satellites, it has a lot of material, and it has a laser which it can use to change its course. It may also have other things but it has come from Mars so would need to have either made it there or have reused or re-purposed man made materials there.

Also it can use solar power to recharge said laser and keep things going as it floats along. It has as much time as is needed as the solar power can keep it going almost indefinitely. So the questions are: How much space debris would I have to collect, and how would I collect it, so that I'd have enough cover around my space ship to leave orbit without burning up, and so I can use my last bit of fuel to attempt a descent? Would this resulting debris cause a lot of havoc once I detached it from my ship before landing?

History
Why does this post require moderator attention?
You might want to add some details to your flag.
Why should this post be closed?

This post was sourced from https://worldbuilding.stackexchange.com/q/111433. It is licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0.

0 comment threads

0 answers

Sign up to answer this question »