ramen_poodle_soup t1_isk3zie wrote on October 16, 2022 at 4:18 PM

Reply to comment by Adeldor in The Solar System Isn’t Ready to Deal With Humanity’s Garbage by Maxcactus

It’s also not like the trash on Mars is empty bottles and McDonald’s wrappers, it’s parts of spacecraft that were often necessary for descent. There isn’t exactly a feasible way to bring back a drogue chute and recycle it.

76thColangeloBurner t1_isk8uup wrote on October 16, 2022 at 4:50 PM

Maybe a stupid question but I’ve always wondered this; could we recycle most space junk if / when we get there?

I understand things left behind couldn’t be taken with. If in 100 or 1000 years we have a colony on Mars couldn’t they realistically recycle that stuff?

SaucyNeko t1_isk9br4 wrote on October 16, 2022 at 4:53 PM

the first step in logical colonization of mars is to send multiple ships of pure cargo that are unloaded and then deconstructed, easily able to be made into something else

Voodoo_Masta t1_iskgkwf wrote on October 16, 2022 at 5:39 PM

By the time we get there that stuff may have historic or even archaeological significance. IF we get there, which I don’t think is a guarantee.

SpaceInMyBrain t1_iskw1fh wrote on October 16, 2022 at 7:16 PM

A lot of that stuff will be in museum displays. Few people have any idea how many pieces of "junk" the Smithsonian Air & Space Museum stored. Even the scraps of landing systems now on Mars will end up in research museums.

When more stuff is landed on Mars - every gram will be precious due to the cost of getting a gram of anything to Mars. It will be utilized early on.