Space Junk

I wonder how much Junk is out there? Not in earth orbit or flying to infinity, but on the ground.
Junk created by us and lost through flight failure or poor design.
Plastic nose cones, fin cans, nomex wadding, plastic and metal motor cases, corrosive spent chemicals seeping into the ground, etc.

We are bombarded daily by the need to be "Eco friendly". I'm reminded every time I get into my car and watch the dials and needles spinning when I exceed 50 mph. I'm reminded by the radio news. And starkly reminded when I see the McDonalds remains on the ground, near the waste bins outside their "restaurants".

My question is, do we have a responsibility to make and design our rockets to be more environmentally acceptable? More disposable and safely de-gradeable?

I am personally in two minds. Only because we are a very small minority hobby and as such, contribute very little to waste. But that's an excuse really, isn't it?

Just a thought for the designers to consider and maybe gain support of the law makers.

SO.

In the end, almost everything that I fly is biodegradable. I try hard not to lose it, and I don't lose much.

I'm pretty scrupulous about tidying up my area when I fly, We recycle what is recyclable in our home and I've been known to haul my recyclables back from someone else's party so I could recycle them.

Even at that, my rocketry "trash" production is tiny.

I'm not worried.

Just send me all your unused, plastic or non-recyclable rocket stuff and I will gladly "recycle" them! :wink:

Just the close-in junk.

how eco-friendly is your lawn mower? the weed-wacker? the leaf blower (I still don't get those things..) the chain saw...

just throwing out the fact that some "conveniences" we have in our every day life might contribute more than a few lost pieces of lost wadding...

foamy said:

Just the close-in junk.

Click to expand...

That image sorta looks like what the Ed Harris version of John Glenn saw out the window of Friendship-7...

foamy said:

Just the close-in junk.

Click to expand...

Great! I think I just spotted my minimum diameter two stage that I last saw disappearing through clouds over Norfolk (UK).
I knew it would end up in safe equilibrium.

SO.

I am blessed with the privilege of using a city-owned field any time I want, provided I do not launch during their softball games next door. No problem.
In order to protect that privilege, I do my best to clean up everything after I'm done. "Take nothing but photographs, leave nothing but footprints." That includes igniters and wadding, which I reuse multiple times. I do my best to not lose rockets but it occasionally happens, and fortunately the management is very understanding about it. The only problem is that I have to contend with rednecks who tear up the field with their 4x4s and 4-wheelers. They have reduced a quarter of the field to mud. Luckily, the management has told me they will be fencing off the field next month and will give me a key to the gate.