OPINION:
Having 40 satellites plummet toward Earth — in a single day or over the course of 20 years — should be an event absolutely unacceptable to Earthlings everywhere (“SpaceX satellites falling out of orbit after solar storm,” Web, Feb. 9). This ought to be true whether the reckless party is a sovereign nation or a profit-seeking corporation.
Elon Musk, of course, is not the one responsible for our problem of near-Earth space management. Besides improving its general practices, Musk’s company and other high-altitude-using or space-faring entities should join forces to create a fleet of orbiting “Space Roombas” capable of going after threatening orbital junk and ejecting it toward the sun or some other place more convenient than our neighborhoods.
As with so much in this modern world, we have the money and technology. It is only the vision that we lack.
ZEPHYR DORSEY
Iowa City, Iowa
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