Artist s interpretation of a debris field around Earth; Image: ESA
If there is one lesson that the popular film
Space Sweepers teaches us, it is that audiences worldwide love science fiction about garbage and garbage collection. SF fans eager for more thrilling tales of garbage collection will be overjoyed to learn that science fiction is rich with examples of prior art. Consider these five works…
One hundred and fifty years of energetic space development prove that not only is there no frontier that humanity cannot eventually reach, but also that there are no pristine wildernesses that humans cannot sully with discarded trash. Space trash, moving as it does at the speed of meteorites, is far more deadly than the terrestrial variety. Discarding waste in space is illegal.