One Planet's Trash is Another Planet's Great Enlightenment

We are a messy, messy planet.

I'm looking around my immediate area (my desk at work - don't tell...) and I see months-old stacks of documents, an empty cup from lunch, a pen cap, about 30 paper clips and a Kleenex I don't remember using (to whom does this belong?? gross.) My point is - we're messy. Everywhere we go, we litter and pollute, even if unintentionally.

This is also true of our presence in space. Take a look at this.

View in Full Resolution for the full effect.
Source - NASA

This is an artist's rendering of our planet, seen from a considerable distance (duh), with exaggerated graphics representing all the Earth's known and plotted satellites. Most of these are man-made, obviously, and are still very much functional and necessary to maintain our technological climate. The objects you see in the picture that aren't satellite-shaped aren't stars - they represent debris. Debris includes dead spacecraft, boosters, lost equipment, shrapnel from spacecraft collisions, etc. The debris isn't inherently dangerous to us on the ground. If it were to plummet toward the surface of the planet, most of it would burn in the atmosphere.

Disclaimer: I'm not ranting against space pollution. I'm not proposing we go up there with a bunch of trash bags and those pointy litter-poker sticks you see when people do community service on TV. I am, however, pointing out how relevant it is and how interesting it is to think about the effects it has on the universe.

It seems unlikely that a 2 foot wide by 3 foot tall space shuttle piece-gone-awry would wreak any stellar havoc. It would disintegrate if it ever came anywhere near a star or another planet's atmosphere. But it is interesting to think about what effects a larger, more resilient chunk might have on a distant alien ecosystem. Granted, it would take hundreds of thousands of years before it might get close enough to do so, but still an interesting thought. We litter the heavens with little or no consequence to us. But it could potentially shake an entire civilization - culturally or physically - in a distant corner of the galaxy someday.

Thought for another day: The space litter also presents an interesting scenario. Just as we've seen the planet become overrun with holes-in-the-wall strip malls and crappy, poorly built apartment complexes and office complexes that never see anywhere close to 100% capacity, at one point the skies won't be able to take any more litter! The ionosphere will become so littered that we'll see hundreds of collisions light up the night sky like tiny fireworks. (Neat for us - every day July 4th!). But potentially deadly for further space exploration teams. Today, there are measures in place to deal with, and even remove space debris. See the Whipple shield. It seems to me, though, that the less we can spend (time and money) on counter-measures and debris retrieval techniques, the more we can spend (time and money!!) on actual missions. Come on guys, I've got my PJs and toothbrush ready for my first night on a newly colonized Mars.

Source - Wikipedia

We put out all kinds of mess on this stinky planet. The Search for Extra Terrestrial Intelligence (SETI) sent out a signal in 1974 straight into space (at the Messier 13 globular cluster, to be precise) from the newly commissioned Arecibo radio telescope. It was primarily a ceremonial act, but it does make you stop and think - what would I do if I received this signal? I imagine I'd be a wildly different species with a wildly different technology to receive and interpret it so it would probably make little sense to me. BUT consider the organized structure of it - it would almost certainly clear up the question I'm sure my civilization still holds with a resounding "NO! We are NOT alone!" I really hope I'm alive the day Earth receives its very first unequivocally alien signal. What an exciting idea! Or consider a lost alien space ship crashing down on our home turf (perhaps it's already happened? :D)

From this perspective, space debris isn't such a bad thing... We cant' answer the eternal question for ourselves, let's do what we can to answer it for someone else! The more crap we send on its merry way into the cosmos, the more likely an alien civilization will someday discover that we were actually here. It's disheartening to consider our magnificent planet may never be stumbled upon while we still exist on it. Or that an asteroid could rip it to shreds, essentially obliterating any trace of our diverse cultures and species. We should be putting more debris out there! As counterintuitive as it feels (like raking leaves down the storm drain) we should be making every effort to make our indelible mark on the universe.

Go deeper: There is actually a group out there that hold this same credo. Name? Operation Immortality. A group of - let's face it - nerds (I cast NO judgement!) who are compiling a hard drive with digitized DNA of themselves and other nerds (again, sign me up!) for a good hard toss from the keel of the International Space Station. I might be posting more about these guys in the future...