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76thColangeloBurner t1_isk8uup wrote

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

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?

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SaucyNeko t1_isk9br4 wrote

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

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Voodoo_Masta t1_iskgkwf wrote

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.

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SpaceInMyBrain t1_iskw1fh wrote

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.

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