RE: [FT] Debris Reef Harbour [LONG]

If you are already assuming that a gravitic bouy can hold together a
large mass of small objects, then the debris already bundled up.  Then
accelerating or decelerating the mass is just a matter of a tug latching
on to the bouy and applying force.  It doesn't have to be much if you're
not in a hurry, you can take weeks or months to decelerate the mass if
necessary.

But I was thinking more along the raw material lines - whole entire
asteroids, with either power plants or tugs attached to the surface.  If
fusion power is cheap, then weeks or months of low but continual thrust
will provide all the velocity you need.

If you can afford the wait, then you can send the asteroids at a lower
velocity to cut down on the energy to get them moving and to stop them
at the other end.  In effect, as long as you have energy, you can do it
as cheaply and slowly as you want.

I would think the debris harbor would be a major construct that
governments would be willing to invest years or decades developing - for
instance if there major military shipyards or "foundries" for critical
military materials, then these facilities, as a by-product of their main
activity would slowly build up such debris fields or inadvertantly build
them up and police them to keep the shipping lanes clear.

As to the effort and cost, the precendent would be the Great Wall of
China - no sane person would expect such a structure to be built as the
sheer cost and bulk of the project is mind-boggling, but with millions
of workers and hundreds of years, such a structure was completed. 
Whether or not it fulfilled it's protective purpose is a different
point.

--Binhan

-----Original Message-----
From: Doug Evans [mailto:devans@nebraska.edu]
Sent: Thursday, October 21, 2004 10:30 AM
To: gzg-l@csua.berkeley.edu
Subject: RE: [FT] Debris Reef Harbour [LONG]

>Remember that in space, distance is nothing if you have the time.

Getting them to stop, unless in orbit or impacting a body, can be
another
matter altogether.

However, even a gigaton of pulverized rock would make a fairly small
'shell', and I'm assuming we're talking fairly large pieces.

The_Beast