I’m sure there’s a perfectly good reason why we haven’t done this yet. Too expensive? Would launching it into the sun cause the smoke (if there is even smoke in space) to find its way back to Earth, therefore polluting the air?

This is an incredibly stupid question.

  • LordGimp@lemm.ee
    4·
    2 months ago

    Yes and no. The gravity of the sun will attract the rocket, but there are other things out in space besides the sun.

    The problem then is other planets will start whipping the garbage rocket around who knows where. Could even come back around and smash into earth. Same problem with the sun, actually. It’s quite hard to hit something that’s that big when we’re this far away. If you miss even a fraction of a decimal of a degree, the trash rocket will swing around and you’re back to planetary hot potato.

    It’s easier to sling the rocket past the south or north pole at a right angle to the solar plane. Up or down it’ll either keep going till it’s another suns problem or it joins the Oort cloud, which is kinda like a giant trash dump for everything that didn’t make it into our solar system when the sun formed.

    • oo1@lemmings.worldEnglish
      12·
      2 months ago
               LEELA
                     Should we really be celebrating? I mean, 
                     what if the second garbage ball returns 
                     to Earth like the first one did?

           FRY
                     Who cares? That won't be for hundreds 
                     of years.

           FARNSWORTH
                     Exactly! It's none of our concern.
       
           FRY
                     That's the 20th century spirit!