Were German WWI Warships Used to Make U.S. Spacecraft?
 

Were German WWI Warships Used to Make U.S. Spacecraft?
Probably not, but the slight chance makes a fascinating story.
By David Grossman - Jul 19, 2017
RE: http://www.popularmechanics.com/spac...cecraft-steel/

The Voyager missions, now on their 40th year, represent an historic achievement of mankind. That Voyager 1 was still broadcasting as recently as 4 years ago speaks to how well-built the machine was. So the question of if it was built with WWI-era German steel is an intriguing one. Real Engineering investigates, and while the results are inconclusive leaning towards very unlikely, it's a fascinating footnote to world history.

Old steel could have had a practical use for any spacecraft because of the radioactive Van Allen belts that surround the Earth. While it's possible to navigate around the worst of this radiation, it's useful for spacecraft to be aware of it, and steel useful in creating tools to detect it. But any steel made after the Trinity atomic tests, and the hundreds of atomic tests after that, would be compromised by the Earth's growing radiation background. So, the steel from German ships sunk to the be bottom of the sea after World War I would be a perfect fit for Voyager.

Voyager does not have a radiation detector, as it turns out, so that case seems unlikely. But Explorer 1, a satellite launched in the late 50s before Voyager, would be more likely to have used some though whether it did is far from certain. So while there's no case closed unless someone can turn up an extremely detailed record of the provenence of the materials used in early U.S. spacecraft. And though the presence WW1 steel may be unlikely, it's a fun possibility to consider.

Source: Real Engineering

Here's How to Destroy a Satellite
With intergalactic ballistics, self-destruction modes, and Pac-Man.
By David Grossman - Jun 7, 2017

There are 4,253 satellites are orbiting the Earth at this very moment. They guide our GPS systems, our communications, our militaries. At some point, they will all be destroyed. The only question is, how? So YouTube's Awe Me decided to answer the question.

(Video on site only)

Satellites generally have lifespans of eight years, so destruction is a fairly common occurrence. There are three concepts regarding satellite destruction, two are in use these days and a third is being prepared for greater efficiency. Destruction through missile launches is intensely complex and expensive, waiting for accidents or technical mistakes is inefficient and even dangerous, considering there's no real way to control where satellites could fall.

That's why the Swiss EPFL Center is developing the Clean Space One, which hypothetically could gobble down satellites like a Pac-Man. While it's currently being targeted toward tiny Swiss CubeSats, there's no reason why the technology couldn't scale up to help bring down space junk.

An increasing problem to match our desires to go into space more frequently, satellite destruction will likely become a larger part of space programs worldwide. Japan recently failed in an attempt to clean up things, but this problem isn't going away any time soon.

Note: Pac-Man boy does that me back! Boats