this post was submitted on 10 Oct 2024
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Munitions dumping was on a much larger scale and much more hazardous compounds. Tens of thousands of tons in close proximity against coastlines.
I imagine reentry is going to effectively incinerate everything except very large chunks of metal, and we regularly deliberately sink steel ships to produce artificial reefs. There's unlikely to be any quantities of plastics or fuel oils left unlike what you get in even minor marine incidents.
Any more advanced disposal plan is going to involve putting a lot more mass into orbit, which means burning a lot more propellant.
What if we fire a missile at it as it reenters to break it up. More pieces, more surface area, more incineration.
A missile is a way to get explosives from point A to point B. We might as well just put explosives on the ISS in the most effective places, removing the need to aim or get a ship/aircraft in the right place at the right time, plus you probably need far less explosive.