Discussion on:

Boeing brings GPS ground systems support to U.S. Air Force

What worries me is that as time goes on, orbital space is becomming more and more cluttered with junk. In the vacuum of space, even a paint chip orbiting at 17,000 miles per hour can damage a satellite. So I think a big task that lies ahead for humanity, is bringing used-up satellites back to earth instead of letting the clutter keep on accumulating.

I agree, space junk is a huge problem and getting worse. I wonder if new satellites that are put into orbit, could have a small rocket motor that would fire and knock it out of orbit and into the atmosphere where it would burn up, once it has outlived its usefulness or has failed.

How about paying Bigelow to create a versions of their inflatable space station modules to inflate by foam with no life support but a robust maneuvering system. Then it can 'absorb' large amounts of debris before reentry. Lot's of work, but by concentrating on the most used orbital paths then it can be a great start.