What goes up, must be studied

NASA, the same organization that sends sundry items into space (Wikipedia list of NASA missions), has a separate department—Orbital Debris Program Office, located at the Johnson Space Center—devoted to researching orbital debris.

This department is recognized world-wide for its initiative in addressing orbital debris issues, and has taken the international lead in conducting measurements of the environment and in developing the technical consensus for adopting mitigation measures to protect users of the orbital environment.

Work at the Center continues with developing an improved understanding of the orbital debris environment and measures that can be taken to control debris growth.

Perhaps one result of their efforts might be to place a phone call to the NASA section that launches the stuff, ask if they plan to bring it back, and then mark their spreadsheets accordingly. Seems easy to me, but then I’m not a rocket scientist.