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On Orbit => Real NASA Space Shuttle Missions => Topic started by: Twabi2 on August 28, 2008, 10:42:42 PM
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Yesterday, the ISS performed a maneuver through firing the ATV to avoid a collission with a piece of space debris. It turned out to be the Hitch Hiker 1 satellite, weighing in at 80kg.
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Hi!
Are the garbage men on strike? ;D
OK! let's be serious now. How many times the NASA will maiking the ISS shifting around on orbit? They should really catch the trash out there...
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Wow, that was interesting. Maybe NASA should add a Recycling Plant to the ISS solve the universe's pollution. J/K ;D
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Again? (http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/4285550/) :o
Some 'limited' info on Hitchhiker1 (http://nssdc.gsfc.nasa.gov/nmc/masterCatalog.do?sc=1963-025B).
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Hehe, funny description:
"Its mission was to collect radiation data"
If you then look for the data... you find none.
Not that strange, considering the funding agency:
"Department of Defense-Department of the Air Force (United States)"
Suuuuure, collect radiation data... yeah, we believe you!
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lol if its a DoD satellite looking for "Radiation data" you can bet its not solar radiation they're interested in. With a launch date in 1963, it was probably a spy sat built to keep an eye on the Russians
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My bet Nuclear weapon testing ;)
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Hi!
Are the garbage men on strike? ;D
OK! let's be serious now. How many times the NASA will maiking the ISS shifting around on orbit? They should really catch the trash out there...
Most of the objects will succumb to Earth's gravitational pull, and re-enter the atmosphere and burn up. It's the same principle with the ISS. Reboost it to prevent it from coming into the atmosphere.
Shifting the ISS isn't too bad, as long as you have the vehicle(s) to do it with.
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There is a serious problem though; old parts in higher orbits take longer to come down, and cause a problem for other (still functioning) satellites.
And then there's the problem of collisions: when 2 pieces of garbage collide, thousands of new pieces are created, each with a different trajectory and thus hard to track. These can become so called micro-meteorites, just like the natural ones, and are a great danger towards astronauts performing EVAs and other spacecraft.
You can find short clips on the internet, showing what a simple bolt flying at 20 000km/u does to a steel plate of a couple of centimeters thick...
There are 2 associations that track the largest pieces that are orbiting earth IIRC, one is from the USA (DoD I think), the other... well, I forgot where it's from.
Someone should really go out and give space a good cleaning ;)
Would make things a lot easier!
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Most of the objects will succumb to Earth's gravitational pull, and re-enter the atmosphere and burn up. It's the same principle with the ISS. Reboost it to prevent it from coming into the atmosphere.
Shifting the ISS isn't too bad, as long as you have the vehicle(s) to do it with.
More accurately, it's the frictional drag caused by the tenuous Earth's atmosphere which causes the ISS height to decay with time.