At Last, Mir to be Ditched

Joshua Strzalko writes "I had originally thought that the MIR space station was going to be kept in orbit. Why with all that space fungus, it makes for a great science experiment. However it seems that in late February, the 14 year old space station will make a controlled decent into the Pacific Ocean."

Comments

Mir Demands Recount!

[jd]

The fungus on Mir insisted that some of the papers given were accidently digested twice, thus causing their votes to be rejected.

Meanwhile the Irridium Satellites have filed claims in the Galactic Courts to prevent there being a recount in Mir, which could result in Mir being saved and Irridium ditched.

Back in Florida, the two political candidates are to begin a controlled descent into Darkest Peru (with obligatory marmalade sandwiches), due to lack of funds to keep them operating in orbit.

Apply Common Sense!

[maggard]

1. A "controlled descent" is one where the craft is actively de-orbited. In short thrusters fire to slow the vehicle, it drops lower, encounters increasing amounts of atmosphere and eventually comes down completely.
2. This sort of descent is well-understood and very reliable. Indeed controlled descents happen with some regularity. Comparing this to uncontrolled descents where the object either had no contact with a ground control or has no means of adjusting it's attitude is about the same as comparing a car driven down a road to a car where the driver has bailed out at high speed. Mir!=Skylab.
3. Things can't just be "dropped into the Sun". Getting out of Earth orbit takes a LOT of energy and these craft don't have that kind of thrust. If Mir had even a fraction of a percentage of that kind of thrust then it would just be pushed out to a parking orbit and saved as a museum piece.
4. The area off Australia was picked precisely because there won't be a population nearby or shipping/fishing/cruise ships around. Furthermore they'll all be warned well ahead of time. Go get a globe and actually take a look at where Mir will come down - nothing much there or even nearby. The Pacific Ocean is a b-i-g place and space-junk gets dropped there regularly.
5. Mir won't likely come down in a single chunk but in a clutter of debris. Unless one of those debris were to land directly on or really close to you or your building they probably wouldn't cause much problem. Again, there's nothing much out in this part of the Pacific to worry about - it's not even very biologically active below the waters & the small additionial amount of material from Mir won't be a big deal compared to the natural rate of meteoric material raining down.
6. The mold is of earthly origin - it's nothing special. Short of completely sterilizing every object that goes into Mir (neither desired nor practical as folks carry a lot of biological-baggage with them) this is to be expected. Consider mold & mildew to be the rats & mice of space.
7. Finally it is sad to see this chapter of space history close. On one hand Mir succeeded wildly beyond anyone's dreams, on the other it's now becoming increasingly unreliable & unsafe & it's country can no longer continue to support both it & their other space committments. The folks who designed/built/supported/lived-in Mir are to be commended and all have learnt from their skills and courage, now it is time to move on to the next step.