Space Station Turning Into a Trash Heap

← Back to Stories (view on slashdot.org)

Space Station Turning Into a Trash Heap

Posted by CowboyNeal on Monday October 4, 2004 @10:31AM from the waste-management dept.

quintin3265 writes "Apparently, the International Space Station is becoming overloaded with junk, stored among other places in a now unused airlock. Since shuttles aren't visiting the station, the station's occupants can't return broken machines to Earth. Furthermore, the only way they can dispose of trash and human waste is by loading these items in Russian cargo ships that burn up in the atmosphere."

36 of 312 comments (clear)

what?? by trick-knee · 2004-10-04 10:33 · Score: 2, Funny

sure they can return the stuff. just open the hatch and shove it out! let gravity do the rest.
1. Re:what?? by RealAlaskan · 2004-10-04 10:55 · Score: 5, Funny
  
  Have to launch it and send it in the opposite direction of orbit for it to fall; but damn, in microgravity it shouldn't be that hard to come up with a spring loaded trash disposal system.....
  For evey action, there is an equal and opposite reaction. If you change the orbit of the excrement, you also slightly change the orbit of the space station. Since there's a bit of atmospheric drag in that low orbit, that might be a good thing. De-orbiting the trash will tend to counter the drag which is slowing the space station.
  So, we change orbits by flinging poo. We'll call it the monkey drive.
  
  --
  See what I've been reading.
2. Re:what?? by Anonymous Coward · 2004-10-04 11:08 · Score: 2, Funny
  
  why not use rubber bands for propulsion?
3. Re:what?? by AeroIllini · 2004-10-04 11:09 · Score: 2, Funny
  
  Some of the junk could be thrown 'out the back' of the ISS to try and help maintain the station's orbit, but the effects would be minimal. Unless it's a really large amount of poo at very high speed.
  
  Or I suppose the next Progress resupply could bring up a giant poo cannon...
  
  --
  For security, the MD5 hash of this message and sig is 09f911029d74e35bd84156c5635688c0.
4. Re:what?? by Dirtside · 2004-10-04 17:37 · Score: 4, Funny
  
  Oops is a word you don't want to hear in space.
  In space, no one can hear you say "Oops."
  
  --
  "Destroy science and religion. Science would re-emerge exactly the same; but not religion." - Penn Jillette, paraphrased
snow by mothz · 2004-10-04 10:35 · Score: 5, Funny

the only way they can dispose of trash and human waste is by loading these items in Russian cargo ships that burn up in the atmosphere.

So even if the snow doesn't look yellow, it's probably not good to eat.
And to think... by datastalker · 2004-10-04 10:36 · Score: 4, Funny

...that I was upset with broken machines piling up in the cage in the datacenter... at least I don't live there! (Well, ok, not entirely.) Plus, I can go outside to escape looking at it, which is unfortunately not an option for the cosmo/astro-nauts.

--
Find out about the Lexus Rx400h Hybrid!
1. Re:And to think... by khrtt · 2004-10-04 11:02 · Score: 2, Funny
  
  And you don't have to poop on top of the same heap either:-)
To the sun! by Anonymous Coward · 2004-10-04 10:37 · Score: 5, Funny

Send them in the direction of THE SUN!

Homer: The sun? That's the hottest place on Earth!
1. Re:To the sun! by Performaman · 2004-10-04 11:04 · Score: 2, Funny
  
  Hermes: "Like my grandmother always said: 'If you want a box pushed into the sun right, you've gotta do it yourself'"
  
  --
  
  I have gas, but my car uses petrol.
Obligatory One Liners by Anonymous Coward · 2004-10-04 10:37 · Score: 3, Funny

Space stations are responsible for all the crap in the atmosphere?

An unused airlock is where redneck america of the future will store all their unused junk, making the storage business obsolete.

Imperial Space Stations always dump their trash before jumping to hyperspace. That's just standard procedure, duh!

Major Tom to Ground Control -- mission accomplished...now how do I flush?
Sell it on Ebay by Anonymous Coward · 2004-10-04 10:38 · Score: 5, Funny

Ships to: Worldwide
Shipping: Check item description and payment instructions or contact seller for details
Take a lesson from DMB by hansoncoyne · 2004-10-04 10:39 · Score: 5, Funny

Don't just dump your sh*t when nobody is looking. You may get caught.
1. Re:Take a lesson from DMB by mrgreen4242 · 2004-10-04 11:06 · Score: 3, Funny
  
  Off topic, but " the driver allegedly emptied the contents of the bus' septic tank into the river below, the lawsuit alleged." They allegedly need to get some new alleged staff writers, I alledge.
One word... by Shadow+Wrought · 2004-10-04 10:41 · Score: 5, Funny

eBay. Buyer pays for shipping.

--
If brevity is the soul of wit, then how does one explain Twitter?
The Klingon Spin by Alien+Being · 2004-10-04 10:43 · Score: 3, Funny

We didn't say that the ISS is a garbage skow. We said it should be hauled away *as* garbage.
Empty Oxygen tanks, $.10 by moofdaddy · 2004-10-04 10:44 · Score: 3, Funny

What abut a garage sale?

--
Be better in bed. Wikiafterdark!
Joe Dirt's Space Poo by Anonymous Coward · 2004-10-04 10:45 · Score: 1, Funny

.... from ISS
Flaming Poo by killermookie · 2004-10-04 10:45 · Score: 5, Funny

Furthermore, the only way they can dispose of trash and human waste is by loading these items in Russian cargo ships that burn up in the atmosphere.

Let the flaming poo jokes commence.
1. Re:Flaming Poo by Anonymous Coward · 2004-10-04 13:05 · Score: 1, Funny
  
  The sky was black, the moon was blue,
  Down through the atmosphere the crap-rocket flew;
  By the heat of re-entry, its nose cone aglow,
  Gave the lustre of mid-day to objects below.
  With a thump the light vanished, a holler was heard;
  "Johnny's been killed by a flying space turd!"
The Trash Heap? by fiannaFailMan · 2004-10-04 10:46 · Score: 3, Funny

Isn't the Trash Heap supposed to be all-seeing, all-wise, and all-knowing?

--
Drill baby drill - on Mars
SpaceShipOne by Anonymous Coward · 2004-10-04 10:52 · Score: 1, Funny

A more practical application for SpaceShipOne instead of space tourism, is the junk salvage industry. I'm sure there are lots of dead satellites up there too. Just like Andy Griffith did in Salvage 1.
Re:nasa.ebay.com by Sophrosyne · 2004-10-04 10:55 · Score: 2, Funny

I bet they could make a lot of cash on soiled astronaut panties...
aye caramba! by aztektum · 2004-10-04 11:01 · Score: 4, Funny

I just washed my car! Now that the birds are going south I thought it was safe.

--
:: aztek ::
No sig for you!!
Space station refuse = new hurricane theory by Rares+Marian · 2004-10-04 11:01 · Score: 2, Funny

I guess now we can really call Ivan a shitstorm.

--
The message on the other side of this sig is false.
No problem by Tablizer · 2004-10-04 11:11 · Score: 5, Funny

Getting rid of space trash is easy. Just mix it with anti-trash.

--
Table-ized A.I.
Imagine the feeling by HBI · 2004-10-04 11:13 · Score: 4, Funny

Being aboard a mighty achievement of human science, and having your own shit piling up next to you for lack of a means to dispose it.

It would be very demoralizing to me.

--
HBI's Law: Frequency of calling others Nazis is directly correlated with the likelihood of the accuser being Communist.
Hey! by Crispin+Cowan · 2004-10-04 11:17 · Score: 3, Funny

No sooner do they win the X-Prize than there's a new use for their Spaceship One :)
Crispin
wow! by Anonymous Coward · 2004-10-04 11:19 · Score: 1, Funny

Apparently, the International Space Station is becoming overloaded with junk, stored among other places in a now unused airlock.

That's one big airlock! How can it fit the whole space station?
Re:consult the American Way(tm)... by Anonymous Coward · 2004-10-04 11:41 · Score: 1, Funny

Congratulations: You have just been added to the no-fly list.
I fail to see how this makes them special.. by lpontiac · 2004-10-04 12:24 · Score: 2, Funny

*looks around at his room*
Re:Nuclear Rockets are the Answer by serutan · 2004-10-04 12:38 · Score: 2, Funny

In other words, you didn't look at the article and you have no meaningful opinion. Way to go!
So, the space shuttle is a garbage scow? by karlandtanya · 2004-10-04 13:31 · Score: 2, Funny

I didn't mean to say that the Enterprise should be hauling garbage.
I meant to say that it should be hauled away AS garbage" -- Korax (The Trouble With Tribbles)

--
"Reality is that which, when you stop believing in it, it doesn't go away." - Philip K. Dick
Jim Henson knew by Al+Al+Cool+J · 2004-10-04 14:12 · Score: 2, Funny

What we need is a new type of astronaut, one that is perfectly happy wallowing in garbage and excrement. The solution should be obvious, as it was forseen decades ago on a popular TV show...
Pigs In Space!
You knew this joke was coming, didn't you? by Anonymous Coward · 2004-10-04 17:04 · Score: 1, Funny

In Soviet Russia,

Litter drops on YOU!
Use it to make Contact by fuzzybunny · 2004-10-04 21:16 · Score: 2, Funny

Wrap it up reeeaaal tight and good, and slap a plaque on it with a couple of stick figures making 'peace' signs, an abstract representation of human DNA, and a model of the solar system, give it a good swift kick and voila. You have a poor man's Voyager!

Only problem would be if all that excreta and broken electronic junk somehow evolved, creating a bionic life form and coming back to haunt us a few hundred years from now as the Son of V'ger...

--
Cole's Law: Thinly sliced cabbage