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Debris is Shuttle's Biggest Threat
Masq666 writes "Tiny rocks, paint flecks and other fragments of junk whizzing around the Earth pose the greatest threat to the shuttles and the astronauts on board, according to the preliminary results of a new NASA risk study.
Even coin sized fragments can cause great damage to a shuttle, and the damage can be lethal, if it hits the windows or the heat shield."
maybe you should have a watch of this Anime series -all to do with the lives of "Debree Collectors" quite relevant to this story indeed
No, no, no... shields are a defense mechanism against energy weapons. Space debris is knocked out of the way by the navigational deflector or main deflector dish. Get your fictional technology right!
the moon really isn't made of cheese.
And by the way, even a paint fleck moving at that kind of speed presents a risk to the shuttle.
- Think for yourself, question authority.-
A paint fleck that hit one of the windows on the Challenger left a quarter-inch-deep pit. Numerous other points have been hit by space debris, though usually at glancing angles so it's not as readily apparent or damaging. Every so often, the ISS crew have heard pings from tiny debris or perhaps micrometeoroids bouncing off of the hull.
You can never go home again... but I guess you can shop there.
Nah, it's a job for the Half Section. I've heard they were becoming quite good at it, recently, despite still being sooo understaffed.
Seriously, to all people who where bitching in previous stories about shows being canceled and bad science-fiction being shoveled down their throats: Watch this animé: Planetes. It's good science, and it's good fiction. It's very well made, it's captivating, in a low-key way.
I'll let the intro of the episodes speak for itself:
Artificial satellites that have been discarded, fuel tanks that shuttles have ejected, waste that was produced during space stations construction: a vast amount of trash floats around in space. Also known as space debris, it has become a grave threat. 2075. This is a story of when trash in space has become a problem.
http://www.oosa.unvienna.org/isis/pub/sdtechrep1/s ect03b1.html
Why do you think Hubble is required to be repaired after an interval of time?
Over the last 10 yrs several satelites have suddenly stopped functioning, due to unknown causes. Besides basic failure, "collision with a small object" is listed as probable cause for failure in many of those sats.
Make no mistake, the odds of hitting something up there (with proper planning) is remote, but there are still objects in orbit we don't have on our map, and collision with them creates significant risk. Put in everyday perspective, if getting a flat tire was almost gauranteed to kill everyone in your car, you'd be a lot more interested in street sweeper effectiveness at removing nails from the road.
High profile activities like space shuttle launches will always attract heavy criticism for safety regardless of the precautions taken or the known risks involved, so the people that plan these things have to take every step practical to protect the mission. If tracking space debris takes the risk of a shuttle disaster from 1:2000 to 1:2100, they will spend the bucks for that extra margin of safety.
I work for the Department of Redundancy Department.
Particularly if the objects are non-metallic!
The closer you get to the planet, the more crap there is. Some of it is really interesting crap, but it's still deadly crap.
Unfortunately, electronics are easier to rad harden than people, so the shuttle must fly in "riskier" orbits from a debris impact point of view. The shuttle is protected in two major ways that I know of: first, a box of space around the orbiter is constantly monitored by NORAD radar. If something enters that box, they assess it's threat to the orbiter and can order course corrections if necessary. This helps dodge a lot of bullets. Second, after the infamous paint fleck that took a chunk out of Challenger's window, flight rules were changed so that the orbiter is oriented with the main engines facing toward the direction of flight at all times. So much better to have a paint fleck put a hole in an ablative nozzle that isn't being used and that will get refitted anyway than have that same fleck cause an explosive decompression.
Uh - no... It might be very cold, but it's also extremely low pressure, so actually the pee boils off into a gas.