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Space Debris Narrowly Misses Airliner

Posted by CmdrTaco on from the thats-why-i-wear-a-hat dept.

An anonymous reader writes "An airliner jet traveling from Chile to New Zealand early today was in for an interesting ride. Flaming space debris — the remains of a Russian satellite — came hurtling back to Earth not far from a commercial jet on its way to Auckland, New Zealand. Here's further justification for the growing concern of the increasing amounts of space garbage orbiting our planet. From the article: 'The pilot of a Lan Chile Airbus A340 ... notified air traffic controllers at Auckland Oceanic Centre after seeing flaming space junk hurtling across the sky just five nautical miles in front of and behind his plane...'"

17 of 297 comments (clear)

  1. IN SOVIET RUSSIA by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 3, Funny

    YOU hit spacejunk!

  2. Chili? Russion? by SouperMike · · Score: 5, Funny

    An airliner jet traveling from Chili to New Zealand early today were in for an interesting ride. Flaming space debris -- the remains of a Russion satellite -- came hurtling back to Earth not far from commercial jet on their way to Auckland, New Zealand.

    Chili?

    Russion?



    I hate it when my spicy peppers serve as runways.... editors, come on. Are you kidding me?

    1. Re:Chili? Russion? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 4, Funny

      Editors? At slashdot? Come on. Are you kidding me?

    2. Re:Chili? Russion? by voice_of_all_reason · · Score: 2, Funny

      It's more likely than you think.

  3. I'll get right on it! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Funny

    I work at a major supplier for onboard electronic systems for airliners. I'll remind my boss at the next meeting to bump up the priority on the space junk laser defense system.

  4. Re:Behind? by Rob+T+Firefly · · Score: 5, Funny

    It's harder when you have to roll down the window with that little crank.

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    Slashdot Burying Stories About Slashdot Media Owned
  5. Wormhole Technology! by Blakey+Rat · · Score: 4, Funny

    after seeing flaming space junk hurtling across the sky just five nautical miles in front of and behind his plane...

    Apparently the Russions developed wormhole technology! An object can be both in front of and behind a jet at the same time! I hope they don't share this technology with the Chili-ans!

    Apparently, the Chili-ans have already developed the highly vaunted A-340 rear-view mirror technology. (Seriously, how do you see something 5 miles BEHIND a A-340 from the pilot seat?)

    Or maybe this is just the worst summary ever. Although I'm a fan of anybody who can completely offend 160 million people in a single paragraph by misspelling the name of their nations.

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    Comment of the year
  6. Weren't they at Woodstock? by $RANDOMLUSER · · Score: 4, Funny

    "Flaming Space Debris", now that's a great name for a rock band.

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    No folly is more costly than the folly of intolerant idealism. - Winston Churchill
  7. Dr. Evil's Giant Magnet by rodney+dill · · Score: 2, Funny

    Fortunately work has already been begun on Dr. Evils's Giant Magnet

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    Use your head, can't you, use your head,
    You're on earth, there's no cure for that     - S. Beckett
  8. OK then, how about this? by Ericular · · Score: 5, Funny

    The debris came within .0000000538 AU of the aircraft.

  9. Definitely, we need a Vacuum Cleaner by VernonNemitz · · Score: 2, Funny

    Here's one proposal. :)

  10. Its time for Roger Wilco by Advocadus+Diaboli · · Score: 2, Funny

    to clean up the mess in our space. :-)

  11. Re:Behind? by fucksl4shd0t · · Score: 2, Funny

    IN 2010, they intend to ship planes with Klinger as well.

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    Like what I said? You might like my music
  12. Re:Interesting by inviolet · · Score: 4, Funny

    The solution is quite simple actually. Since all that junk is orbiting Earth, the position of any one piece of junk at any time is function of the Earth's gravity (and the piece's velocity), that's how orbits work. Since we can't change the junk's velocity (it doesn't have an engine, or we lost contact with it), all we need to do is increase the Earth's gravity for a couple of days and all the junk will de-orbit by itself. How to increase the Earth's gravity is left as an exercise to the reader.

    Not to worry; the Earth gains about one ton per year from infalling cosmic particles.

    As well, the Frito-Lay Corporation, in partnership with Dolly-Madison, are committed to the task of increasing the Earth's gravitational pull... one person at a time. I take my hat off to these patriotic, civic-minded businesses for doing their part to solve the desperate space-junk problem!

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  13. Modified Pre-Takeoff Safety Instructions by SeaDour · · Score: 4, Funny

    "In the event of a collision with a huge, fiery meteor, oxygen masks will drop from the panel above you..."

  14. Re:OK, I'm confused by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Funny

    The first is for intruder detection on the aircraft and for tourist entertainment, The tourists' entertainment would no doubt be taken to new levels with the detection of an intruder. Nothing like 300 people watching while a masked gang of plane-jackers clamber onboard.
  15. Re:nautical miles, not miles. by Shadow+Wrought · · Score: 3, Funny
    1 nautical mile == 1.2 standard miles.

    1 NM == 1 minute of Latitude

    So it also missed him by 5 minutes;-)

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