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ISS Dodges Space Junk For First Time In Five Years
Kligat writes "For the first time since 2003, the International Space Station has utilized the rockets on the European Space Agency's Automated Transfer Vehicle to dodge leftover remnants of a defunct satellite. The Russian Cosmos-2421 was launched in June 2006 to track Western Navy vessels and is believed by NASA to have exploded — 'likely due to a self-destruct command issued by Russian officials' according to the article — leaving 500 pieces of space debris. Ordinarily, the rockets on the ATV are used to take the ISS away from Earth's atmosphere and reduce drag. In this case, the 5-minute firing caused the ISS to move downward because it was already near the top of its acceptable range. Estimated probability of impact was 1 in 72, and an avoidance maneuver is called for if the probability is greater than 1 in 10,000. The space junk was predicted to pass the ISS within just a mile."
You watch out for spy satellites!
Russian news avoids mentioning the Russian satellite and just refers to the ISS dodging a "cluster of garbage."
in space so we could catch all the space junk? We just need to be careful that we don't catch any space stations by accident...
Considering who would be putting the net out there, what do you think the chances of accidently catching a space station (or satellite) are, hmm?
The Mothership
I'm not a rocket scientist. Is there another kind of drag that needs to be reduced?
The drag of being stuck in a space station! It's pretty much like being in prison, but when you stick some rockets on it, suddenly you feel like a supervillain!
what about Mega Maid? she could vacuum up all of the space junk
Haven't you done enough to that poor cat.
Cats are people too.. only with paws and fur and they taste good in chinese food.
I just mentioned that to my Martian friend, and he said "Gzornak frokka wa Hubble, flrckin earthling!"
Only if you know the secret code.....
SUCK.. SUCK.. SUCK..!
Or could it make things worse? (lots of tiny particles you can't avoid vs. a couple of big particles.
well, what we need then is a linux admin who has mastered that Asteroids game
They should attach large electromagnets to the ISS and collect all of the space junk it passes by for recycling. I wonder what payment the recycling depot would give for satellite parts.
I don't keep track of shuttle payloads, but I would imagine that there would be room for a satellite or two in the cargo bay on the return trip.
maybe they were just quoting the engineers who had built the satellite...
[intercom:] "(sszzkk) uh, we need a cleanup on mile 183... that's a satellite cleanup on mile 183."
> ISS Dodges Space Junk For First Time In Five Years
It must be really banged up after 5 years of hitting space junk.
Admit it! You thought it too!
+ Informative adds to karma while + Funny does not. "Helpful" mods have been rating comedy posts as Informative to give the poster better karma. This practice fucks up the karma system and needs to stop. Unfortunately, stopping this probably won't be easy.
Then again, maybe I should lighten up and not care so much about this.
Said, "It's just like dice but it's got more sides And it tells me who lives and who dies"