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Space Litter To Hit Earth Tomorrow

Posted by kdawson on from the leave-only-memories-take-only-footprints dept.

A refrigerator-sized tank of toxic ammonia, tossed from the international space station last year, is expected to hit earth tomorrow afternoon or evening. The 1,400-pound object was deliberately jettisoned — by hand — from the ISS's robot arm in July 2007. Since the time of re-entry is uncertain, so is the location. "NASA expects up to 15 pieces of the tank to survive the searing hot temperatures of re-entry, ranging in size from about 1.4 ounces (40 grams) to nearly 40 pounds (17.5 kilograms). ... [T]he largest pieces could slam into the Earth's surface at about 100 mph (161 kph). ...'If anybody found a piece of anything on the ground Monday morning, I would hope they wouldn't get too close to it,' [a NASA spokesman] said."

16 of 443 comments (clear)

  1. Cloudy by DeadPixels · · Score: 5, Funny

    With a chance of toxic ammonia-coated metal chunks?

    1. Re:Cloudy by JustOK · · Score: 5, Funny

      Space trash wins. Next question.

      --
      rewriting history since 2109
    2. Re:Cloudy by Suzuran · · Score: 5, Funny

      Newton.

    3. Re:Cloudy by nmb3000 · · Score: 5, Funny

      17 kg at 160 kph could hit the earth anywhere?
      What if it hits SOMETHING, like a car in the highway or an airplane?

      A Boeing 747 with mass 340,000 kg takes off from JFK airport at 3:00 pm and heads towards Los Angeles at a cruising speed of 800 kph. A refrigerator-sized tank of toxic ammonia with mass 17 kg jettisoned from the ISS 560 days prior is about to achieve re-entry at 160 kph. Where and when will they meet?

      I hate these stupid questions.

      --
      "What do you despise? By this are you truly known." --Princess Irulan, Manual of Muad'Dib
      /)
    4. Re:Cloudy by hbp4c · · Score: 5, Informative

      "The Early Ammonia Servicer (EAS) is a very large, 1400 pound tank of ammonia that was used to cool electronics on the International Space Station (ISS). When a permanent cooling system was installed, the EAS was thrown overboard by spacewalking astronaut Clayton Anderson on July 23, 2007. NASA does not normally dispose of debris by throwing it overboard. The risk of collision with the International Space Station or another satellite does not justify the ease of disposing of debris this way. In the case of the Early Ammonia Servicer, it was too heavy and dangerous (because of the ammonia) to return to Earth in the Space Shuttle, and throwing it overboard was the only option. The EAS has been in a slowly decaying orbit since then." - blatantly copied from an email I received earlier today on this subject.

  2. "toxic ammonia"? by penginkun · · Score: 5, Funny

    As opposed to that non-toxic, safe-to-eat, oh-so-good-for-you ammonia they sell down at the cleaning supplies store?

    1. Re:"toxic ammonia"? by mrchaotica · · Score: 5, Informative

      Ammonium chloride is not even slightly like ammonia, in the same way that table salt is not even slightly like chlorine gas.

      --

      "[Regarding the 'cloud,'] ownership was what made America different than Russia." -- Woz

    2. Re:"toxic ammonia"? by Daimanta · · Score: 5, Funny

      Yeah, it's called salmiak and it's probably an acquired taste. I have heard of a person who said that it tasted like catpiss. But on the other hand, the Americans invented McDonalds so I guess that makes us even :)

      --
      Knowledge is power. Knowledge shared is power lost.
    3. Re:"toxic ammonia"? by dkf · · Score: 5, Funny

      Is idiocy a prerequisite for getting mod points?

      No, but it helps! After all, I've been modded up quite a few times over the years...

      --
      "Little does he know, but there is no 'I' in 'Idiot'!"
  3. Re:Current data on object by bruins01 · · Score: 5, Funny

    Your sig takes on a whole new meaning in light of that quotation in the summary.

  4. Re:Could/Should we push all the junk back at earth by SnarfQuest · · Score: 5, Funny

    They don't have a big enough shark to mount the laser on at the moment.

    --
    Who would win this election: Andrew Weiner vs Andrew Weiner's weiner.
  5. Hrmm... by hack++slash · · Score: 5, Funny

    When this refrigerator sized chunk hits the ground and finally stops rolling, will it open and Indiana Jones falls out?

    --
    To do something right, you often have to roll up your sleeves and get busy.
  6. Re:clue ? by eln · · Score: 5, Funny

    A 40 pound child is a little more...yielding than a 40 pound chunk of metal. Also, the 40 pound chunk of metal would presumably be falling on the car from above, not hitting the car head-on. So yah, it may not actually reduce the entire car to a smoking crater, but it would likely total it.

    So, while I have no doubt you have plentiful experience striking 40 pound children with vehicles, I'm not sure that experience is directly applicable to the situation at hand.

  7. Re:Could/Should we push all the junk back at earth by JoeMerchant · · Score: 5, Funny

    Assuming a capable laser system, would a gentle laser push towards earth be a good way to clean up space junk? Would away from earth be better?

    A laser which would simply annihilate the junk would be admittedly cooler, but could de-orbit be accomplished with much less power?

    Last time I tried to get my car to roll backwards by turning on the headlights, it took a really long time....

  8. Re:clue by RockWolf · · Score: 5, Funny

    So, while I have no doubt you have plentiful experience striking 40 pound children with vehicles, I'm not sure that experience is directly applicable to the situation at hand.

    We start by assuming a perfectly spherical 40lb child of uniform density...

    --
    February 9th, 2009 8:55pm: Slashdot becomes self-aware.
  9. Re:clue by melted+keyboard · · Score: 5, Funny

    Ok,... American child,... got it. What next?