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Speeding Object Makes Small Hole In the ISS Solar Array

Posted by Soulskill on from the oh-right,-great-peril dept.

New submitter cute_orc writes "The International Space Station has been hit by a small object. Chris Hadfield, an astronaut currently on the ISS, described it in his Twitter feed as 'a small stone from the universe.' He also said he was glad it didn't hit the hull. Jim Scotti, a planetary scientist from the University of Arizona, thinks the object may have had a different origin: 'It's unlikely this was caused by a meteor; more likely a piece of man-made space debris in low Earth orbit.'"

24 of 119 comments (clear)

  1. Any way to see them coming? by Rideak · · Score: 3, Interesting

    I wonder if our radar tech is advanced enough to be able to see these small projectiles in time to intercept them.

    1. Re:Any way to see them coming? by i+kan+reed · · Score: 3, Informative

      Sort of?
      We have a project to identify and track all the space-junk we can, but the library is far from complete. Once we know where one is and how fast it's going, it doesn't deviate much from that.

      We make a practice of avoid the junk we know about. Intercepting it, on the other hand, is a fools errand. You're talking about shooting a bullet down with a gun. Hypothetically: sure, but in reality, it's not gonna happen.

    2. Re:Any way to see them coming? by Ashenkase · · Score: 2

      Intercepting "these small projectiles" is not a good idea since they are travelling at orbital velocities (25000km per hour).

      Picking these objects up on radar and performing an avoidance maneuver is what the ISS has traditionally done when faced with an inevitable intercept. If the maneuver cannot be performed in time the astronauts and cosmonauts hunker down in the Soyuz capsules in case they need to make a "speedy" departure from the station.

    3. Re:Any way to see them coming? by i+kan+reed · · Score: 2

      What exactly makes you think the vaporized chunks aren't capable of doing similar levels of damage? When you're going 10-20 times the speed of sound, it isn't the rigidness of the body that does damage, but the sheer kinetic energy.

      Again, the bullet analogy applies. Can you focus a laser pointer on a bullet before it hits you? Your only real hope is to get the target an entire orbit before it reaches you.

    4. Re:Any way to see them coming? by Immerman · · Score: 4, Interesting

      Actually I believe current mapping is of objects down to a sizable fraction of a meter - the stuff that would likely cripple or destroy a spacecraft on impact no matter where it hit. For smaller stuff - pebbles, nuts and bolts, etc. that will still easily punch a hole through anything it hits we don't have the infrastructure in place to do a meaningful orbital mapping and must reply on luck and kinetic shielding - often many, many layers of material that can get "blown off" on impact, dissipating projectile energy before it reaches the inner hull (I don't know if the ISS uses that technique or not)

      --
      --- Most topics have many sides worth arguing, allow me to take one opposite you.
    5. Re:Any way to see them coming? by dsvick · · Score: 5, Funny

      Especially solar cells that keep getting holes punched in them ... sorry, had to ...

    6. Re:Any way to see them coming? by Lightsider01 · · Score: 4, Informative

      Vaporizing them isn't going to help much and it takes too much energy. It also has the risk of generating *more* space junk, just smaller. However, there is a proposal to use lasers against the growing cloud of space junk in orbit. This plan, however, isn't to vaporize them. The plan is to use the small momentum generated by photons to cause the junk to deorbit. http://www.wired.co.uk/news/archive/2013-04/29/laser-space-junk

    7. Re:Any way to see them coming? by Rideak · · Score: 2

      Well there is a very small amount of atmosphere at the orbit the ISS has, Breaking a projectile up into infinitely small bits would increase the surface area and (admittedly small) drag. Maybe just dispersing them enough that they wouldn't cause any damage.

      Another idea would be to heat up one side of the projectile which could vaporize small amounts of the material giving it some thrust. That thrust could push them out of the way.

    8. Re:Any way to see them coming? by wagnerrp · · Score: 2

      When you vaporize it, it's not going to remain a solid chunk of gas. It will rapidly expand out to local atmospheric pressure. The vast majority of it will blow past you harmlessly on either side. Only a small amount of the matter will actually impact, and that which does impact will be spread out over a lengthened duration.

    9. Re:Any way to see them coming? by tlhIngan · · Score: 3, Informative

      Sort of?
      We have a project to identify and track all the space-junk we can, but the library is far from complete. Once we know where one is and how fast it's going, it doesn't deviate much from that.

      We make a practice of avoid the junk we know about. Intercepting it, on the other hand, is a fools errand. You're talking about shooting a bullet down with a gun. Hypothetically: sure, but in reality, it's not gonna happen.

      Only above a certain size (1cm or so?), and yes, they do deviate because they hit things while they orbit.

      Even worse is that, you cannot intercept them because you risk making the problem worse - one large piece of debris is easier to deal with than many smaller pieces, and the smaller pieces often form clouds of debris which can cover a larger area, which create more debris as they hit more stuff.

      There is a critical point where we would effectively be trapped because the space debris would cause chain reactions which spray off more debris, which hit off more stuff and make more debris, etc. Like an uncontrolled nuclear reaction.

      The only way to clean it up is to deorbit it, and orbital mechanics say to do that, you can only decelerate it (your orbit altitude is determined by your speed - go faster, you go higher. Go slower, you go lower)

    10. Re:Any way to see them coming? by kimvette · · Score: 4, Insightful

      > Intercepting "these small projectiles" is not a good idea since they are travelling at orbital velocities (25000km per hour).

      Their speed relative to Earth has no bearing on it; what matters is the relative speed between the random object and the object you wish to protect, just as the fact that we revolve around the sun at 30 km/s has zero impact ;) on how long it takes you to drive to work (or hop on your bike for cheetos and mountain dew for those who cannot relate because they still live in mommy's basement ;)). If they could launch an interceptor from the protected vehicle to divert or simply absorb kinetic energy and slow it to a harmless relative velocity, then it would be a success - whether or not more junk is created. I think protecting lives against an immediate threat in that situation is more important than the concern of additional junk.

      --
      The Christian Right is Neither (Christian nor right). See: Matthew 23, Matthew 25, Ezekiel 16:48-50
    11. Re:Any way to see them coming? by DerekLyons · · Score: 2

      Once we know where one is and how fast it's going, it doesn't deviate much from that.

      On the contrary, stuff in LEO wanders all over the place (relatively speaking) - not only is the Earth's gravitational field "lumpy", there's atmospheric drag a surprising distance out (and it varies over time), there's light pressure and the solar wind too... That's why it's such a big damn job to keep track of the stuff, and why they sometimes have to move the station's orbit unexpectedly.

  2. Don't bother with the article. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Insightful

    This is basically a "SOMETHING HAPPENED! But that's all we know" story. You'll get just as much reading this summary.

  3. A small stone by SJHillman · · Score: 5, Funny

    "A small stone from the universe"

    Not to be confused the all of the rocks being thrown at us from outside of the Universe.

  4. oblig: sharks by stevegee58 · · Score: 2

    Only if they're attached to frickin sharks.

    1. Re:oblig: sharks by s1d3track3D · · Score: 2

      http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bh7bYNAHXxw

  5. Re:WTF?? by Eowaennor · · Score: 5, Funny

    Their ZPM may be close to depleted

  6. Re:A constant reminder by Cito · · Score: 2

    sounds like mom

  7. Re:Dumb, dumb question but asking anyway by MozeeToby · · Score: 3, Informative

    A laser isn't as unfeasible as you might think. All it has to do is ablate a tiny bit of material from the target, enough to raise it's apogee a bit which then pushes the perigee deeper into the atmosphere causing it to fall out of orbit relatively quickly (a handful of orbits later). The idea isn't to spot an incoming rock and zap it away, it's to keep the general orbit clear of debris. And the best part is, using adaptive optics, it's possible to base such a system on the ground.

  8. I was looking for that... by bkmoore · · Score: 2

    I was looking for that socket wrench I lost on Skylab 2...

  9. Re:A constant reminder by kimvette · · Score: 2

    > The hull is most likely not that thick.

    Spacecraft hulls (aside from reentry vehicles and the space shuttle) has been compared to foil. It's not that thin, but I'd guess based on descriptions (and without googling) that it would be approximately the same as a soda pop can.

    --
    The Christian Right is Neither (Christian nor right). See: Matthew 23, Matthew 25, Ezekiel 16:48-50
  10. Smart move ... by PPH · · Score: 2

    ... would be to sleep in the bathtub from now on.

    --
    Have gnu, will travel.
  11. Re:A constant reminder by ChrisMaple · · Score: 2

    A quick search returns results from greater than 4 mm, down to 1.27 mm plus a multilayer coating of insulation plus ballistic fabric.

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    Contribute to civilization: ari.aynrand.org/donate
  12. Re:Hadfield is the Commander by Mal-2 · · Score: 2

    "Chris Hadfield, an astronaut currently on the ISS"

    Chris Hadfield is not just an astronaut on the ISS. He's the Commander of the ISS right now. Oh and he's Canadian.

    So how quickly did the ISS apologize for being in the way of the speeding debris?

    --
    How is the Riemann zeta function like Trump rallies? Both have an endless number of trivial zeros.