Space Junk

J

JP

Guest
Seems a shame to me that in the quest for scientific knowledge mankind is doing to space exactly what we have been doing to our Earth... filling it with unwanted shit.


http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/sci/tech/7940431.stm




Nasa are tracking over 18,000 pieces of crap in our orbit, from busted satelite's to lost nuts and bolts :isad:
 
To be fair, that's absolutely sod all in terms of polluting the space around our planet. I mean the average size of the trash is probably something like 1 metre cubed, if that (probably much less if they're including nuts and bolts). I have no idea how many cubic metres of space our orbit contains, but I reckon it's a fairly incomprehensible number.
 
a lost nut and bolt could really ruin your day if you were in one of richard branston space hoppers....going to have a look around
 
To be fair, that's absolutely sod all in terms of polluting the space around our planet. I mean the average size of the trash is probably something like 1 metre cubed, if that (probably much less if they're including nuts and bolts). I have no idea how many cubic metres of space our orbit contains, but I reckon it's a fairly incomprehensible number.


Those figures for 18,000 bits and bobs are only for the big bits by all accounts anything under 10 centimetrs was not counted... when China destroyed that defunct satalite with a missile a while back another 2500 bits were added to the overall list.


If an object needs to be travelling at some 17,500 mph to stay up there and it bumps into something travelling at an equal speed heading in a different direction, it won't take a rocket scientist to work out that your heading for a massive fail.
 
ahh yeah.....the vector principle....takes me back a little bit...mmmm*strokes beard*

how do you track space junk... with that massive telescope?

and how can you tell its not a meteorite...oooh lummy me ed hurts...interesting thread?
 
how do you track space junk... with that massive telescope?

?



Norad track everything in the sky bigger than a softball and pass information onto Nasa. They then use a computer program to work the rest out.... Bit like working out the tides.... exactly how they track it all is so secret that if we knew they'd have to kill us :Wink3:
 
oh silly me....you think i would have known the answer to that....oooooh have to kill us...:unsure:

and why didn't chewy get a medal very unfair if you ask me:iwink:
 
The lump that had a near-miss with the ISS is about 1cm. I'd love to know how they knew about it, never mind how they track it.
 
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