NASA Monitors Hunk of Junk Headed for ISS

[JMcEntegart]

NASA is monitoring a large piece of space junk that, if it continues it's current path, will pass extremely close to the International Space Station.

NASA Monitors Hunk of Junk Headed for ISS : Read more

 

[grieve]

I love when they talk about distance in space... A near miss is like 500,000 miles away.

2 Miles I suppose is rather close, BUT it's still 2 miles!

 

[jerther]

Can't they just shoot it, Asteroids style?

 

[ssalim]

I agree, 2 miles is not "extremely close" -- I'd say uh... 6 feet is extremely close. lol.

 

[Guest]

Straight out of Idiocracy.

 

[Mr_Man]

[citation][nom]jerther[/nom]Can't they just shoot it, Asteroids style?[/citation]
One word: debris.

 

[jellico]

[citation][nom]jerther[/nom]Can't they just shoot it, Asteroids style?[/citation]
I know you were making a joke, but the one thing you don't want to do is make MORE debris in orbital space. What would be really good is if we could figure out a way to mount some sort of weapon (such as a recoiless ice cannon), that could be used to shoot at passing junk to hopefully knock it into a decaying orbit. If you miss, the ice projectile will quickly sublime so it won't add to the problem.

 

[maigo]

How fast is it moving? Cause if it's moving at 70 million miles a minute like everything else in space, 2 miles is a sneeze away

 

[WheelsOfConfusion]

Space junk is a major problem for orbiting satellites, including space stations and shuttles. Even a fleck of paint moving at orbital velocities can hit with forces similar to a bullet from a high-powered rifle. And unless it decays in orbit, it'll remain up there for decades or centuries. What's worse, each launch puts more and more of this junk into orbit. And the more there is, the more likely are collisions between junk and other junk, or junk and satellites, etc., which, as jellico said, would just create even more junk bodies floating around a thousands of miles per hour. So as time goes on, the danger for future missions will only increase unless we can find ways to nudge the debris back into the atmosphere, where most of it will burn up.

 

[fulle]

I know how NASA feels. I barely dodged an encounter with my horrible ex girlfriend today, by about 2 miles. I might need to relocate.

 

[gam3r4321]

[citation][nom]ssalim[/nom]I agree, 2 miles is not "extremely close" -- I'd say uh... 6 feet is extremely close. lol.[/citation]

in space it is. what if the rocket stage hits something and causes it to break in to little pieces...suddenly to me 2 miles dose not seem so far away. just imagine your self being up there on station. how would you feel if there was a possibility of some sort of object ripping through the hull like its tinfoil. there just being precocious. i mean there is only 1 space station up there after all!

 

[frozenlead]

2 miles sounds a pretty dumb thing to call "close", but, remember - they're estimating it off it's projected path. Margins of error may allow those astronauts (and all of their jobs as well as several hundred millions dollars of equipment) alive in every system and method they use up there.

 

[cldebuhr]

Yes - two miles is close. Especially when you consider that space debris tends to travel as a cloud of associated objects that only slowly drift apart into varying orbits. If I new an old piece of a rocket stage was swinging by within a few miles, I'd really be thinking more about smaller, co-orbital fragments, paint chips (see WheelsOfConfusion above), etc.

 

[amnotanoobie]

[citation][nom]frozenlead[/nom]2 miles sounds a pretty dumb thing to call "close", but, remember - they're estimating it off it's projected path. Margins of error may allow those astronauts (and all of their jobs as well as several hundred millions dollars of equipment) alive in every system and method they use up there.[/citation]
2 miles it a bit close when both objects are traveling at a few thousand miles. Though I'm not sure of the speed difference between the 2.

 

[Guest]

"if it continues it's current path"

What if the space junk suddenly feels like defying the laws of physics and turn left?

 

[arson94]

[citation][nom]grieve[/nom]I love when they talk about distance in space... A near miss is like 500,000 miles away.2 Miles I suppose is rather close, BUT it's still 2 miles![/citation]


I've always hated that something passing closely by was referred to as a "near miss." I always thought of it as a near hit, as in it nearly hit the other object lol... A near miss would be a collision, as in it nearly missed the other object.

 

[tenor77]

Where's Gordon Freeman and his gravity gun when you need it

 

[ravewulf]

It would be greatly beneficial if we could clean up all the space junk out there

 

[zachary k]

2 miles is close in terms of outer space.

 

[skalagon]

How did they spot it? Or do they put trackers on the rocket casings so they know where they are or something?