International Space Station May Be Evacuated Due To Debris

NASA is tracking debris that will pass extremely close to the station and are concerned about a collision.

The shuttle left the station several days ago with seven crew, also three members left the station yesterday to return to the planet and made a safe landing.
The remaining two crew aboard may be ordered to the last escape pod within the hour if the debris is determined to be in danger of impact because they don't have time to move the ISS out of the way.

The two-man crew was made aware of the potential threat Tuesday morning, and the astronauts may be told to take shelter in the Soyuz escape pod.

NASA officials said the possible projected time of impact would be at about 1:17 p.m. Tuesday.

Mission control in Houston said it was too late to move the space station out of the path of the debris, which is from a Russian satellite that collided with a U.S. satellite on Feb 10. The size of the piece of debris is not known.

www.clickorlando.com...


Watch updates on NASA TV:

www.nasa.gov...

Wow tense... I remember the last time this happened, what about 6 months ago?

Last time I emailed Sky news and they followed it - maybe you should email them AD? (they never said thanks mind )

There is so much junk in space, humans should start cleaning up their act. If nothing is done to clean our own space surrounding this planet, we'll become the junkyard of the galaxy...

So the ISS can be moved then, I saw in a nother thread, some said the ISS dont have engine and cant change orbit.

And it uses only 90 mins on one orbit. (Or was it hours?), atleast not standing still.

Space debri, sounds plauseable, I belive that if there is No huge amount of fireballs this winter..

nasa tv just reported that they won't wake the residents for evacuation, the closest approach they say will be 1k away.

reply to post by ChemBreather

So the ISS can be moved then, I saw in a nother thread, some said the ISS dont have engine and cant change orbit.

Not "moved" as you think. It can boost to a slightly higher orbit, but actual inclination change is not feasible.

Originally posted by ChemBreather
So the ISS can be moved then, I saw in a nother thread, some said the ISS dont have engine and cant change orbit.

Yhea as weed whacker said it's able to boost up to a slightly higher (or lower as well?) orbit... It's actually routine because the ISS's orbit does degrade over time, it's not a completely stable orbit, if it were to be left alone pretty soon it would dip into the very outer parts of the atmosphere... It's so thin there is almost nothing up there, but the ISS would notice the increased drag and the orbit would degrade quicker and quicker until it's a fireball coming back to Earth.

So they could never really mothball the ISS, you would always have to keep taking up fuel for the boosters at the very least.

Originally posted by ChemBreather
So the ISS can be moved then, I saw in a nother thread, some said the ISS dont have engine and cant change orbit.

And it uses only 90 mins on one orbit. (Or was it hours?), atleast not standing still.

Space debri, sounds plauseable, I belive that if there is No huge amount of fireballs this winter..

As weedwacker said, it can be "raised" -- and there are protocols for raising the ISS to escape debris.

...and yes -- it orbits in about 90 minutes. The ISS is never standing still (and never has been). Gravity is always pulling it back towards the Earth, so the ISS is moving (actually, it is falling) at 17,000 mph.

That's what an orbit is -- it's a fall. However, the ISS is not only falling down but also falling sideways -- and it is falling sideways fast enough that before it gets a chance to hit the Earth, the spherically-shaped Earth curves under itself. So because of the ISS's "sideways" speed, it misses hitting the ground.

The orbit of ISS is described in this article about "Newton's Cannonball"


[edit on 12/1/2009 by Soylent Green Is People]

at 12:25 pm EST on dec. 1st, flight director dana weigel was told by her ballistics specialists that debris from the Cosmos satellite is no threat.

i'm a member of nasa's website and this was just reported.

reply to post by Soylent Green Is People

The ISS is throwing itself at the Earth, and missing. Successfully.

Originally posted by Phage
reply to post by Soylent Green Is People

 

The ISS is throwing itself at the Earth, and missing. Successfully.

ROFLMAO


That's an interesting perspective.
True though.

reply to post by SLAYER69

It's not really mine. I confess. A variation on this;

There is an art, it says, or rather, a knack to flying.
The knack lies in learning how to throw yourself at the ground and miss.
Pick a nice day, it suggests, and try it.

From Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy.