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Post by lois on Jan 24, 2011 20:22:02 GMT -6
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Post by lois on Jan 24, 2011 20:24:40 GMT -6
Listen to the audio
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Post by lois on Jan 24, 2011 20:30:50 GMT -6
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Post by skywalker on Jan 25, 2011 10:31:47 GMT -6
Very interesting, Shami. I love meteorites, I think they are fascinating. In fact, I think everything about outer space is fascinating. Maybe I will create a space topic somewhere.
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Post by Steve on Sept 1, 2011 12:57:45 GMT -6
bit.ly/qiBcD2www.eclipsetours.com/sat/debris.htmlSpace junk littering orbit; may need cleaning up SETH BORENSTEIN From Associated Press September 01, 2011 1:55 PM EDT WASHINGTON (AP) — Space junk has made such a mess of Earth's orbit that experts say we may need to finally think about cleaning it up. That may mean vacuuming up debris with weird space technology — cosmic versions of nets, magnets and giant umbrellas, according to the chairman of an expert panel that issued a new report on the problem Thursday. There are 22,000 objects in orbit that are big enough for officials on the ground to track and countless more smaller ones that could do damage to human-carrying spaceships and valuable satellites. The International Space Station has to move out of the way of debris from time to time. "We've lost control of the environment," said retired NASA senior scientist Donald Kessler, who headed the National Academy of Sciences report. Since the space age began 54 years ago, civilization has littered the area just above Earth's atmosphere with leftover boosters and other parts that come off during launches, as well as old satellites. When scientists noticed that this could be a problem, they came up with agreements to limit new space junk and those plans had been working. Those agreements make sure what is sent into orbit eventually falls back to Earth and burns up. But two events in the past four years — a 2007 Chinese anti-satellite weapon test and a 2009 crash-in-orbit of two satellites — put so much new junk in space that everything changed, the report said. The Chinese test used a missile to smash an aging weather satellite into 150,000 pieces of debris larger than four-tenths of an inch (1 centimeter) and 3,118 pieces can be tracked by radar on the ground, the report said. "Those two single events doubled the amount of fragments in Earth orbit and completely wiped out what we had done in the last 25 years," Kessler said. All that junk that means something has to be done, "which means you have to look at cleaning space," said Kessler. The study only briefly mentions the cleanup possibility, raising technical, legal and diplomatic hurdles. But it refers to a report earlier this year by a Defense Department science think-tank that outlines all sorts of unusual techniques. The report by the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency is called "Catcher's Mitt" and it mentions harpoons, nets, tethers, magnets and even a giant dish or umbrella-shaped device that would sweep up tiny pieces of debris. While the new report does not recommend using the technology, Kessler said it is needed. He likes one company's idea of a satellite that is armed with nets that could be sprung on wayward junk. Attached to the net is an electromagnetic tether that could either pull the junk down to a point where it would burn up harmlessly or boost it to safer orbit. NASA officials said they are examining the study. The report is from the National Research Council, a branch of the National Academy of Sciences, which is an independent organization chartered by Congress to advise the government on science.
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Post by skywalker on Sept 1, 2011 16:02:49 GMT -6
If they had never dumped the garbage there in the first place they wouldn't have to clean it up. Typical humans. They wait until the problem gets totally out of control before they even think about doing something to fix it.
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Post by Deleted on Sept 1, 2011 17:28:20 GMT -6
Back in 2001 I took my family to Florida for vacation and Kennedy Space Center was one of our stops. We watched a film about a wheel in the sky similar to but much larger than the space station which would hold about 10,000 people and then expand to a double wheel holding 20,000 . One of their areas of concerns for this future mission was having enough water to supply all the humans, animals, and plants. Their solution- capture a comet and "tow" it in to earths orbit,,,no kidding ,,, I sat there shaking my head in disbelief when this was mentioned. I couldnt help but think about everything that could go wrong with that scenario.If theyre going to have a structure that big in space in the near future, than they may want to consider a major clean up mentioned above or fix this "space wheel" in a lunar orbit somewhere outside of earths . There is so much space junk up there that I cant see this problem being resolved any time soon but perhaps they could use laser technology and incinerate these particles ,,just a thought.
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Post by lois on Sept 1, 2011 20:34:34 GMT -6
Cliff .. I could not agree more with this.. There was an abductee years ago who said the aliens told her we need to clean up our mess of junk we have orbiting earth, it was not safe.. I put this on mufon once. It had a map showing all the junk orbiting us. I could not believe it.. Of course this junk was far apart but on this map scale you would not believe it if you did not see this photo..
A wheel .. Hummmmmmm!! that sounds familiar. A fly wheel is what these aliens used, it is my opinion of what I saw inside the craft in 72. It is the only explanation for it.. I won't go into it again.. A scientist on the Science channel said to make a craft fly a flywheel would have to be so large it would not be possible. What I seen was no more than a 16 ft diameter.. Of course I don't have any clue to what kind of power it is generating. I only wish I did know or have some idea.. Maybe I would if my missing time was recovered.
It was a wall of light, some kind of power produced by light.. running in panels the shape of this giant wheel .. I forget about it at times but it is always in the back of my mind. I will not live to see what I witnessed meant..
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Post by lois on Sept 1, 2011 20:38:13 GMT -6
Steve, I'm happy to hear NASA is working on a solution..
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Post by Deleted on Sept 1, 2011 21:05:29 GMT -6
It says a lot of us...destroy the planet with junk then move our habits into space. We need to be quarantined for everyone's sake
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Post by Steve on Sept 1, 2011 21:56:49 GMT -6
I think part of the problem was and is the means by which we launch objects into space. Enormous chemical rockets and staging to lift eventually a relatively small precious payload, much of the bulk of a rocket discarded either falling back to earth of remaining in orbit. The problem was really exasperated when China did a anti-satellite test that scattered an old weather satellite into a million tiny pieces. Then a collision of two satellites years ago by chance over Siberia. Millions of more tiny pieces. These piece don't fall down. How can they clean all this up? So many pieces moving at high velocities every-which way? Wonder how aliens get through all this approaching Earth. If they hop in or out inter dimensionally, it might not be a problem for them. What blows my mind is Apollo 12's third stage S-IVB launched in 1969 headed out discarded, into an orbit around our Sun. At some time a LaGrange point was encountered, where the Sun's gravity and the Earths gravity canceled each out. The objects velocity along with gravitation essentially passed this old Apollo relic from the Sun back to the Earth after 33 years. Called J002E3 See orbital animation: neo.jpl.nasa.gov/j002e3/j002e3.giflol. Steve news.sciencemag.org/sciencenow/2002/09/13-01.htmlnews.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/sci/tech/2253385.stm
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Post by Deleted on Sept 1, 2011 22:41:25 GMT -6
LOL Steve...
It's like we've built a moat around our planet. Not necessarily a "bad" thing for us... but for potential invaders... it's bad. ~smirk~
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Post by Steve on Sept 1, 2011 22:45:35 GMT -6
LOL Steve... It's like we've built a moat around our planet. Not necessarily a "bad" thing for us... but for potential invaders... it's bad. ~smirk~ LOL, it's like the aliens are outside our door, so we pile up the furnature against the door to keep them out. Steve
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Post by Deleted on Sept 1, 2011 23:21:07 GMT -6
LOL Steve... It's like we've built a moat around our planet. Not necessarily a "bad" thing for us... but for potential invaders... it's bad. ~smirk~ LOL, it's like the aliens are outside our door, so we pile up the furnature against the door to keep them out. Steve ;D Yea... too bad they can walk through walls, huh?
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Post by auntym on Sept 1, 2011 23:26:07 GMT -6
i have this mental image of an astronaut hanging out the window of his spaceship with a gigantic net....scooping up all the space junk....LOL,... ;D Hmmmm.... actually, i think that would make a cute cartoon .... oh, if i could only draw...... sky? ?
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Post by Deleted on Sept 2, 2011 9:42:23 GMT -6
What keeps others out..might also keep us in..future missions to the planets dodging space junk It's not so different from all the floating garbage in the oceans except of course for the speed. But no one has made plans for cleaning that up either. It would make a cute cartoon
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Post by skywalker on Sept 2, 2011 11:36:44 GMT -6
That would be a cute cartoon. Now if only we could find somebody to draw it...
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Post by auntym on Sept 3, 2011 13:51:20 GMT -6
t.co/HZJaotZ Space Debris Collection of Objects in Orbit Around Earth[/color] Human activities are not only leaving wastes on the Earth, but also polluting space. Space debris has posed a great concern in the countries which pursue space exploration. However, Chinese experts say the operating Shenzhou-6, the nation's second manned spacecraft, is unlikely hit by space debris as scientists are capable of monitoring space debris. SPACE IS NO LONGER A CLEAN PLACESince the former Soviet Union sent the first satellite into space in 1957, human exploration of space has left numerous debris,or rubbish, in the vast space. Space debris refers to artificial objects or fragments cast off in space, whether on purpose or not. A total of 29,000 larger pieces of space debris have been tracked in the past 48 years of space activities. About 20,000 of them have fallen to the Earth. Currently, 9,600 pieces of space debris which are larger than 10 cm are monitored. Only the United States and Russia conduct monitoring all such debris, said Gong Jiancun, a research fellow with the space technology and application center under the Chinese Academy of Sciences. The pieces bigger than one mm but smaller than 10 cm cannot be monitored, Gong said, and those smaller than one mm pose no disastrous threat to space vehicles. There are some 500 pieces of space debris passing through the orbit of Shenzhou-6 spacecraft, which is flying in a circular orbit 343 km above the Earth. It is able to resist the hit by debris less than one mm in size, said Gong. About 45 percent of space debris was produced by the United States and 48 percent by Russia or former Soviet Union. China produced only 1.2 percent. ....... CONTINUE READING: t.co/HZJaotZ
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Post by skywalker on Sept 9, 2011 13:59:26 GMT -6
Here is the first of a four-part cartoon I am working on.
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Post by auntym on Sept 9, 2011 14:13:45 GMT -6
very cute.... ;D
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Post by Deleted on Sept 9, 2011 14:16:04 GMT -6
Kewl Sky
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Post by Deleted on Sept 9, 2011 17:08:09 GMT -6
;D Spiffy!
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Post by casper on Sept 10, 2011 19:55:09 GMT -6
That's funny. ;D What's the next one going to be about?
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Post by auntym on Sept 14, 2011 22:24:41 GMT -6
bigthink.com/ideas/40175 MICHIO KAKU Forget Alien Invasions - Space Junk is the Real Menace from Space![/color] Michio Kaku on September 12, 2011, We have argued for decades that we are running out of space for our garbage in the thousands of landfills currently peppering the globe... Now we are faced with another problem with our junk and it's far from the surface of the Earth. Forget alien invasions! The real problem facing the space program is space junk, which is getting out of hand. Over the past 50 years, the great powers have considered outer space to be the ultimate dumping ground. So far, over 20,000 pieces of space junk, from millimeters in size all the way up to the size of 9 ton booster rockets are currently being tracked by military computers. If one considers pieces of junk down to .5 inches, which are quite difficult to track, then one might estimate that there might be as many as half a million or more pieces of junk, ranging from paint flecks to metal shavings, stray gloves and even tools such as screw drivers and wrenches. The dangers posed by debris caught in orbit around the Earth is not a new problem and NASA scientists have been talking about it for years. Several computer models of the debris field have been created with vast amounts of data with some estimates stating that the debris will remain until 2055, after which it will increase. One NASA scientist estimated that around 40% (as of 2006) are a direct result of breakups from both spacecraft and rocket bodies. The computer generated illustration below (provided by ESA via Space.com) depicts the density of space junk around Earth in low-Earth orbit. Now imagine driving down the highway and a fleck of paint comes loose from the car in front of you and hits your wind shield at 70 miles per hour; not that big of a deal considering that it would just be deflected or be carried away by the wind. In space however, things are a bit more dangerous. In space, these pieces of junk in space can be traveling at near 18,000 miles per hour and even a very small piece of debris would be more than enough to punch a hole in a satellite or space ship. A perfect example of this would be the pockmarked tiles on Space Shuttle's that returned from missions that were caused by none other than collisions with tiny pieces of debris. This is one of the core reasons why space junk has become a growing concern and only getting worse. Back in 2009, an Iridium telecommunications satellite collided with an old Russian satellite above Siberia and created an enormous debris field of space junk. Since the collision, the U.S. Space Surveillance Network has cataloged almost 2,000 pieces of debris from that collision, with about 400 additional pieces or so still awaiting cataloging. Back in in 2007, the Chinese (following the footsteps of both the US and Russia) deliberately destroyed one its own satellites via a collision with a space weapon (creating an enormous debris field of 2,000 pieces of space junk). The effects of all this space junk is beginning to have other consequences. For example, the International Space Station (ISS) has had to change course on several occasions in order to avoid colliding with pieces of space junk. Also to mention that some of our satellites have also had to move to avoid collisions. Sooner or later there could be a spectacular collision involving our satellites, the International Space Station (ISS), or our booster rockets. CONTINUE READING: bigthink.com/ideas/40175
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Post by auntym on Sept 18, 2011 11:22:04 GMT -6
news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2011/09/110909-nasa-space-debris-uars-satellite-top-five-science/?source=link_tw20110916news-debrisSpace Debris: Five Unexpected Objects That Fell to Earth, NASA rockets, Soviet satellites among oddities that've dropped from orbit.Traci Watson for National Geographic News Published September 9, 2011 It's coming from outer space. Sometime in the next few weeks, pieces of a defunct NASA satellite will rain down on an unlucky patch of Earth. Precisely where and when the space debris will hit home are not yet known, though the U.S. government will have a better picture of the so-called "debris footprint"—expected to be roughly 500 miles (805 kilometers) long—as the satellite's date with destiny draws near. The doomed spacecraft, known as the Upper Atmosphere Research Satellite (UARS), was carried aloft by the space shuttle Discovery in 1991 to study Earth's atmosphere. When the satellite was switched off in 2005, it became another piece of potentially hazardous space junk, so NASA nudged it toward Earth, aiming for a downward trajectory that would cause the craft to burn up in the atmosphere. Now the satellite itself will become a type of experiment: Can an uncontrolled 6.3-ton object plummet out of orbit without hitting anybody? At a press briefing Friday, NASA said there's generally little danger of death by space debris. Since the dawn of the Space Age some five decades ago, no human has been killed or even hurt by an artificial object falling from the heavens. Many space objects experience a carefully controlled demise. Russia's Mir space station, for example, was steered into a remote patch of ocean in 2001. (Related: "Space Station to Fall to Earth—Find Out How and Where.") But other pieces—old rocket segments jettisoned in orbit and abandoned spacecraft—fall toward Earth unguided. Last year one object a day, on average, made an unshepherded dive into the atmosphere, said NASA's Nick Johnson. To date nearly 6,000 tons of human-made material have survived the fiery journey through our atmosphere, according to the Aerospace Corporation, a space-research center. Here are some of the notable objects that have made surprise return trips to Earth: CONTINUE READING: news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2011/09/110909-nasa-space-debris-uars-satellite-top-five-science/?source=link_tw20110916news-debris
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Post by skywalker on Sept 18, 2011 11:45:17 GMT -6
[/i] Two of those five falling space things mentioned in the article landed in Texas. Why wasn't I told about this? I could have been waiting with my catchers mit. Darned NASA! I missed my chance because of them. I'm not going to miss this next satellite though. I bet that it falls in Texas too. As big as the Lonestar sate is, how can it miss? This other thing that was mentioned in the article is not so pleasant to think about... How can they not find radioactive material? Have they never heard of a geiger counter?
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Post by Morgan Sierra on Oct 23, 2011 19:44:17 GMT -6
I just found this old thread also. Shami suggested way back in January that we have a Space topic on the forum and I am just now getting around to creating it. I guess it's better that I listen late than never.
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Post by auntym on Jan 15, 2012 12:58:45 GMT -6
www.washingtonpost.com/national/health-science/incoming-space-junk-failed-russian-mars-probe-expected-to-crash-this-weekend/2012/01/13/gIQAOM7ewP_story.html?wpisrc=nl_headlines BETTER CARRY AN UMBRELLA... MORE INCOMING SPACE JUNK Incoming space junk: Failed Russian Mars probe expected to crash this weekendBy bob Vastag, Published: January 13 What went up is going to come down — and soon. A failed Russian Mars probe stranded above Earth since November will plunge to its doom this weekend, likely on Sunday. Experts expect the 11 tons of fuel on board to explode high in the atmosphere as friction eats through the craft’s aluminum tanks. But predicting when and where space objects will fall is tricky. Solar flares and other “space weather” expand and contract Earth’s atmosphere, altering the drag on falling objects. That means the spacecraft, called Phobos-Grunt, could plummet back to Earth over North America, South America, Europe, Asia or even Australia. “It’s not possible to say where the thing is going to fall down,” Heiner Klinkrad, head of the orbital debris office at the European Space Agency in Darmstadt, Germany, said in an interview Friday. Roscosmos, the Russian space agency, expects 500 pounds of the nearly 15-ton craft to survive reentry, with the rest incinerating. The agency’s latest prediction shows it crashing into the Atlantic Ocean just off the coast of South America. But that prediction can change — and most likely will. As the craft drops lower and lower, its path will become more certain. By late Saturday, Klinkrad said, the ESA will begin crossing out large areas of the world that will not be hit. The ESA’s latest predictions peg the plunge for Sunday morning, Eastern time. But reentry could occur as early as Saturday night or as late as Monday morning, Klinkrad said. The U.S. Strategic Command, the wing of the military tasked with tracking space debris, is also eyeing Sunday and Monday for the uncontrolled reentry. CONTINUE READING: www.washingtonpost.com/national/health-science/incoming-space-junk-failed-russian-mars-probe-expected-to-crash-this-weekend/2012/01/13/gIQAOM7ewP_story.html?wpisrc=nl_headlines
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Post by skywalker on Jan 15, 2012 13:11:29 GMT -6
Is there any way to keep track of that crazy thing like they did with the other two satellites that crashed? I would like to know when to expect it. If it explodes up in the sky we might be able to see it. That would be cool!
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Post by swamprat on Jan 15, 2012 13:37:06 GMT -6
Russian space probe reportedly crashes into Pacific OceanPublished January 15, 2012 MOSCOW – Russia's Defense Ministry says a failed probe designed to travel to a moon of Mars has crashed, showering debris over the southern Pacific, according to news reports. The ministry said the fragments fell Sunday 775 miles west of Wellington Island.The Phobos Ground was one of the heaviest and most toxic space junk ever to crash to Earth, but space officials and experts said the risks posed by its crash were minimal as the probe's toxic rocket fuel and most of the craft's structure were to burn up in the atmosphere anyway. The $170-million Phobos-Ground was Russia's most expensive and the most ambitious space mission since Soviet times. The spacecraft was intended to land on Phobos, one of Mars' two moons, collect soil samples and fly them back to Earth. Read more: www.foxnews.com/scitech/2012/01/15/russian-space-probe-to-crash-on-earth-within-hours/#ixzz1jYbo9181My question is: "What does all of that toxic hydrazine do to the marine life in that area?"
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