U.S. and Russian satellites collide

[rickoff]

Another close call...

Yesterday the International Space Station (ISS) was ordered to maneuver to avoid collision today with a 4 inch piece of space junk which is said to be a remnant from a Chinese satellite rocket engine traveling at a speed of about 20,000 mph. The shuttle Discovery fired it's thrusters to reorient the ISS out of harm's way. Thankfully, the collision warning was given early enough to allow for evasive maneuvers. During the previous close encounter, with the 5 inch Russian debris, such advance warning was not given. Instead, the astronauts were told to wait in the Soyuz capsule for possible orders to depart from the ISS. Evidently, the path of the Russian debris is much more difficult to predict because it has been bouncing off Earth's atmosphere. Each bounce, of course, slows the debris somewhat and thus alters it's orbital path. As additional pieces, such as the Chinese debris, fall into atmosphere bouncing orbits, this greatly complicates tracking and path predictions. The ISS is in a particularly vulnerable position because it is placed right at the outer bounds of Earth's atmosphere. A piece of debris that falls into the atmosphere, several miles before the ISS position, can bounce back up to strike the ISS a glancing shot from below. Thus, any near collision bounce becomes a double threat. So far luck has prevailed, but the debris field is now cause for great concern as an unavoidable collision becomes more and more likely.

Rick

[ashtweth]

Rick Rulz, he is my daily reality check

[rickoff]

Hey, how's it going Ash? You're probably just as busy as I am lately, and maybe even more so, but it's still fun to pop in here at EnergeticForum, see what's new, and say a few words, isn't it?

Best wishes to you,

Rick

[rickoff]

Canadian satellites endangered by space junk

Two Canadian satellites, RADARSAT-1 and RADARSAT-2, are in danger of being damaged or destroyed because they are passing through massive clouds of space junk caused by the recent collision between a Russian and an American satellite. Within these clouds there are at least 500 pieces of debris that are tennis ball size or larger, and millions of smaller pieces as well. The 2 Canadian satellites orbit Earth 14 times a day from east to west. The threatening clouds of space junk are traveling in a north to south trajectory, which makes for a potentially devastating impact. The cost to build these satellites, which measure environmental factors, was a billion dollars. According to international law, the country that launched the material which is now debris is responsible to pay for any damages caused to functional satellites or spacecraft. The hard part, of course, will be getting any country to admit that it was their piece of junk that has caused a mishap. Right now there is no international tracking authority to serve as watchdog. In the US, it is Stratcom, a branch of the USAF, that tracks space debris. In the case of a collision, they notify NORAD, which then passes the information on to the parties of interest.

Now this all brings up some interesting questions:

What will happen when a tennis ball sized piece of debris, caused by the US/Russian satellites collision, takes out one or both of the Canadian Radarsat satellites? It will probably be nearly impossible to determine which country owns the debris that causes the impact. Neither country is going to want to accept ownership of the debris, so how would fault be determined under international law? Would both the US and Russia be held equally accountable, since the clouds of junk threatening the Canadian satellites were caused by the US/Russia collision? Or would the country causing the US/Russia collision be the one held solely accountable? And what if the debris piece destroying the Canadian satellite is large enough to be readily identified as a remnant of the US Iridium satellite? In comparing this type of collision with an automobile accident involving multiple parties, the answer would be that the auto which initially collides with a second vehicle, and causes a chain reaction accident, is only responsible to pay damages caused to the second vehicle. The second vehicle pays for damages to the third, and so on. So if international laws concerning space collisions works the same way then the Iridium satellite owners would be held responsible in case of the last scenario. But of course if the US is the only country that can accurately determine the origin of the debris, then Canada will probably never know what hit them and will simply suffer the loss. What's more, they will then be potentially liable for a large chunk of their satellite taking out another country's satellite, or even the destruction of the International Space Station. Gets rather complicated, doesn't it?

Ken Tapping, an astronomer with the Canadian Hertzberg Institute of Astrophysics, has this to say of the situation: “We’ve been absolutely irresponsible about the way we’ve been using space. The best we can hope for is that all the debris will re-enter the atmosphere in the next 50 to 100 years.”

A lovely outlook, huh?

Rick

[FuzzyTomCat]

Rick

Hi Rick,

My biggest concern is with North Korea or a out side chance China, Iran trying some "ICBM" nuclear space explosion similar to what the USA and Russia did from 1958 to 1962 .... they have nothing to loose and a lot to gain.

Space law - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Outer Space Treaty - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Glen

[rickoff]

Yep, this is a crazy world we live in, Glen, and I don't think that North Korea would even hesitate to attempt such an experiment if they feel they have the capability to pull it off. Scary thought!

Rick

[rickoff]

Space junk photo up close

Here's a close-up view of some space junk that landed in Texas several years ago. How would you like to see something like this slamming into your house? It wouldn't be very pretty.

This is a main propellant tank of a Delta 2 launch vehicle which landed in Georgetown, Texas, on Jan. 22, 1997. NASA image



Rick

[rickoff]

Real time tracking of space junk in Google Earth

If you have Google Earth installed on your computer, you can download a file from the following site which will allow you to track all known space obects in an Earth orbit. This includes working satellites, defunct satellites, rocket bodies, the International Space Station, and orbital debris. Download the file here: http://adn.agi.com/SatelliteDatabase...teDatabase.kmz

If you don't already have Google Earth, you can download that free at this site: Google Earth

Once you open the file in Google Earth, open up the sidebar on the left of your screen. You'll see a link that says, "Satellite Database." Click on the "+" sign to its left. A series of check boxes will appear. Uncheck all of them except "Debris" and you'll see the thousands of space junk objects left in space. If you click the plus sign at the top of the slider control at upper right, the view will zoom in on the debris field and each piece of debris will be identified according to its origin - for example, "DELTA 1 DEB." This is the same thing that trackers at Strategic Command see on their screens, and which enables them to tell astronauts that a specific piece of debris will make a close approach to the Space Station.

Click the minus control of the slider to zoom back out to a full Earth globe view, then checkmark "Rocket bodies" and "Inactive satellites," and you will see a great number of additional pieces added in. Finally, checkmark "Active satellites," and then you have it all. If "Realtime updates" is checkmarked, this will update the tracking every 30 seconds. To make things even more interesting, locate the right arrow on the circular control at upper right corner of the Google Earth screen (just above the slider control). Hold the right arrow down with your mouse and the Earth globe will start spinning. You will then be amazed by how much stuff is continually orbiting our planet, and will understand what a nightmare this is becoming. Keep in mind too, that this only shows pieces that are large enough to track (at least 3 inches per side), and that there are literally millions of smaller pieces out there that can cause significant damage.

Very interesting, huh?


Rick

[FuzzyTomCat]

Space junk risk for Hubble crew: 1 in 221

If you have Google Earth installed on your computer, you can download a file from the following site which will allow you to track all known space obects in an Earth orbit. This includes working satellites, defunct satellites, rocket bodies, the International Space Station, and orbital debris. Download the file here: http://adn.agi.com/SatelliteDatabase...teDatabase.kmz

If you don't already have Google Earth, you can download that free at this site: Google Earth

Once you open the file in Google Earth, open up the sidebar on the left of your screen. You'll see a link that says, "Satellite Database." Click on the "+" sign to its left. A series of check boxes will appear. Uncheck all of them except "Debris" and you'll see the thousands of space junk objects left in space. If you click the plus sign at the top of the slider control at upper right, the view will zoom in on the debris field and each piece of debris will be identified according to its origin - for example, "DELTA 1 DEB." This is the same thing that trackers at Strategic Command see on their screens, and which enables them to tell astronauts that a specific piece of debris will make a close approach to the Space Station.

Click the minus control of the slider to zoom back out to a full Earth globe view, then checkmark "Rocket bodies" and "Inactive satellites," and you will see a great number of additional pieces added in. Finally, checkmark "Active satellites," and then you have it all. If "Realtime updates" is checkmarked, this will update the tracking every 30 seconds. To make things even more interesting, locate the right arrow on the circular control at upper right corner of the Google Earth screen (just above the slider control). Hold the right arrow down with your mouse and the Earth globe will start spinning. You will then be amazed by how much stuff is continually orbiting our planet, and will understand what a nightmare this is becoming. Keep in mind too, that this only shows pieces that are large enough to track (at least 3 inches per side), and that there are literally millions of smaller pieces out there that can cause significant damage.

Very interesting, huh?


Rick

Hi Rick,

Thats a great link for the "Google Earth" file, the space junk it looks animus but were looking at a little globe on our computer not at the 12,742 Km diameter Earth really is from space. It doesn't look to good and your right it may get much worse, time will tell now, I hope it won't turn into a "Debris Space Parlor" when a space ship has to play "Dodge Ball" to get into orbit.

It appears that the launch of the shuttle USS Atlantis to repair the Hubble is on as planned and the chances of a debris impact is 1 in 221 which NASA is past its "odds" to call the mission off at 1 in 60 ... ... at 350 miles above Earth in orbit.

Space junk risk for Hubble crew: 1 in 221 | The Space Shot - CNET News

Glen

[sigzidfit]

U.S. Patent 6936760 Space-based power system.

This came through over at cryptogon the other day.

Maybe this is weird. Maybe it isn’t. But you know what it reminds me of? Iridium.

Billions of dollars in private capital were spent to build that thing, and after a spectacular bankruptcy, the CIA basically bought it for pennies on the dollar.

cryptogon.com » Archives » And the Black World Said: Let There Be Light and PG&E Agreed to Buy Orbit-Generated Electricity from Solaren in 2016

[rickoff]

A new 911 tidbit for you...

I just read that Van Jones, President Obama's "green jobs" adviser, signed a petition calling for an investigation into whether 9/11 was an inside job, and now New York Post columnist Dick Morris has stated on the Fox News channel that Jones must resign his administration position. I'll bet a heck of a lot of other people also signed that petition, and calling for truth should not be reason to label someone as unfit to hold a position of importance. A great many Americans do not believe the "official" version concerning what happened on Septemper 11, and a real investigation by qualified non-government appointed individuals is definitely in order. The longer this is put off, the more the truth gets buried in the rubble. The time is right for independent review and analysis of all the facts and evidence.

[rickoff]

Van Jones update:

It appears that Van Jones now actually has resigned after the following two videos were released, bringing heavy criticism upon him.
Van Jones Portrays Bush as a "crackhead"

Van Jones says only "Suburban White Kids" Shoot up Schools

Now Jones is downplaying his role in signing the 2004 petition that called for congressional hearings and other investigations into whether high-level government officials had allowed the 911 attacks to occur. Jones now says that he did not agree with the petition's stand on the Sept. 11 attacks and that "it certainly does not reflect my views, now or ever."

I guess he just enjoys signing his name, then?