Space Junk May Require ISS Maneuver In Advance of SpaceX's Dragon 47
SpaceX's Dragon capsule, loaded with food and scientific gear, is scheduled to launch toward the ISS tomorrow evening (with backup launch slots on each of the following two days). There's a last-minute wrinkle, though: Space.com managing editor Tariq Malik reports that a piece of space debris "will pass near enough to the space station on Monday morning (Oct. 8) to require an avoidance maneuver as a safety precaution, NASA space station program manager Mike Suffredini said in a briefing [Saturday]." Tomorrow's planned flight is to be the first under a $1.6 billion contract with NASA that calls for a dozen resupply flights by SpaceX, essential in the post-shuttle era."
Re: (Score:2)
I don't agree with the troll, and points 1 and 3 are correct, but #2 is both misleading and most of it barely qualifies as science.
Social sciences are by their very nature extremely inaccurate and extremely prone to study biases.
Hard science is still majority published by men. There isn't a real reason for this beyond cultural, and actual real gender differences. Women generally end up having more interest outside of STEM and most women, at least in most first world countries, finding the Sciences rather bo
Re: (Score:1)
Hang in there, dude.
Someday science will stumble upon the right medication for you.
Re: (Score:1, Troll)
How quaint. A homosexual racist.
Let me guess. A women left you for a non-white person (probably African American with a larger penis then yourself) and your logical reasoned response was to go full homo and join the KKK?
Re: (Score:2)
I guess tastes differ, I find it a well-written and nicely built up troll. Definitely better than 'first post' or 'ur all faggots'.
This is normal. (Score:5, Informative)
I was under the impression that maneuvers like this happen every few months or so, so this really isn't a big deal at all. In fact, TFA says so:
NASA and its space station partners regularly move the space station when a piece of debris is expected to pass inside a preset safety perimeter. That safety zone is shaped like a pizza box and extends out 15 miles (25 kilometers) to either side, as well as a half-mile (0.75 km) above and below the station.
Re:This is normal. (Score:5, Insightful)
I was under the impression that maneuvers like this happen every few months or so, so this really isn't a big deal at all.
What makes it somewhat of a big deal is that this is occurring so close to a resupply launch, especially because this is the first official commercial resupply launch (although, as you and the fancy article point out, it isn't really a big deal).
Re: (Score:2)
... and a price tag 2x - 4x more than any other company would normally charge for the same thing. You pay extra for that Apple logo. There may be some quality customer service and reliability with the logo worth the added cost, but nothing since the Apple II+ was very price competitive.
I still like the original oak cases of the Apple I computers though. That was real class.... and a design by Steve Jobs I might add as well.
Re: (Score:1)
The Apple II+ was more expensive than other PCs at the time. It was the first computer i bought.
But price competitiveness is a difficult thing to compare as we are not comparing apples to apples (pun intended). So if the product is not the same how can you say the price is wrong? This might be true for comparing a PC today to another PC but even those offer different features, perhaps soft features like resale value, support, reliability etc. Given that most Apple computers were good value and definitel
Re:This is normal. (Score:4, Funny)
Re: (Score:2)
What also makes it a big deal is the source... Space.com - a website dedicated to space news. They're no different than any other news site in that they have to generate new content on a regular basis, and manned space, commercial space, and potential disasters are all great hit count generators. All three together make an irresistible trifecta.
Re:This is normal. (Score:5, Informative)
That safety zone is shaped like a pizza box and extends out 15 miles (25 kilometers) to either side, as well as a half-mile (0.75 km) above and below the station.
I wonder why it's shaped like a pizza box?
I guess the forward deflector array must be more effective on the vertical plane but anyone know for sure?
Re:This is normal. (Score:5, Interesting)
Because orbital junk must be orbiting, thus it travels horizontally at much greater speeds than vertically.
Re: (Score:2)
Why speed?
Is orbit's altitude more predictable than its path?
Re:This is normal. (Score:5, Informative)
I don't think so (Score:2)
I don't think so:
http://slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=3168191&cid=41576321 [slashdot.org]
Re: (Score:2)
Nope, height is just known more accurately. You have to be at a very precise height to stay in orbit so the margin of error is much less.
And no, it is not shaped like a pizza box ;-)
http://slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=3168191&cid=41576313 [slashdot.org]
Re:This is normal. (Score:5, Funny)
It's to prevent a blitz-attack by spaceballs. The more ludicrous the shape of the safety zone around the space station, the slower the spaceball attack must be. Due to quantum conservation of ludicrousness. Well known fact.
Re: (Score:2)
"forward deflector array" ? Modded informative ?!?
The international space station is a real thing in orbit around the earth with real people on board.
Deflector shields are not real. Star trek is fiction, Captain Kirk was an actor in front of some cameras.
Re: (Score:2)
Being modded funny doesn't increase your karma (last I checked anyway) so many people use other mods in its place. It's a tolerable way to get around a broken (by design) system.
Re: (Score:2)
karma is mostly an 'entry ticket' to posting at a higher rating and anyone who posts regularly on this site who isn't capped already is likely an troll and/or a imbecile.
Speaking as someone who has been modfucked on funny comments before, I strongly disagree. I'm no troll. Perhaps I'm imbecilic, but then, it's hard to take such an accusation seriously from a coward.
Re: (Score:2)
The ISS orbits just 400 km above the ground, and experiences enough atmospheric drag to require periodic boosts back into higher orbit. About the only debris of concern is moving horizontally when it reaches the altitude of the ISS, anything that goes past it to lower altitudes hits atmosphere and quickly gets removed from orbit.
Re: (Score:2)
I concur. Routine maneuver that's happening during a novel (kind of) situation. Irrelevant as far as I see, correct me if I missed something
pizza box analogy irrelevant (Score:2)
A pizza is 3 dimensions. This defines a 2D shape hence no thickness is mentioned, I imagine they mean the side of a pizza box which is rectangular while the surface is square:
From parent quote:
That safety zone is shaped like a pizza box and extends out 15 miles (25 kilometers) to either side, as well as a half-mile (0.75 km) above and below the station.
Sounds interesting but isn't (Score:2)
Because it has "space" in the story, it seems interesting, but really, considering the amount of space junk out there and the now-familiar processes and procedures to avoid it, this is mostly boring stuff.
Crouching Station, Launching Dragon (Score:5, Funny)
Subject says it