Al Shepard would have approved

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/4765878.stm

--
Gareth

Random Thoughts and Interests
http://web.mac.com/gaslee/iWeb/Site/Blog/Blog.html

Gareth Slee wrote:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/4765878.stm


Oh yeah, nothing could go wrong with this:
"In a worst-case scenario, the ball would remain at the same altitude
long enough for its orbital plane to shift so it could hit the station
side-on.
An orbital debris expert at Nasa's Johnson Space Center in Houston,
Texas, told New Scientist magazine that it would be like a head-on
collision with an impact speed of about 9.4km (5.8 miles) per second -
equivalent to a 6.5-tonne truck moving at nearly 100km (62 miles) per
hour. "
But we know the Russians impeccable luck with space stations. What are
the odds? No worse than ten to one, I'd say. :-D

Pat

Pat Flannery wrote:
Gareth Slee wrote:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/4765878.stm


Oh yeah, nothing could go wrong with this:
"In a worst-case scenario, the ball would remain at the same altitude
long enough for its orbital plane to shift so it could hit the station
side-on.
An orbital debris expert at Nasa's Johnson Space Center in Houston,
Texas, told New Scientist magazine that it would be like a head-on
collision with an impact speed of about 9.4km (5.8 miles) per second -
equivalent to a 6.5-tonne truck moving at nearly 100km (62 miles) per
hour. "
But we know the Russians impeccable luck with space stations. What are
the odds? No worse than ten to one, I'd say. :-D

Pat


Is this why engineers use the phrase, "a meteorite the size of a golf
ball....", when talking about cosmic debris dangers?

;-)

Rusty

Rusty wrote:


Is this why engineers use the phrase, "a meteorite the size of a golf
ball....", when talking about cosmic debris dangers?


I'm trying to picture just how wrong this could go...I see the ball
bouncing off the solar array then ricocheting into the Canadian remote
manipulator arm causing it to short out, go mad, and start chasing the
crew over the exterior of the ISS like a inchworm from hell.
Luckily, we can count on the innate golf skills of the Russians to
assure that the ball is hit onto the correct trajectory.
IIRC, before the fall of the Soviet Union being caught playing decadent
game of capitalist golf could get you around ten years in Siberia.
Assuming that you could find a golf course that is. Most surreptitious
golf players used the shellhole pocked landscape near Stalingrad for
their games. This meant fairly easy shots into the ten foot wide shell
holes, but added old landmines to the water hazards and sand traps.

Pat

On Fri, 03 Mar 2006 19:36:21 -0600, Pat Flannery
wrote:

I'm trying to picture just how wrong this could go...I see the ball
bouncing off the solar array then ricocheting into the Canadian remote
manipulator arm causing it to short out, go mad, and start chasing the
crew over the exterior of the ISS like a inchworm from hell.

....Rube Goldberg would have given his left nut to have illustrated the
result of a slice.

OM
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wrote:

I read they the Russians are even going to use a 6 iron, just like
Shepard used.



Wouldn't you want a nine iron for a long range shot?
Hell, this sounds like work for a woody.

Pat

On Sun, 05 Mar 2006 20:46:57 -0500, Cranny Dane wrote:

Hum, if the ball is already going 17,000mph at rest, and is hit to 92mph,
then it would be going 17,092mph and side on hit a space station going 17,000mph
and have the impact of a golf ball at 92mph right ?

No... imagine two cars racing on winding
dirt roads out in the back of beyond in
Arizona.

Both are going 100 mph.

One pulls ahead slightly at 110 mph and
veers down a side road.

20 minutes later it happens to approach
an intersection with the road it started
on... and the other car.

The impact will not be at 10 mph.

....

No catgirls were harmed during the
filming of this experiment, however an
unknown number of prairie dogs *were*
incinerated in the resulting fireball.

--
Chuck Stewart
"Anime-style catgirls: Threat? Menace? Or just studying algebra?"

In message , Chuck Stewart
writes
On Sun, 05 Mar 2006 20:46:57 -0500, Cranny Dane wrote:

Hum, if the ball is already going 17,000mph at rest, and is hit to 92mph,
then it would be going 17,092mph and side on hit a space station
going 17,000mph
and have the impact of a golf ball at 92mph right ?

No... imagine two cars racing on winding
dirt roads out in the back of beyond in
Arizona.

Both are going 100 mph.

One pulls ahead slightly at 110 mph and
veers down a side road.

20 minutes later it happens to approach
an intersection with the road it started
on... and the other car.

The impact will not be at 10 mph.

But in that case the cars will be closing at right angles (for
simplicity).
The angular deviation of a golf ball thrown from the space station won't
be more than a fraction of a degree, so it can't hit "side on".
It could still do a billion dollars worth of damage, though.

On Tue, 07 Mar 2006 20:50:37 +0000, Jonathan Silverlight wrote:

The impact will not be at 10 mph.

But in that case the cars will be closing at right angles (for
simplicity).
The angular deviation of a golf ball thrown from the space station won't
be more than a fraction of a degree, so it can't hit "side on".
It could still do a billion dollars worth of damage, though.

Give it a while and a few hundred thousand
slightly perturbed orbits

But the point wasn't simple vectors, the
point was the original poster's question...
which asked, basically, "Where did the
extra energy come from?"

And my simplification, however banal and
however harsh on local wildlife, does lead
to the answer: the Earth's gravitational
field torquing the ball into new paths.

--
Chuck Stewart
"Anime-style catgirls: Threat? Menace? Or just studying algebra?"

In article ,
Chuck Stewart wrote:
The angular deviation of a golf ball thrown from the space station won't
be more than a fraction of a degree, so it can't hit "side on".
It could still do a billion dollars worth of damage, though.

Give it a while and a few hundred thousand
slightly perturbed orbits

By which time it'll be in a significantly lower orbit, because it has a
much lower cross-sectional density.
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