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Trash from Intl Space Station, tank of toxic ammonia coolant,expected to strike earth on 11/2. No other way?



 
 
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  #1  
Old November 1st 08, 06:51 AM posted to sci.space.station,sci.space.shuttle,sci.space.history,soc.culture.usa,alt.politics
[email protected]
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Posts: 33
Default Trash from Intl Space Station, tank of toxic ammonia coolant,expected to strike earth on 11/2. No other way?

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/27479972/

An excerpt from the article for fair use and to pique the interest of
readers and those who are alarmed at the amount of trash that has been
left in space and is defiling "the last frontier". Have we not
learned ANYTHING about the defilement of Earth? Apparently NOT!

By Tariq Malik
Senior editor

updated 8:15 p.m. ET, Fri., Oct. 31, 2008
A piece of space station trash the size of a refrigerator is poised to
plunge through the Earth's atmosphere late Sunday, more than a year
after an astronaut tossed it overboard.

NASA and the U.S. Space Surveillance Network are tracking the object —
a 1,400-pound (635-kg) tank of toxic ammonia coolant thrown from the
international space station — to make sure it does not endanger people
on Earth. Exactly where the tank will inevitably fall is currently
unknown, though it is expected to re-enter Earth's atmosphere Sunday
afternoon or later that evening, NASA officials said.

************************************************** ************************************************** ***********

In the article, NASA says it would not be a good idea for anyone to
touch it. Apparently NASA is taking the responsibility for the refuse
entering earth's atmosphere. According to Wikipedia, a total of 17
countries participate in the International Space Station. It would
seem it would have been a very high priority of all those countries to
have a process in place to take care of the trash that is generated by
the Space Station. IIRC, there has been a space shuttle mission to
the ISS since it was thrown out, so that toxic ammonia coolant tank
could have been loaded up on the space shuttle and brought down to
earth, where the refuse could be dealt with more efficiently and
morally.
  #2  
Old November 1st 08, 10:27 AM posted to sci.space.station,sci.space.shuttle,sci.space.history,soc.culture.usa,alt.politics
Brian Gaff
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Posts: 2,312
Default Trash from Intl Space Station, tank of toxic ammonia coolant, expected to strike earth on 11/2. No other way?

So what is the difference between this and normal ammonia? I'm not saying
this is what they should have done, I thought at the time it was a bit
silly, but was told then that no fixings were available to secure this tank
into a shuttle.
In this case are we saying it will make it through interact? I'd doubt it
personally, and in the grand scheme of things, the small amount of gass when
taken against the volume of the atmosphere is hardly any concern. Of
course, like anything, I have felt that using the heat of re entry to get
rid of junk was a risky and short sighted business, as this is how we ended
up with rubbish mountains in the plare stations and indeed contaminated the
environment generally. IE we start small and get bigger and nobody rethinks
it until something bad happens.

Brian

--
Brian Gaff -
Note:- In order to reduce spam, any email without 'Brian Gaff'
in the display name may be lost.
Blind user, so no pictures please!
wrote in message
...
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/27479972/

An excerpt from the article for fair use and to pique the interest of
readers and those who are alarmed at the amount of trash that has been
left in space and is defiling "the last frontier". Have we not
learned ANYTHING about the defilement of Earth? Apparently NOT!

By Tariq Malik
Senior editor

updated 8:15 p.m. ET, Fri., Oct. 31, 2008
A piece of space station trash the size of a refrigerator is poised to
plunge through the Earth's atmosphere late Sunday, more than a year
after an astronaut tossed it overboard.

NASA and the U.S. Space Surveillance Network are tracking the object —
a 1,400-pound (635-kg) tank of toxic ammonia coolant thrown from the
international space station — to make sure it does not endanger people
on Earth. Exactly where the tank will inevitably fall is currently
unknown, though it is expected to re-enter Earth's atmosphere Sunday
afternoon or later that evening, NASA officials said.

************************************************** ************************************************** ***********

In the article, NASA says it would not be a good idea for anyone to
touch it. Apparently NASA is taking the responsibility for the refuse
entering earth's atmosphere. According to Wikipedia, a total of 17
countries participate in the International Space Station. It would
seem it would have been a very high priority of all those countries to
have a process in place to take care of the trash that is generated by
the Space Station. IIRC, there has been a space shuttle mission to
the ISS since it was thrown out, so that toxic ammonia coolant tank
could have been loaded up on the space shuttle and brought down to
earth, where the refuse could be dealt with more efficiently and
morally.


  #3  
Old November 1st 08, 01:39 PM posted to sci.space.station,sci.space.shuttle,sci.space.history,soc.culture.usa,alt.politics
BradGuth
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Posts: 21,544
Default Trash from Intl Space Station, tank of toxic ammonia coolant,expected to strike earth on 11/2. No other way?

On Oct 31, 9:51 pm, wrote:
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/27479972/

An excerpt from the article for fair use and to pique the interest of
readers and those who are alarmed at the amount of trash that has been
left in space and is defiling "the last frontier". Have we not
learned ANYTHING about the defilement of Earth? Apparently NOT!

By Tariq Malik
Senior editor

updated 8:15 p.m. ET, Fri., Oct. 31, 2008
A piece of space station trash the size of a refrigerator is poised to
plunge through the Earth's atmosphere late Sunday, more than a year
after an astronaut tossed it overboard.


A one year loss of orbit is pretty impressive drag. Can we assume
they'd pushed it towards Earth?

With new and improved technology, why doesn't ISS orbit above 500 km?


NASA and the U.S. Space Surveillance Network are tracking the object —
a 1,400-pound (635-kg) tank of toxic ammonia coolant thrown from the
international space station — to make sure it does not endanger people
on Earth. Exactly where the tank will inevitably fall is currently
unknown, though it is expected to re-enter Earth's atmosphere Sunday
afternoon or later that evening, NASA officials said.

************************************************** ************************************************** ***********

In the article, NASA says it would not be a good idea for anyone to
touch it. Apparently NASA is taking the responsibility for the refuse
entering earth's atmosphere. According to Wikipedia, a total of 17
countries participate in the International Space Station. It would
seem it would have been a very high priority of all those countries to
have a process in place to take care of the trash that is generated by
the Space Station. IIRC, there has been a space shuttle mission to
the ISS since it was thrown out, so that toxic ammonia coolant tank
could have been loaded up on the space shuttle and brought down to
earth, where the refuse could be dealt with more efficiently and
morally.


Doing the right thing has never been any big part of our NASA.
Perhaps China or India will take on that responsibility. We've
outsourced most everything else, so why not trash collecting?

~ BG
  #4  
Old November 1st 08, 01:43 PM posted to sci.space.station,sci.space.shuttle,sci.space.history,soc.culture.usa,alt.politics
BradGuth
external usenet poster
 
Posts: 21,544
Default Trash from Intl Space Station, tank of toxic ammonia coolant,expected to strike earth on 11/2. No other way?

On Nov 1, 1:27 am, "Brian Gaff" wrote:
So what is the difference between this and normal ammonia? I'm not saying
this is what they should have done, I thought at the time it was a bit
silly, but was told then that no fixings were available to secure this tank
into a shuttle.
In this case are we saying it will make it through interact? I'd doubt it
personally, and in the grand scheme of things, the small amount of gass when
taken against the volume of the atmosphere is hardly any concern. Of
course, like anything, I have felt that using the heat of re entry to get
rid of junk was a risky and short sighted business, as this is how we ended
up with rubbish mountains in the plare stations and indeed contaminated the
environment generally. IE we start small and get bigger and nobody rethinks
it until something bad happens.

Brian


As of decades ago we've trashed our environment anyway, so what's the
difference? (is that what you're saying)

~ BG
  #6  
Old November 1st 08, 04:13 PM posted to sci.space.station,sci.space.shuttle,sci.space.history,soc.culture.usa,alt.politics
Graham.[_2_]
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Posts: 13
Default Trash from Intl Space Station, tank of toxic ammonia coolant, expected to strike earth on 11/2. No other way?



"Brian Gaff" wrote in message
om...
So what is the difference between this and normal ammonia? I'm not saying
this is what they should have done, I thought at the time it was a bit
silly, but was told then that no fixings were available to secure this
tank into a shuttle.
In this case are we saying it will make it through interact? I'd doubt it
personally, and in the grand scheme of things, the small amount of gass
when taken against the volume of the atmosphere is hardly any concern. Of
course, like anything, I have felt that using the heat of re entry to get
rid of junk was a risky and short sighted business, as this is how we
ended up with rubbish mountains in the plare stations and indeed
contaminated the environment generally. IE we start small and get bigger
and nobody rethinks it until something bad happens.



An astronaut just tossed it overboard?
We should send our Local Authority street wardens
up their to issue a few on the spot fines. ;-)
--
Graham.

%Profound_observation%


  #7  
Old November 1st 08, 04:20 PM posted to sci.space.station,sci.space.shuttle,sci.space.history,soc.culture.usa,alt.politics
lorad
external usenet poster
 
Posts: 27
Default Trash from Intl Space Station, tank of toxic ammonia coolant,expected to strike earth on 11/2. No other way?

************************************************** ************************************************** ************

In the article, NASA says it would not be a good idea for anyone to
touch it. *Apparently NASA is taking the responsibility for the refuse
entering earth's atmosphere. *According to Wikipedia, a total of 17
countries participate in the International Space Station. *It would
seem it would have been a very high priority of all those countries to
have a process in place to take care of the trash that is generated by
the Space Station. *IIRC, there has been a space shuttle mission to
the ISS since it was thrown out, so that toxic ammonia coolant tank
could have been loaded up on the space shuttle and brought down to
earth, where the refuse could be dealt with more efficiently and
morally.


This is much ado about nothing..

Any ammonia falling down would be welcome.

Ya'll need to realize that farmers spray ammonia on their fields as
fertilizer.
It's a good thing.
  #8  
Old November 1st 08, 08:11 PM posted to sci.space.station,sci.space.shuttle
John Doe
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Posts: 1,134
Default Trash from Intl Space Station, tank of toxic ammonia coolant,expected to strike earth on 11/2. No other way?

It is often said that life came about from some "event" involving ammonia.

Any chances that NASA is actually conducting tests and the dumping of
ammonia for a atmosheric re-entry is really a covert test to see if life
will get created for a few moments during re-entry (only to burn up
afterwards ?)

Perhaps that ammonia was seeded with genes from the corpses held at area
51 and NASA hopes to grow some aliens from this ammonia ?

Seriously, are there any fears that any portion of this tank will make
it to sea level (aka: any chance of something hitting a farmer on a field ?)
  #9  
Old November 2nd 08, 12:58 AM posted to sci.space.station,sci.space.shuttle,sci.space.history,soc.culture.usa,alt.politics
BradGuth
external usenet poster
 
Posts: 21,544
Default Trash from Intl Space Station, tank of toxic ammonia coolant,expected to strike earth on 11/2. No other way?

On Nov 1, 7:20 am, lorad wrote:
************************************************** ************************************************** ************


In the article, NASA says it would not be a good idea for anyone to
touch it. Apparently NASA is taking the responsibility for the refuse
entering earth's atmosphere. According to Wikipedia, a total of 17
countries participate in the International Space Station. It would
seem it would have been a very high priority of all those countries to
have a process in place to take care of the trash that is generated by
the Space Station. IIRC, there has been a space shuttle mission to
the ISS since it was thrown out, so that toxic ammonia coolant tank
could have been loaded up on the space shuttle and brought down to
earth, where the refuse could be dealt with more efficiently and
morally.


This is much ado about nothing..

Any ammonia falling down would be welcome.

Ya'll need to realize that farmers spray ammonia on their fields as
fertilizer.
It's a good thing.


Unless it lands on your home, shortly before exploding.

~ BG
  #10  
Old November 2nd 08, 02:33 AM posted to sci.space.station,sci.space.shuttle
Greg D. Moore \(Strider\)
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Posts: 2,865
Default Trash from Intl Space Station, tank of toxic ammonia coolant, expected to strike earth on 11/2. No other way?

"John Doe" wrote in message
...
It is often said that life came about from some "event" involving ammonia.


Involving, possibly but very complex.

Any chances that NASA is actually conducting tests and the dumping of
ammonia for a atmosheric re-entry is really a covert test to see if life
will get created for a few moments during re-entry (only to burn up
afterwards ?)


Absolutely zero.


Perhaps that ammonia was seeded with genes from the corpses held at area
51 and NASA hopes to grow some aliens from this ammonia ?


Are you a whack job or just play one on TV?



Seriously, are there any fears that any portion of this tank will make
it to sea level (aka: any chance of something hitting a farmer on a field
?)


chance... yes. But I'd bet on winning the lottery while being hit by
lightning on a date with Julianne Moore first.


--
Greg Moore
Ask me about lily, an RPI based CMC.


 




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