All Questions
16
questions
3
votes
2
answers
170
views
Does earth orbiting debris that threatens the space station have a particular direction bias?
I'm starting to investigate the danger of orbital debris on the ISS (international space station). One could assume that due to the orbital velocity vector, that any debris that the ISS encounter, ...
- 167
12
votes
4
answers
4k
views
Have any bits of a space mission ever collided with a planet or large moon (not Earth) that was not a target of the mission?
For example, a mission to Mars for which some bit of hardware ended up entering Venus's atmosphere.
Has this ever happened, or at least are there projections that it may happen?
- 3,756
3
votes
0
answers
68
views
Is the impact of Chang’e 5-T1 rocket stage on the Moon's far side on March 4th likely to launch any debris into Moon or Earth orbit?
It is predicted that the Chang’e 5-T1 rocket stage will impact the Moon's far side on March 4th. The stage apparently weighs about 4 tonnes and will impact at 2.5 km/s at a shallow angle.
There's ...
- 3,894
26
votes
5
answers
7k
views
BBC: "A rocket launched by Elon Musk's space exploration company is on course to crash into the Moon and explode." Will it really explode?
The line following the title of BBC's Elon Musk SpaceX rocket on collision course with moon reads:
A rocket launched by Elon Musk's space exploration company is on course to crash into the Moon and ...
- 149k
4
votes
1
answer
461
views
How much could a full-blown Starlink constellation contribute to a future Kessler scenario? What would be the worst-case scenario?
Discussions in comments below this answer to What is the biggest satellite constellation in space right now? have touched on risk vs reward and the Kessler Syndrome in the context of full-blown ...
- 149k
5
votes
1
answer
164
views
Do space organisations take the positions of space junk and satellites into account when launching?
There are so many satellites orbiting Earth now at various altitudes and there is quite a lot of space junk floating around as well.
Now although there are so many satellites and so much junk up ...
Kantura
3
votes
2
answers
395
views
Do the velocities of orbital debris have a bias in the direction of Earth's rotation?
Most spacecraft are launched and orbit prograde -- in the same direction that the Earth rotates -- to give a "speed boost" to get to orbital velocity. One would therefore expect that the trajectories ...
- 48.1k
1
vote
1
answer
190
views
Why does this satellite collision debris field look like a big "X"?
This answer to the question Whats the protocol if two satellites collide? shows the image below, and I don't understand the shape.
I would have expected two "jets" of debris, each projecting roughly ...
- 149k
3
votes
0
answers
93
views
What information exactly was necessary to determine and announce this "debris causing event"?
A 1:53 PM - 19 Jul 2016 tweet from the twitter account @18SPCS said:
19 Jul: JSpOC ID’d debris causing event related to @DigitalGlobe WorldView-2; 8 debris pieces but WV2 confirmed operational & ...
- 149k
77
votes
6
answers
26k
views
Is the SpaceX Falcon Heavy payload (a Tesla car) space junk?
Yesterday SpaceX succeeded in the first Falcon Heavy launch, but the payload, a Tesla car has no real useful purpose (except for company prestige).
Thus, can it be considered as space junk ? How long ...
- 909
6
votes
3
answers
1k
views
What is the typical relative impact velocity of orbital debris in low Earth orbit?
We all know that space is about going really fast. We also know that what matters in a collision isn't really absolute speed, but relative velocity. (Two cars with matched speeds on a highway touching ...
- 7,330
1
vote
1
answer
133
views
Impact shielding and damage control of a manned Interplanetary spacecraft [closed]
We've all seen pictures of micrometeorite and debris damage, and we've all heard the wisdom that at orbital speeds a paint chip is more lethal than a rifle round. We also know that having holes ...
- 1,108
8
votes
2
answers
966
views
What happens to a spacecraft crashing into the Moon?
When planning a new architecture for lunar missions, one always faces the potential of nuclear thermal engines. Having a much higher $I_{sp}$, they offer a much higher propellant efficiency, causing a ...
6
votes
2
answers
193
views
Iridum-Cosmos post-collision vectors
I've been looking at this article. This question is about the motion of fragments in the immediate aftermath of the collision. I've drawn the following figures and quotes from the link.
Figure 9 ...
- 9,754
10
votes
1
answer
10k
views
What happens if an astronaut is hit by a tiny micrometeorite?
A micrometeorite (including space debris in LEO) hitting the metal wall of the ISS would likely cause a shower of secondary high speed fragments. But there are other "softer" materials proposed which ...
- 27k