Jump to content

Bet They Dropped Their Doughnuts


Monkeys Fist
 Share

Recommended Posts

...across the gulf of space, minds immeasurably superior to ours regarded this earth with envious eyes; and slowly, and surely, they drew their plans against us.

If only they'd brought Lemsip :D

 

If only they'd remembered to convert Quatlartons to Metres. :aye:

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Didn't some space bird drop her make up bag on the Shuttle?

Coincidence?........

Glad you reminded me about that.

 

Do you remember a few years ago when a tiny flake of paint off a satellite hit the shuttles windscreen? It made a huge crater in it.

 

What the fuck is going to happen if a satellite hits a bag of tools?

Link to comment
Share on other sites

There was fire in the sky in the early evening of November 20, 2008, as a massive meteorite streaked across the Canadian Prairies. The sky lit up as far north as the Territories, and as far East and West as British Columbia and Manitoba respectively.

 

As we are near the latter part of the year, the days inevitably are getting shorter, so it is already quite dark by 530PM when the meteorite screeched across the sky. As a result, residents of Medicine Hat were amazed to see how it apparently seemed like it was midday time from the flame-engulfed ball of space rock.

 

It is speculated that the meteorite fell somewhere in central Alberta. Search parties are expected to begin this weekend to try and claim pieces of the rock.

 

http://www.cbc.ca/canada/calgary/story/200...or.html?ref=rss

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Didn't some space bird drop her make up bag on the Shuttle?

Coincidence?........

Glad you reminded me about that.

 

Do you remember a few years ago when a tiny flake of paint off a satellite hit the shuttles windscreen? It made a huge crater in it.

 

What the fuck is going to happen if a satellite hits a bag of tools?

 

This:

 

SpaceExplosion.jpg

Link to comment
Share on other sites

How do you spot a tool bag in space?

 

WHO, WHAT, WHY?

The Magazine answers...

 

 

Track the tool bag

 

laun.jpg

enlarge

A tool bag which floated away from a shuttle astronaut during a recent space walk will be visible over Britain this week, but how do you spot it?

 

Losing a tool bag can be inconvenient, but when you're 212 miles above the Earth it's a whole different matter.

 

Last week American astronaut Heidemarie Stefanyshyn-Piper was forced to watch her tools - reportedly worth £70,000 - float off when the backpack-sized bag slipped out of her grip.

 

The accident happened as she was cleaning grease off her gloves while fixing a gummed-up joint on the International Space Station's solar panel. The bag went into orbit and has become a "must see" among some competitive stargazers in recent days.

 

You can calculate precisely where something will be in space at any given time thanks to Newton's first law of physics. It states that any object moving in a straight line tends to remain in such a state unless acted upon by an external force.

 

This also applies in space, the only difference being things move in an orbit. And because space is so vast and empty, a tool bag is unlikely to be knocked off its course by anything else.

 

THE ANSWER

_45245770_shuttle2.226.jpg

Precise location can be plotted using Newton's first law of physics

Size of space means it's unlikely to be hit by anything else or be anything else

 

Calculate when to spot tool bag

BBC Radio 5Live Lost in Space

 

As scientists know information like the size of the tool bag and where it was lost, it is possible to do the orbital calculations to determine where it will be and when.

 

A computer model has been developed for the tool bag (see link below answer box). But finding its exact location in the sky depends on your location on Earth. For example, it will appear lower in the sky from the north of England and Scotland than the south.

 

Equipped with your latitude and longitude coordinates, the model will calculate the time to see the tool bag, the altitude it will be at and the magnitude, which specifies its brightness compared with stars.

 

Usually the bag is below 6th magnitude, which is naked-eye visibility. This means you will need the right equipment to see it - binoculars or a telescope. Even with these it will be difficult to see, says Dr Robert Massey of the Royal Astronomical Society.

 

Burn up

 

But the typically large distances between things in space also means it's unlikely anything else will be in the same position at the same time, says Robin Scagell, of the Society for Popular Astronomy. So what you track will almost certainly be the tool kit.

 

"Most people have been playing too many computer games and think space is full of chunks of rock and debris, but it isn't," he says.

 

"There are things out there, but they are likely to be meteors the size of a grain of coffee and many miles apart. Even if they did hit the tool bag they would have little impact."

 

 

WHO, WHAT, WHY?

QM

A regular feature in the BBC News Magazine - aiming to answer some of the questions behind the headlines

 

What you will see is another matter. The bag will have no structure or shape but will look like a faint star whizzing through the sky. But it will be easily distinguishable from a plane because it won't have red and green navigation lights.

 

"It will be a speck of light which will not be visible to the naked eye," says Dr Massey. "I wouldn't waste too much time looking out for it. Looking at the actual space station where the bag was lost is far more interesting."

 

Eventually very faint traces of atmosphere will act on the tool bag to slow it down and it will come out of orbit, says Mr Scagell. But this could take years and when it does happen the bag will be burned up in the Earth's atmosphere.

 

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/magazine/7750205.stm

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Create an account or sign in to comment

You need to be a member in order to leave a comment

Create an account

Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!

Register a new account

Sign in

Already have an account? Sign in here.

Sign In Now
 Share

×
×
  • Create New...

Important Information

We have placed cookies on your device to help make this website better. You can adjust your cookie settings, otherwise we'll assume you're okay to continue.