HMMMM. at the altitude of the space station, in order to remain at
that altitude, it must also be traveling 18,000 MPH. if it's speed
changes (even one inch per second), it should go higher or lower
depending on whether it is going faster or slower. so if you are
sitting in your garage and you drop a bolt, does it hurt?? Does it
punch a hole in your hide?? I can see the problem if it hits the
shuttle as it approaches at a relative 3 feet per minute, any idea
what happens if a bolt hits you at 3 feet per minute??
Was that a fly??
Only if it goes out of the exact orbit of the station is it a real
issue. Now you wonder why they didn't really get too worried about it??
Nope, only if the relative speed changes will it be an issue. In
order to hit a satellite in a perpendicular orbit, it has to gain
speed to get to the orbit of that satellite, a lot of speed. Where
the station is, they are still in the upper reaches of the atmosphere
and that bolt will de-orbit soon, due to the drag of the atmosphere.
2,700 feet per second creates an impact, but not if the other object
is also traveling 2,700 feet per second. Well unless they are going
in opposite directions ;-)
But then again, it appears they lost another one.........
Larry
On Sep 13, 2006, at 21:44 PM, bjshov8 wrote:
> As I understand it, they are travelling about 18,000 mph, so if a
> nut "floats away" then it is also travelling at basically 18,000
> mph. So if its orbit manages to intersect the perpendicular orbit
> of a satellite, shuttle, or astronaut, there will be one heckuva
> collision.
>
> The fastest factory-loaded rifle bullets travel about 2,700 mph,
> and that's pretty darned fast. Experimenters have managed up to
> about 3,800 mph, so 18,000 is incredibly fast.
>
>
>> Space debris can be dangerous if it punctures space station walls or
>
>
--
Larry B. Macy, Ph.D.
macy@bbl.med.upenn.edu
System Administrator/Manager
Neuropsychiatry Section
Department of Psychiatry
University of Pennsylvania
3400 Spruce St. - 1015 Gates
Philadelphia, PA 19104
"Now there is one outstandingly important fact regarding Spaceship
Earth, and that is that no instruction book came with it." --
Buckminster Fuller
--
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