This is the Second from last thing any Astronaut wants to see

[dorsetknob]

story here http://www.theregister.co.uk/2016/0...cracks_window_on_international_space_station/

PS the last thing any Astronaut wants to see is the entire window blowing out

 

[xvi]

I'll call Safelite.

 

[MrGenius]

Alien: Resurrection. When the crossbreed alien gets sucked out the hole in the window, insides first, through the back of its head into the vacuum of space. Not a good day for...her...him...it?

You've gotta see it if you haven't already. Starts at 6:15

 

[Animalpak]

There is TONS of satellite and spacecraft of space debrise around the atmosphere that traveling at very high speeds.

Result of countless failed launches from russia, china and america.

Space is very very Dangerous place guys. Seems empty but is full of Death.

 

[R-T-B]

NASA: *Makes a big mess going to moon.*
ESA: "NASA, can you clean up this mess?"
NASA: "ESA, there are two kinds of countries in this world... countries that have been to the moon... and countries that clean up after them. Guess which one you are?"
ESA: *sighs*

 

[dorsetknob]

They guess that damage was done by a FLAKE of PAINT

"As to what caused the crack, the European Space Agency said it was probably a fleck of paint that had been shed from an old satellite or booster, or possibly a small metal fragment around a few thousandths of a millimeter across. How it that possible? Because there are travelling very, very fast, and impart that kinetic energy to whatever they hit."

 

[R-T-B]

The scary thing is when a dead satellite part hits you. It doesn't even have to be very big a part, it could be a simple screw. Then bye bye space station. And we're moving towards that fast.

 

[dorsetknob]

from wilki
Space debris seen from high Earth orbit (HEO). The two main debris fields are the ring of objects in geosynchronous Earth orbit (GEO) and the cloud of objects in low Earth orbit (LEO).

This is a Rough map of space Debris identified by radar
objects To Small to register on radar not shown

Average Speed of debris 17,000mph to 19,000mph
( they are the ones that are going to Get you and you will not see them coming till they go through you like a knife through Butter

 

[xvi]

There's an amazing interactive space debris stuff in general map here at http://stuffin.space/

Edit: Click groups, then check out the debris left behind by Iridium 33 and Kosmos 2251

 

[Caring1]

I'll put my hand up to ask an ignorant question.
What is making all that stuff move so fast?
I would have thought it would just be gently floating around out there.

 

[R-T-B]

I'll put my hand up to ask an ignorant question.
What is making all that stuff move so fast?
I would have thought it would just be gently floating around out there.

Because they all came from things in established orbits.

If anything was truly stationary above the earth, it would quickly get sucked back to earth.

 

[xvi]

I'll put my hand up to ask an ignorant question.
What is making all that stuff move so fast?
I would have thought it would just be gently floating around out there.

The ISS, for example, is only about 200-250 miles over our heads, for which NASA says that gravity is only about 10% less than it is here on Earth. (Source) That means it's still falling at a relatively high rate, so we need to move vertically fast enough that we fall exactly as fast as the Earth curves under us.

Imagine doing this close to the Earth's surface, perhaps standing on a beach overlooking an ocean so that you can see the slight curvature of the Earth. Pretend that when you jump up in the air, instead of it taking, say, 1 second for you to hit the ground, it takes 1.1 seconds instead (a pretty small and, in this case, almost insignificant difference). Now imagine how fast we'd have to move vertically to fall as fast as the curvature of the Earth bends. Have to be seriously hauling.

Spoiler: A lot of incorrect math

I got a bit excited and curious thinking about that, so I'm going to do the (possibly incorrect) math here instead of just in my head. 9.8 meters per second squared (Earth gravity) times 0.9 (90%) = 8.82 meters per second squared. Convert that to delicious imperial measurements, that's roughly 347 inches per second squared (going to assume 1 second timeframe). Google says the curvature of the Earth is approximately an 8 inch drop per completely straight mile. So, uh, it's been a while since I took Algebra, but if we fall 347 inches in one second, and we gain 8 inches in one mile, how much time does it take me to fall 8 inches? That gives me a time per mile that I should be able to turn in to miles per hour. So, 8 / 347 = 0.0230547550432277 seconds per mile. 1 / 0.023yaddayadda = 43.375 miles per second. Times 60 = 2602.5 miles per minute, times 60 = 156,150 miles per hour? Checking Google, I'm off by approximately a factor of 10. Hmm.

Checking Google, the real answer is 27,500 km/h or 17,087 MPH. I hoped I would be close with my math, but I wasn't.