Yesterday, NASA tracked a piece of space debris that threatened to approach the International Space Station. In the end, the trajectory of the piece of debris is calculated and NASA says that it does not threaten the station and the shuttle Discovery, and that the meeting between the two spacecraft will take place tonight as planned.
The space shuttle Discovery closes the distance between it and the International Space Station on the first stage of the STS-119 mission. The astronauts on board spend the time - almost 48 hours - examining the shuttle's heat protection system, a routine procedure since the shuttles were returned to service after the Columbia disaster. The astronauts move the robotic arm that carries cameras and sensors across the exterior of the shuttle for five hours and transmits the images to Earth.
The ferry is supposed to dock at the station at 16:13 EST - 00:13 Israel time (on Wednesday). Upon arriving at the station, the shuttle's eight-day mission will begin. The shuttle is carrying the last component of the station's runway and on it the last two solar collectors that will enable the station to be supplied with electricity while six astronauts will be there permanently starting in mid-2009. The shuttle is also carrying a new crew member to the station - the Japanese Koichi Wakata, who will replace the American Sandra Magnus.
Yesterday, NASA tracked a piece of space debris that threatened to approach the International Space Station. In the end, the trajectory of the piece of debris is calculated and NASA says that it does not threaten the station and the shuttle Discovery, and that the meeting between the two spacecraft will take place tonight as planned. As I recall, about a week ago the astronauts in the space station had to Get into the Soyuz car for about ten minutes Due to fear of a projectile fragment hitting the space station.
7 תגובות
fresh:
I didn't say that you can't get over it, but your words make it sound like it's not only possible to get over it, but you've already gotten over it
There is no danger, everything can be overcome and monitored, you don't have to be just paranoid.
fresh:
You probably also know how to build a nuclear reactor that is not dangerous and build a spaceship that will never crash on Earth or that even if it crashes - it will somehow be guaranteed that the reactor inside it will not be able to cause any damage even after the crash. Right?
After all, you say that now there is no danger - not that there will be no danger in the future.
In my opinion there is no danger of a nuclear reactor on spacecraft, and I am sure that in the future there will be no spacecraft without a nuclear reactor.
Gravity:
Beyond what Oren said, nuclear propulsion is not a simple thing either.
In the submarine, the reactor generates electricity that runs the turbines. What do you want him to run on the space station?
One option is this June engine But it provides very low thrust.
For the same reason that we generally avoid launching any spaceship that is launched into space with a nuclear reactor (even those that reach Mars for example). The risk of the launch or after reaching the orbit around the drone will have a malfunction and radioactive material will be dispersed in the atmosphere...
Therefore, although one of the considerations when launching a manned mission to Mars is in a spacecraft using a nuclear reactor, the idea was rejected due to the dangers (despite the benefit of a fairly high energy output).
By the way, this is one of the concerns even with the use of nuclear weapons against asteroids that could damage the Earth...
I don't understand why they don't install a small nuclear reactor for energy like there are in submarines on the station, it will also enable propulsion capabilities by releasing energy into space!