Amateur astronomer captures lost NASA tool bag on video
by Stevie Smith - Nov 26 2008, 13:00
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How can the bag be a risk for the ISS or the space shuttle? The relative velocity of the bag is very similar in speed to both vehicles. There would be some danger to other satellites but anything in the same orbit has approximately the same velocity...
I would expect the density of the ISS to be less than that of the toolkit (not sure though) so the ISS should lose altitude faster than the toolkit. Then when the ISS raises its altitude back up again (as it does periodically) it needs to avoid this toolkit. The difference in speed could be as much as 1% or about 2000 mph.
Because everything larger than a few inches across is tracked this is just one more space debris item to avoid among tens of thousands.
Is this tool bag in the same orbit as the shuttle and could it collide with the shuttle and damage it like a military projectile as that
fired from a tank ?. And how fast is it traveling ?.
I have a tool kit at home that costs a lot less than 100,000. Maybe Nasa should buy their tools at
Wal-Mart and save some money. You can buy a little piece of string at a dollar store that could have worked to keep her tool kit from floating away.
Try using those Walmart tools in zero g while wearing a space suit ...
Density alone is not the important factor - it's the surface area (in travel direction) / mass.
An object of half the size, 'will' have 1/4 the surface area, but 1/8 of the mass, so it will decay twice as fast.
Before astronaut floates away, maybe NASA could use this toolbag to work on a recovery technique.
Very nice site!
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Jim CliffeNov 26th, 2008 - 16:52:07
It's no surprise that Kevin Fetter made this remarkable observation. Most of the 'amateur' astronomers of today are working with tools and knowledge that would have placed them in the elite of the science a hundred years ago. As well, Canadians are (for some reason) especially good at astronomy.
Bravo! Wonderful accomplishment.
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