The Sky is Falling

[BrainyBeauty]

Look! Up in the sky!

"When it descends, Mir will be the largest manmade object to ever re-enter Earth's atmosphere. The majority of the 135-ton space station will disintegrate, but up to 20 tons of wreckage could hit remote parts of the Pacific Ocean between Chile and Australia, an area used in the past by space agencies to dispose of old satellites. Russia is reassuring the world that pieces of Mir will not come close to areas inhabited by people, but that hasn't stopped the governments of Japan, New Zealand and Australia from expressing concern. "
   
What do you all think of this?  Are they placing bets in Vegas on where it will end up? Do you think it will come down in the Pacific as they intend? Or in someone's back yard? I bet they will pay big bucks for good pictures or video of it. Any of you Aussies plan on looking skyward that day?  How long before any "Real!  Authentic! Actual pieces of the Mir Space Station" end up on eBay?

http://more.abcnews.go.com/sections/scitech/DailyNews/mir_deorbit010319.html

http://www.mirreentry.com/description.html

 

[R Nitelight]

Remind me to wear a hat tomorrow........

 

[MinkSoul]

actualy wear it on the 23rd...

here's a place to find out everything you did or didn't want to know about MIR's return.

http://www******.com/missionlaunches/missions/mir_fiery_finale_page.html

they even have a 'MIR Tracker' so you know when to duck.

 

[Purple Haze]

Either I missed something here, or a worthless pile of burning shit is going to land somewhere on the earth, hopefully in the ocean. Why don't they just either leave it up there or thrust it into the great wide open if they're not going to use it anymore. Does it have to come back to earth? I must be missing something.

 

[CreamyLady]

Simply put, it can only circle the drain for so long before the orbit degrades. It's got to come down sometime.

 

[Weird Harold]

Either I missed something here, or a worthless pile of burning shit is going to land somewhere on the earth, hopefully in the ocean. Why don't they just either leave it up there or thrust it into the great wide open if they're not going to use it anymore. Does it have to come back to earth? I must be missing something.

They are bringing it down on purpose because if it falls on it's own, they have no way of predicting where the pieces will land.

Thrusting it out into the "great wide beyond" takes more fuel than than dropping it out of orbit. Probably more fuel than the station has the capacity for, certainly more that Russia can afford.

 

[Purple Haze]

Thanks Harold.

 

[Oliver Clozoff]

BB, it's not exactly bookmaking, but I read that the Russian government actually bought a $200,000,000 insurance policy to cover liability from falling chunks of Mir if it hits anything other than the Pacific Ocean. So, some actuary actually had to calculate the odds.

The Russians have been crashing space stations for years, though. They should have it mastered by now, so it's probably easy money for the insurance company.

 

[Bs]

Talk about easy money! Laying bets, well I hope it hits here!

http://biz.yahoo.com/bw/010319/0892.html


Free taco free for all! Yo Quiro, Taco Bell! (or somthing like that.)

 

[Cheri]

Geez, aren't we a buncha American elitists. Do you guys realize that the Russians have had nine space stations and yet have we heard of any of them landing on anyone? Um, nope. Hell I heard today that they doubt their will be a piece big as a VW Beetle left and most likely it will be the size of a tv.
If you want to read more about the Russian space program, which is older than ours by the way, read the following:
http://spaceflight.nasa.gov/spacenews/factsheets/pdfs/russian.pdf
http://members.tripod.co.uk/spaceprojects/spacestations.html
http://www.hq.nasa.gov/osf/mir/

 

[Problem Child]

Gee...I hope it doesn't land in Ohio...

 

[Cheri]

Smooches to you too, Sweet Cheeks! Now bend over and take it like a man! Damn I must be channeling Deborah again.