Space Junk

With the Chinese rocket due to 'land' sometime this weekend, I'm finding myself a little anxious.

I remember the infamous Skylab's re-entry decades ago and despite being pretty unconcerned then (I was only 20 - that's my excuse and I'm sticking with it) nowknow just how bloody lucky we earthlings were that it didn't kill anyone - but I'm not feeling so lucky this time.

For those who don't remember the Skylab incident or don't know about it, here's an interesting article.

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2020-05-31/nasa-skylab-fell-to-earth-esperance-retrofocus/12282468

Looks like Kiwis should duck

Apparently its orbiting earth every 90mins.

They have no idea where its is going to enter.

If it could land on my house and car while we are out, that would be great, lol.

Or even just the car would be nice. Actually, just one piece of debris through the windscreen would be handy.

If it could land on my house and car while we are out, that would be great, lol.

Or even just the car would be nice. Actually, just one piece of debris through the windscreen would be handy.

I can just see the insurance company dealing with this one - wonder how many have space junk exclusion causes in their policies

ETA - a new house would be a nice Mother’s Day present.

If it could land on my house and car while we are out, that would be great, lol.

Or even just the car would be nice. Actually, just one piece of debris through the windscreen would be handy.

 

I can just see the insurance company dealing with this one - wonder how many have space junk exclusion causes in their policies

ETA - a new house would be a nice Mother’s Day present.

Yeah, I better read the fine print, lol.

There’s certainly a heap of stuff up there! It doesn’t worry me though, the chances of it even being seen falling to earth by a human are pretty slim, let alone hurting someone.

.

"Sorry I didn't make it to work today, a rocket fell on my house"

Honestly I'd find that preferable to the gradual awful reality of it landing in the ocean and leaking out chemicals that will continue to poison marine life and contribute to the general slow choke of the earth along with all the other billions and billions and billions of human-made things. Sometimes I reckon having the whole planet taken out in one hit would be the better option!

I'm not scared that it will fall on me or my house - that is so incredibly unlikely to happen. And the probability of it landing in the 70% of the earth that is water is the most likely.

What does make me anxious is that it won't fall in the ocean. That it will fall on some settlement, big or small and kill people. Look at the odds with Skylab - even if it had been programmed to land somewhere over Australia, what were the chances of it landing in a teeny-tiny dot of a town with only 9 residents on the Nullabor? When you consider the vast uninhabited areas of Australia where it could have fallen, Skylab landed in and around that tiny speck on the map.

Interesting....

Is it just media beat up? Cause its chinese?

I’m not looking forward to the thousands of extra orbiting satellites that are being proposed as part of the Starlink communication system, even if they are supposedly going to improve mobile phone coverage.

Interesting....

Is it just media beat up? Cause its chinese?

Certainly has that look about it...

Me 5 minutes ago - I'll check the charts, I'm sure that will reassure me.

Me now -

"Sorry I didn't make it to work today, a rocket fell on my house"

Honestly I'd find that preferable to the gradual awful reality of it landing in the ocean and leaking out chemicals that will continue to poison marine life and contribute to the general slow choke of the earth along with all the other billions and billions and billions of human-made things. Sometimes I reckon having the whole planet taken out in one hit would be the better option!

The majority would burn up on re-entry, certainly any volatile chemicals would burn. At most, a few pieces would make it through.

This happens every day. There's more crap in the oceans from our waste and ships than anything coming from space.

"Sorry I didn't make it to work today, a rocket fell on my house"

Honestly I'd find that preferable to the gradual awful reality of it landing in the ocean and leaking out chemicals that will continue to poison marine life and contribute to the general slow choke of the earth along with all the other billions and billions and billions of human-made things. Sometimes I reckon having the whole planet taken out in one hit would be the better option!

 

The majority would burn up on re-entry, certainly any volatile chemicals would burn. At most, a few pieces would make it through.

This happens every day. There's more crap in the oceans from our waste and ships than anything coming from space.

Its not just random space junk.

This 'rocket' has been tracked for a few days now.

https://www.theguardian.com/science/2021/may/09/chinese-rocket-debris-earth-indian-ocean

Looks like we're safe this time