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The space station has to add energy almost weekly to overcome drag. If it didn't it would likely come down within a couple years. When they want to throw trash
by pilom 5y ago
The space station has to add energy almost weekly to overcome drag. If it didn't it would likely come down within a couple years. When they want to throw trash away, they literally just drop it off the side and it burns up eventually: https://gizmodo.com/iss-ditches-2-9-ton-pallet-of-batteries-creating-its-m-1846476992 https://gizmodo.com/iss-ditches-2-9-ton-pallet-of-batteries-...
- spookthesunset 5y agoWould that stuff cause a huge fireball in the night sky? 2.9 tons is a hell of a lot of mass... amazing to think it will just burn up in the atmosphere.
- aledalgrande 5y agoI don't think it is to worry about, 1 cubic meter of iron weighs 7.8 tons for example... it is not a huge mass in the end.
- KiwiJohnno 5y agoI'd say it would burn up pretty nicely. Its not gonna be one homogenous lump of stuff that holds together on re-entry, its a bunch of smaller "things" (battery cells) bundled up and held together with an external shell. As soon as that shell burns through its going to break apart and each individual part will start burning up.
- tim333 5y agoYeah probably most of the mass is aluminium sheet which melts quite easily hence Starship and the MiG-25 switching to steel, and also can burn quite well - it was the fuel in the shuttle's boosters.