Astronaut space dump pong-bomb frag shower today ISS Stinky fridge

[jus_the_facts]

Source: The Register UK

3rd November 2008 11:39 GMT

An old fridge thrown off the International Space Station last year is set to re-enter the Earth's atmosphere shortly, according to reports, delivering a volley of 100mph space frag debris to an as-yet unknown impact site. The refrigeration unit in question is the Early Ammonia System (EAS), a 1400lb tank intended to furnish backup supplies of the unpleasant-smelling coolant to the space station in the early stages of its construction. As the ISS neared completion it became surplus to requirements.

The disused stink-tank might more normally have been shipped back to Earth aboard a space shuttle, but in the end no room was found. Astronaut Clay Anderson dealt with the problem briskly in July last year, flinging the hefty three-quarter-ton unit off the end of the space station's robot arm along with an old camera mounting also deemed no longer necessary.

"If anybody found a piece of anything on the ground Monday morning, I would hope they wouldn't get too close to it.

There were never any plans to engage the innocuous coolant assembly with a volley of missile-defence interceptors fired from US Navy cruisers, as happened the last time an American tankful of stinks came down from orbit out of control.
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Read more: http://www.theregister.co.uk/2008/11/03/eas_iss_fling_plunge_debris_arrival/

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REENTRY UPDATE: The Early Ammonia Servicer (EAS) may be history. Thomas Dorman of Horizon City, Texas, used a low-light video camera to record the EAS flying over his hometown on Nov. 1st. Similar overflights were expected on Nov. 2nd and 3rd, "but the EAS did not appear," he says. "I think it is safe to assume EAS has reentered." So far we have received no reports of a fireball, but that is not necessarily surprising. Reentry could have happened in daylight, over ocean waters or some other sparsely populated area. Stay tuned for updates.

www.spaceweather.com

The orbit of the EAS has been decaying since the reservoir was discarded. If predictions are correct, the EAS will descend into Earth's atmosphere and disintegrate in a blaze of light during the early hours of Nov. 3rd. Uncertainties in the exact re-entry time are so great (plus or minus 15 hours) that it is impossible to pinpoint where the fireball will appear. Every continent except Antarctica has some potentially favorable ground tracks.

[Catch22Dem]

1. Earth's atmosphere - The ultimate incinerator (n/t)

[ogminlo]

7. Friction?

Don't you mean friction with Earth's atmosphere?

Otherwise we'd all be toast!

:)

[Crowman1979]

12. Nah, that would be the Sun.

[Catch22Dem]

20. Good point

:D

[tanyev]

2. I clicked on the link just to see if that really was the headline.

It's perilously close to gibberish.

[jus_the_facts]

3. Followed the rules....that's the actual headline. n/t

[VWolf]

5. LOL Me too!

It's pretty much crossed the gibberish threshold.

[Orrex]

6. I concur!

That is hands down the worst headline I've ever read in any news outlet. Who greenlighted that nonsense? I read the whole article and I can still barely figure out what the headline means!

:wtf:

[customerserviceguy]

15. I'd like to have some of the, er, "pharmaceuticals"

that were used as an editing aid in coming up with that headline!

[petronius]

17. It's the British version of English, apparently - quite similar to gibberish in most respects

;)

Actually, I think this site is more of a tabloid, news-of-the-weird, casual-language-to-sound-cool kind of journal.

"NASA exploding-space-fridge experts" is a pretty cool job description, however...

[struggle4progress]

22. Theirs a reason why Brittins sckhools is decline is since they succeeded from us

in the Sibil War

[Zephyr_Wind]

4. First there were Land Fills ...

Now there are Space Fills .. this article reminded me of one I read awhile back.

Thousands of nuts, bolts, gloves and other debris from space missions form an orbiting garbage dump around Earth, presenting a hazard to spacecraft. Some of the bits and pieces scream along at 17,500 mph.

Snip

As of June 21 2000, the agency counted 8,927 man-made objects in the great above and beyond; some are there more or less permanently. Of the total, 2,671 are satellites (working or not), 90 are space probes that have been launched out of Earth orbit, and 6096 are mere chunks of debris zooming around the third planet from the Sun. The United States leads the former Soviet Union in the total quantity of orbital junk, but some companies and other organizations contribute significantly to the count.

http://www.space.com/spacewatch/space_junk.html

Why do humans feel the need to literally trash every place we go?

ZW

[NJCher]

8. a clue

Why do humans feel the need to literally trash every place we go?

Well, here's one theory, though I doubt many will buy it.

We're genetically defective. That is in the process of being straightened out.



Cher

[KnaveRupe]

9. That headline sounds like the subject line of a spam e-mail.

You know - one of those "male enhancement" ads where they make a subject line of gibberish to get past the spam filter.

"Daphnia blue-crested fish cattle, darkorange fountain moss, beaverwood educating, eyeblinking advancing, dulltuned amazons

www.omg_cheep_C1AL1S_4u.kom"

[Frank Cannon]

10. Or the translated "English" instructions for a cheap radio

Even the subheadline is bad. Someone's smoking something serious.

[Robb]

13. I think they sacked the regular headline writer

...and hired on the guy from the Dr. Bronner's soap bottles. :D

[Frank Cannon]

14. LOL

I remember Dr. Bronner's! Do they still make that?

[Robb]

18. Oh yeah

The insanity continues: http://www.drbronner.com/

[DS1]

11. Sword of Damocles?

Someone channeling Olbermann?

[Ian David]

16. Here's what the interior of the refrigeration unit looks like, in case you find it...

[Bearware]

19. Is it just me or...

I remember fondly of the writings of Gerard O'Neil and wonder when we will start melting down and reusing or at least storing
mass in orbit. Even astronaut shit costs more than gold and there is plenty of free energy from the sun to turn it back into
the elements it came from. We keep launching spacecraft that have to be reinforced to stand the G-forces when we could start
making parts in orbit that are spider web light.:crazy:

I still remember the dream.:cry:

[minnesota_liberal]

21. Another freeper attempt to keep voter turnout down

Stay at home or you might get hit by a flying fridge!