Starship Asterisk*

Chris Peterson wrote:

neufer wrote:
2) the second wind is blocked by the Earth's magnetosphere.

Most of it is. But by no means all. Satellites in low Earth orbit certainly encounter particles of the solar wind.

Chris Peterson wrote:I don't think the ISS normally jettisons pee. But the ISS isn't the only manned spacecraft.

geckzilla wrote:Must be some concentrated pee getting jettisoned if they recycle it into drinking water first. Let's not get peed on by the ISS. If it were a sci fi movie it would first freeze into some icicles which would then break apart into sharp pieces and then poke through some vital part of the station.

geckzilla wrote:If you were to squirt a stream of water out, would it be blown back by that wind? Is it even possible to "pee" into the wind at the level of the ISS and have it come back to hit, say, the cupola? Which astronaut wants to volunteer?

neufer wrote:

Chris Peterson wrote:Well, there's atmosphere up there, so there's wind. Very fast wind. And that's not even considering the solar wind, which is even faster yet.

Well...

1) The first wind is basically an artifact of the orbital motion

2) the second wind is blocked by the Earth's magnetosphere.

Chris Peterson wrote:

geckzilla wrote:
Oi, I thought I'd get dinged on that one for saying there's wind.

Well, there's atmosphere up there, so there's wind. Very fast wind. And that's not even considering the solar wind, which is even faster yet.

geckzilla wrote:

Chris Peterson wrote:

geckzilla wrote:I couldn't think of a way to explain why the cubes won't come around and smack into the ISS besides just saying that scientists are smart enough not to pee into the wind.

I don't know. That works for me.

Oi, I thought I'd get dinged on that one for saying there's wind. :lol:

Chris Peterson wrote:

geckzilla wrote:I couldn't think of a way to explain why the cubes won't come around and smack into the ISS besides just saying that scientists are smart enough not to pee into the wind.

I don't know. That works for me.

geckzilla wrote:I couldn't think of a way to explain why the cubes won't come around and smack into the ISS besides just saying that scientists are smart enough not to pee into the wind.

Chris Peterson wrote:

geckzilla wrote:Their orbits naturally decay quickly enough for that to not be an issue. You could think of them like a really slow mo fall of something dropped out of a helicopter. The ISS has thrusters to maintain its position and these little cubes just fall on their own.

I'm not sure that's the best way to view it. Everything that is in orbit is falling freely. Things in sufficiently low orbits experience drag from the thin upper atmosphere, which robs them of energy and results in orbital decay.

geckzilla wrote:Their orbits naturally decay quickly enough for that to not be an issue. You could think of them like a really slow mo fall of something dropped out of a helicopter. The ISS has thrusters to maintain its position and these little cubes just fall on their own.

biddie67 wrote:Despite the fascinating visual effect of the little cubes being set aflight, the involvement of students and the great poetry above, my first thoughts go to the problems of tracking them as they possibly become "space trash" that could collide with satellites and maybe even interfere somehow with the ISS itself ?????

Ron-Astro Pharmacist wrote:That calls for some more satel’lite humor…

Three Blind ‘lites. Three Blind ‘lites.
Set them adrift. Set them adrift.
They fall according to gravity laws
At a rate we adjust for relative flaws
You ever foresee such a flight in you life?
As Three Blind ‘lites .

Well, maybe no one called for it – Too late now

Nitpicker wrote:
Cool.

And yet another excuse for a university student to not submit a thesis on time: "the atmosphere ate my CubeSat".