An Extraordinary Voyage (APOD 17 Oct 2008)

[beckfield]

This image of the Jules Verne spacecraft breaking up is saddening. 13 tons of wasted material.

It seems to me that part of the ISS mission should be to make the most efficient and complete use of the materials that are sent to it. If a spacecraft like this, with no re-entry capability, must be used, then leave it there and devise some way for the ISS engineers to make use of it. Anything is better than just letting it burn up.

[orin stepanek]

I thought so too and I wrote about it when APOD had Jules Verne in Orbit.

http://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap081017.html

http://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap080405.html

Stunning picture; but what does deorbiting mean? Sounds like it is to be sent back into the atmosphere to burn up. Too bad; it looks large enough that it could become part of the station. I suppose that it is probably contaminated from the fuel it delivered to the station.
Orin

[neufer]

This image of the Jules Verne spacecraft breaking up is saddening. 13 tons of wasted material.

It seems to me that part of the ISS mission should be to make the most efficient and complete use of the materials that are sent to it. If a spacecraft like this, with no re-entry capability, must be used, then leave it there and devise some way for the ISS engineers to make use of it. Anything is better than just letting it burn up.

Anything is better than just letting it burn up?
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http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Space_debris
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<<Space debris or orbital debris, also called space junk and space waste, are the objects in orbit around Earth created by humans, that no longer serve any useful purpose. They consist of everything from entire spent rocket stages and defunct satellites to explosion fragments, paint flakes, dust, and slag from solid rocket motors, coolant released by RORSAT nuclear powered satellites, deliberate insertion of small needles, and other small particles. Clouds of very small particles may cause erosive damage, like sandblasting. Space debris has become a growing concern in recent years, since collisions at orbital velocities can be highly damaging to functioning satellites and can also produce even more space debris in the process, called Kessler Syndrome. Some spacecraft, like the International Space Station, are now armored to mitigate damage with this hazard. Astronauts on EVAs are also vulnerable.
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. History
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In 1958, the United States launched a satellite named Vanguard I. It became one of the longest surviving pieces of space junk, and as of March 2008 remains the oldest piece still in orbit. According to Edward Tufte's book Envisioning Information, space debris objects have included a glove lost by astronaut Ed White on the first American space-walk, a camera Michael Collins lost near the spacecraft Gemini 10, garbage bags jettisoned by the Soviet Mir Cosmonauts throughout that space station's 15-year life, a wrench and a toothbrush. Sunita Williams of STS-116 also lost a camera during extra-vehicular activity (EVA). During the EVA to reinforce a torn solar panel during STS-120 a pair of pliers was similarly liberated. Most of those unusual objects have re-entered the atmosphere of the Earth within weeks due to the orbits where they were released. Things like these are not major contributors to the space debris environment. On the other hand, explosion events are a major contribution to the space debris problem. About 100 tons of fragments generated during approximately 200 such events are still in orbit. Space debris is most concentrated in low Earth orbit, though some extends out past geosynchronous orbit.

The first official Space Shuttle collision avoidance maneuver was during STS-48 in September 1991. A 7-second reaction control system burn was performed to avoid debris from the Cosmos satellite 955.

In 2006, wreckage from a Russian spy satellite passed dangerously close to a Latin American Airbus carrying 270 passengers, reentering over the Pacific Ocean which is considered among the safest places in the world to bring down satellites due to its unpopulated vastness.

The worst uncontrolled reentry in history occurred in July 1979, when Skylab, America's abandoned, 78-ton space station - which had long since run out of maneuvering fuel - came down earlier than planned, raining debris across the Australian outback.

A hazard analysis conducted for a planned October 2008 mission of the NASA space shuttle Atlantis concluded that its greatest risk was from space debris, with a 1-in-185 chance of catastrophic impact. This level of risk will require a top-level launch decision. A typical space shuttle mission, to the International Space Station at 200 nautical mile altitude, involves a 1-in-300 risk, but the October 2008 mission is to the Hubble Space Telescope, which orbits at 300 nm altitude, where there is more debris. If the mission proceeds, planned mitigating measures include flying the shuttle tail-first, placing the main engines as the first contact with debris.>>
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http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap020102.html

<<Explanation: High above a cloudy Earth, the International Space Station (ISS) orbits silently. The Space Shuttle Endeavor Crew took the above picture as they departed the space station in mid-December. Endeavor brought up three new astronauts to occupy the ISS and carried home the members of Expedition Three, a trio that has been housed in the ISS since August. Highlights of this Endeavor mission included fixing a solar panel and maneuvering the station to avoid a large piece of passing space junk. Visible in the above picture are the space station's robot manipulator arm as well as several modules and solar arrays.>>

[iamlucky13]

The Jules Verne capsule isn't designed as a permanent addition to the station. It's also extra mass and drag with minimal utility. However, it works great for bringing waste from the ISS to a controlled re-entry, which is something that has to be done.

At the same time, ESA has a program to investigate potential further uses of the ATV, and it has some features designed into it that could make it useful as, for example, part of a ATV daisychained mini-station.