ISS Speed

[Logicalgal175]

This is probably a stupid question but here goes: Since the ISS is traveling at 17,500 miles per hour in a low Earth orbit, how are the astronauts are able to go outside of it to do maintenance and repairs?

 

[COLGeek]

Because they are moving at the same relative speed. Think of it like being able to walk about an airplane in flight or a train moving down the tracks.

 

[Helio]

Adding to what COLGeek stated, there is no wind up there to push away an astronaut if they step outside the door.

Perhaps more confusing and answer would be to us General Relativity and note that it is proper to consider that the Earth is rotating under them at 17,500 mph and they are still.

 

[Logicalgal175]

Because they are moving at the same relative speed. Think of it like being able to walk about an airplane in flight or a train moving down the tracks.

But if I were outside and traveling on the roof of that train, or if I had chosen to travel on the exterior wing of that plane, and then I chose to step off, I would no longer be traveling at that vehicle's speed, would i? So how can the astronauts step off the space station's exterior apparatus and not go flying out into space?

 

[COLGeek]

But if I were outside and traveling on the roof of that train, or if I had chosen to travel on the exterior wing of that plane, and then I chose to step off, I would no longer be traveling at that vehicle's speed, would i? So how can the astronauts step off the space station's exterior apparatus and not go flying out into space?

Air resistance vs the vacuum of space.

 

[Hawkstein]

Adding to what COLGeek stated, there is no wind up there to push away an astronaut if they step outside the door.

Perhaps more confusing and answer would be to us General Relativity and note that it is proper to consider that the Earth is rotating under them at 17,500 mph and they are still.

You mean no atmosphere (not wind).

 

[Helio]

You mean no atmosphere (not wind).

No. Wind would present a force that would move the astronaut. People on our equator are traveling more than 1000 mph but unless there is a wind, then they won't move even if on roller skates.

 

[Hawkstein]

No. Wind would present a force that would move the astronaut. People on our equator are traveling more than 1000 mph but unless there is a wind, then they won't move even if on roller skates.

You don't need wind for air resistance, you need an atmosphere.

 

[Helio]

How could an atmosphere with no wind be causal to any motion?

 

[Sunnysk]

The International Space Station (ISS) is a modular space station (habitable artificial satellite) in low Earth orbit. It is a multinational collaborative project between five participating space agencies: NASA (United States), Roscosmos (Russia), JAXA (Japan), ESA (Europe), and CSA (Canada).The ownership and use of the space station is established by intergovernmental treaties and agreements astro merch. The ISS program here evolved from the Space Station Freedom, an American proposal in the 1980s to construct a permanently crewed Earth-orbiting station.
The ISS serves as a microgravity and space environment research laboratory in which scientific experiments are conducted in astrobiology, astronomy, meteorology, physics, and other fields. The station is suited for testing the spacecraft systems and equipment required for possible future long-duration missions to the Moon and Mars. It is the largest artificial object in space and the largest satellite in low Earth orbit, regularly visible to the naked eye from Earth's surface. It maintains an orbit with an average altitude of 400 kilometres (250 mi) by means of reboost manoeuvres using the engines of the Zvezda Service Module or visiting spacecraft. The ISS circles the Earth in roughly 93 minutes, completing 15.5 orbits per day.

 

[COLGeek]

The International Space Station (ISS) is a modular space station (habitable artificial satellite) in low Earth orbit. It is a multinational collaborative project between five participating space agencies: NASA (United States), Roscosmos (Russia), JAXA (Japan), ESA (Europe), and CSA (Canada).The ownership and use of the space station is established by intergovernmental treaties and agreements astro merch. The ISS program here evolved from the Space Station Freedom, an American proposal in the 1980s to construct a permanently crewed Earth-orbiting station.
The ISS serves as a microgravity and space environment research laboratory in which scientific experiments are conducted in astrobiology, astronomy, meteorology, physics, and other fields. The station is suited for testing the spacecraft systems and equipment required for possible future long-duration missions to the Moon and Mars. It is the largest artificial object in space and the largest satellite in low Earth orbit, regularly visible to the naked eye from Earth's surface. It maintains an orbit with an average altitude of 400 kilometres (250 mi) by means of reboost manoeuvres using the engines of the Zvezda Service Module or visiting spacecraft. The ISS circles the Earth in roughly 93 minutes, completing 15.5 orbits per day.

Thanks for the wiki dump. Please explain.

 

[Catastrophe]

Put it another way.

If you are travelling in a train at 60 mph and you hold a coin up in the air . . . . . . . . . and then let go of it

Would you expect the coin to immediately travel to the back of the train at 60 mph?

 

[Catastrophe]

Thank you.

Post to cover up (reported) persistent advert.

 

[IG2007]

How could an atmosphere with no wind be causal to any motion?

There's a difference between air resistance and movement of air particles.

 

[Catastrophe]

Coming back to the question . . . . . . . . . there would have to be enough molecules up there to hit a target. But . . . . . . . . . the ISS would be subject to similar (greater?) bombardment.

My guess would be that they would be insufficient to make a difference.

Cat

 

[Catastrophe]

Nanometer hypervelocity dust impacts in low Earth orbit ...
https://agupubs.onlinelibrary.wiley.com › doi › full

by JD Carpenter · 2007 · Cited by 20 — At a typical interplanetary dust velocity of 20 km s−1, dust detectors flown ... The analyses show a high density of particles in the ISS environment, most ... holes may indicate that they have been generated by slower particles.

The cumulative flux of holes in the film imaged using the FEGSEM was calculated to be 35 m−2 s−1.

Cat