Space station tosses 2.9-ton hunk of space junk overboard. It will stay in orbit for years.

[Admin]

The International Space Station discarded a 2.9-ton pallet of used batteries on Thursday morning (March 11), the most massive object it has ever jettisoned.

Space station tosses 2.9-ton hunk of space junk overboard. It will stay in orbit for years. : Read more

 

[sam85geo]

Perhaps NASA will let the world know when and where this clutch of batteries will come back to Earth so at least some of the taxpayers might get to view a fiery show for their money.

 

[GeoXXX]

Perhaps NASA will let the world know when and where this clutch of batteries will come back to Earth so at least some of the taxpayers might get to view a fiery show for their money.

Too difficult to predict, they can to within a few days when it gets real close but without knowing when exactly it’s impossible to predict where. Atmospheric drag is just too unpredictable.

 

[Richard Popovich]

It seems to me when "Space Garbage" is discarded to orbit, it's not all that different from the "Middle Ages" when people threw out the contents of their chamber pots into the streets. Every act of blindly tossing unwanted things into an environment, has consequences not recognized, when an object or hazard enters environmental system.

Everything sent into space, should include a simple method of disposing waste products like this "pallet" of used batteries from the "Space Station." One of the most obvious methods of getting rid of space garbage which is being overlooked, is our Solar System's built-in incinerator.

If we can send a Rover to Mars successfully, it should be easy to build a system to insert space junk out of orbit and into a trajectory into the Sun. Here on Earth we use incinerators to dispose of certain types of trash. Many of the discarded waste is hazardous such as medical waste, closed system incinerating toilets in remote cabins and other specific types of man-made materials which out live their usefulness. Vehicles, tires, paper, cardboard, metals and a host of other items are routinely repurposed, or eliminated by using fire as a method of disposing things which would bury us otherwise.

"Space Junk" is becoming a real concern faced by manned crews orbiting the planet. It may seem as though the "empty vacuum" of space is infinite, but all of the great tools used in our scientific missions have an end life, which needs to be addressed when its time comes to an end. If we continue the dumping, we will eventually experience a collision between a piece of aborted debris with a manned space object.

It isn't as though is "IF" it might happen, it is a matter of when it will happen. Good safety planning is part of dealing with the hazards produced by Science as the results of the Science itself. Mitigating such hazards has to be built into the materials used and launched into orbit.

 

[Richard Popovich]

Too difficult to predict, they can to within a few days when it gets real close but without knowing when exactly it’s impossible to predict where. Atmospheric drag is just too unpredictable.

It is also evident that not every object which re-enters the Earth's atmosphere is completely destroyed. There are accounts of space junk hitting cars, homes and people. It is rare, but it has happened. The larger the object is and the greater the mass, means some of the stuff we place into orbit will turn around and bite us, causing a major incident.

 

[Tim Devon]

2.9 tonnes of nickel-hydrogen batteries burning up in the upper atmosphere or as seen with recent F9/stage 2 re-entry possibly as low as 40 miles or less considering the density of a 2.9 tonne pallet.

Can't help thinking of the toxic pollution produced by this event. I don't know if they've now swapped all the nih2 for li-ion but this isn't the first re-entry burn up of batteries.

Copied from web I know but:

Burning nickel metal hydride batteries can produce toxic fumes including oxides of nickel, cobalt, aluminum, manganese, lanthanum, cerium, neodymium, and praseodymium.

Then there's the issue of what becomes of the Li-ion batteries, do they get swapped in the future or equate to the ISS lifespan.

Burning Li-ion batteries:
Fluorinated gases (F-gases) are man-made gases that can stay in the atmosphere for centuries and contribute to a global greenhouse effect.

These will produce some very pretty light shows but at an environmental cost.

I know the argument will be that the pollution is minimal and the knowledge obtained makes it all worthwhile but it sort of sounds like the thin end of the wedge.

I have no idea what other toxic substances or quantities of are being introduced to all levels of the atmosphere and whether there are any studies of the effects on the atmosphere.

I'm not a (waste of tax payers money) anti space programs and I get the advances made and am hooked on spacex program, starship, Perseverance etc. Learning more everyday.

But surely, as everything is advancing exponentially this means more junk that has to be burnt up in the atmosphere. At some point in time this has to become a problem.

Seems like we're doing incredible things then offset it by going home and setting fire to some tyres in the back yard!

Tim