SpaceX moving Crew Dragon splashdowns to West Coast after multiple space debris incidents

[Admin]

The four astronauts flying aboard SpaceX Crew Dragon are supposed to launch no earlier than Aug. 18 and splash down near Florida. Future crews will go to the west coast due to space junk concerns.

SpaceX moving Crew Dragon splashdowns to West Coast after multiple space debris incidents : Read more

 

[Unclear Engineer]

This seem like a good idea. But, as an ocean going sailboat owner, I sometimes wonder about stuff falling out of the sky into the ocean. It adds to the drama of the huge cargo ships plowing the seas at high speeds on autopilot, but seems much harder to avoid.

And, what about that expendable "trunk" on the Boeing StarLiner. With Starliner coming down at White Sands, will the trunks hit California?

 

[Meteoric Marmot]

This seem like a good idea. But, as an ocean going sailboat owner, I sometimes wonder about stuff falling out of the sky into the ocean. It adds to the drama of the huge cargo ships plowing the seas at high speeds on autopilot, but seems much harder to avoid.

And, what about that expendable "trunk" on the Boeing StarLiner. With Starliner coming down at White Sands, will the trunks hit California?

This is just moving the problem to somewhere it's less visible.

The real issue here is that the pieces that are being deorbited are failing to break up so that they'll burn up. The bigger assemblies need to be redesigned with intentional fracture lines or maybe explosive bolts. This will cost money which is why SpaceX hasn't done it and won't unless ordered to.

 

[Unclear Engineer]

I think its more a matter of being less risky, not just less visible.

But, I do agree that some better designing need to be done for the long-term.

 

[newtons_laws]

The trunk material needs to be made of material with sufficient structural strength to cope with the loads during launch and in the vacuum of space, but in neither of those regimes is it subject to high temperatures. So why not build the trunk out of materials that are less heat resistant and will readily burn up during the heat of re-entry? I believe that most bits of the Dragon trunk that survived re-entry were carbon fibre composite which is fairly heat resistant. I know that such material is often chosen because of its high strength to weight ratio, but if debris reaching the ground (or sea) is to be avoided perhaps an alternative less heat resistant material could be found?