[meteorite-list] Space junk - marine life - shame on NASA

From: Sterling K. Webb <sterling_k_webb_at_meteoritecentral.com>
Date: Mon, 3 Nov 2008 13:34:51 -0600
Message-ID: <008f01c93deb$3e137040$c52de146_at_ATARIENGINE>

Hi, Greg, Chris, All,

    Ecological impact is likely a true zero. We don't
even know if ANY piece of the tank made it to ground
or not. Odds are against.

    But I want to quibble with this:

> ships are scuttled all the time, along with thousands
> every year that are simply lost at sea.

    The world is not a gigantic video game of utter
destruction. The current "lost" rate is five per thousand
ships. That amounts to about 300 ships a year. And the
term "lost" includes all causes of being removed from
service.

    Most "lost" ships are lost near coasts, on reefs, in
collisions with other ships. They are damaged beyond
the worth of saving and are scraped when they're lifted
off and tugboated to a port. The classic "lost at sea,"
where a ship sets out and vanishes, is unbelievably rare!

    Footnote data:
http://www.imo.org/includes/blastDataOnly.asp/data_id%3D5673/8133.pdf

    Avast, matey!


Sterling K. Webb
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
----- Original Message -----
From: "Chris Peterson" <clp at alumni.caltech.edu>
To: <meteorite-list at meteoritecentral.com>
Sent: Monday, November 03, 2008 12:57 PM
Subject: Re: [meteorite-list] Space junk - marine life - shame on NASA


Hi Greg-

It is inaccurate to say that this object "splashed down". In fact, much of
it burned away during reentry, leaving much smaller debris. It would seem
extremely unlikely that any ammonia was left by the time pieces hit the
water. So there was only a bit of scrap metal, probably nothing of
significant toxicity. The impact of this debris on the ocean ecology is
likely to be near zero.

Returning junk from low earth orbit is not currently practical in most
cases. The only option is to allow it to reenter and (mostly) burn up. I
suspect that the sum total of all the debris from space that has reached the
ground doesn't add up to one scuttled destroyer (with far more toxics in the
latter case as well). And ships are scuttled all the time, along with
thousands every year that are simply lost at sea.

Chris

*****************************************
Chris L Peterson
Cloudbait Observatory
http://www.cloudbait.com


----- Original Message -----
From: "Greg Catterton" <star_wars_collector at yahoo.com>
To: <meteorite-list at meteoritecentral.com>
Sent: Monday, November 03, 2008 11:41 AM
Subject: [meteorite-list] Space junk - marine life - shame on NASA


> ""The junk was a tank full of ammonia coolant on the international space
> station that was no longer needed. Astronaut Clayton Anderson threw it
> overboard during a spacewalk in July 2007.
>
> Space station program manager Mike Suffredini said Monday that the debris
> splashed down somewhere between Australia and New Zealand Sunday night""
>
>
> Am I alone in the idea that Nasa should be held criminaly liable for the
> polution of our waters?
> If an ordinary person was to dump toxic material into the ocean, surely we
> would be in alot of trouble... just becouse they are Nasa does not make
> them above the law. Ammonia is highly toxic to marine life!
> It is my opinion that this was an outright disrespect to the enviorment
> and a potential hazard to the marine life in the area of impact.
> I am very upset about this and feel Nasa was totally wrong for the actions
> they have done.
> This could have been handled in a much better fashion, and I for one would
> like to see Nasa held accountable for this.
> I am really upset about this whole situtation.
> surely if it had fallen on someones propery NASA would be in alot of
> trouble...
> Shame on you NASA. Shame on you Clayton Anderson.

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Received on Mon 03 Nov 2008 02:34:51 PM PST