HEADS UP!!!

[sharkeeper]

The Russians are about to drop something somewhere...

Article Here

Cheers!

 

[jsbush]

They'll probably end up droping it on them selfs.

 

[yakko]

I hope they don't hit any Japanese fishing boats.

 

[Total Refected Power]

They'll screw it up.

 

[Viper GTS]

Dumb question, but why do they have to splash it? Why can't they just nudge it off into space & forget about it?



Viper GTS

 

[thEnEuRoMancER]

In order to fling Mir into space they'd have to bring quite a lot of fuel up there - and this is a very very expensive procedure. If they just left it there, it would return back to the atmosphere sooner or later - uncontrolled. So the most rational thing to do is to crash it into the ocean.
Personally I don't worry a bit. If these space agencies are capable of launching a probe around the Sun and on the surface of some asteroid, they probably are competent enough to kill Mir too.

 

[Viper GTS]

OK, then, why don't they kill it with a missile & let lots of little pieces burn up in the atmosphere rather than hoping that one large piece does?

Viper GTS

 

[thEnEuRoMancER]

I'd say it's quite hard to completely pulverize such a huge beast like Mir. Imagine ten or more car-sized pieces and millions of little pieces of debris orbiting around the Earth - you still wouldn't know when they'd fall into the atmosphere and they'd also pose a serious threat for exiting satellites.

 

[dopcombo]

Besides, i would think that they want to study the big spacecraft for cracks, or maybe wear and tear, etc. Simply for future similar spacecrafts if nothing else.

Also, maybe there is some military secret on the spacecraft that the russians want to claim back? You never know with such things....

 

[HomeBrewerDude]

seems like they are cutting it a bit close.

 

[phantasm]

thEnEuRoMancER,
Yea, Nasa did a great job landing the rover on Mars.

 

[thEnEuRoMancER]

dopcombo: Good point, but I doubt Russians have the money to fish the remains out of the ocean. As far as military secrets are concerned, American astronauts spent quite a lot of time aboard Mir.

 

[shiner]

I thik we're probably going to hear a collective

DOH!!!

From the Russian space agency here real soon. I mean how are they going to explain destroying Paris when MIR comes crashing down on it? Not that I will care if Paris is destroyed(the FRENCH IN PARIS SUCK!! The people in the rest of the country are cool though) but they will have some splainin to do.

 

[thEnEuRoMancER]

As long as the crashing operation isn't led by a computer, running state-of-the-art American Micro$oft technology I place my bet on Mir crashing in the ocean

 

[MattCo]

Could we not time it to land on Iraq. Seems like we are spending a huge amount of money to drop hardware on them already....

-MC

 

[sharkeeper]

Check this out!

For $10k you can (still) get a ticket on a plane that should be in the calculated vicinity of reentry!

Talk about buying a chance.

Cheers!