cocheese 0 #1 August 28, 2011 Got any good space station questions? Ask them here and maybe a friendly skydiver/rocket scientist can answer them. I'll start. 1) If the space station can circle the Earth in 1 hour and 36 minutes, is it possible to slow that down to almost stationary if it was higher/farther from Earth? Does it need the perpetual freefall or could it stay in orbit say always facing North America if it was in the perfect spot? Or could it hang out in space and just watch the Earth go round? Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
quade 3 #2 August 28, 2011 Quote 1) If the space station can circle the Earth in 1 hour and 36 minutes, is it possible to slow that down to almost stationary if it was higher/farther from Earth? Does it need the perpetual freefall or could it stay in orbit say always over the USA if it was in the perfect spot? I ain't no rocket scientist, but yes, absolutely. Google "Clarke Belt." http://www.google.com/search?client=safari&rls=en&q=clarke+belt&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8quade - The World's Most Boring Skydiver Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
shah269 0 #3 August 28, 2011 Hum....ok! OK say you fart in the space station......does the fart kind of just "hang there" and in theory could you create a "Wall-O-farts" to keep those non Americans out of the better appointed "American" parts of the station? OR BETTER YET! Could you light it!Life through good thoughts, good words, and good deeds is necessary to ensure happiness and to keep chaos at bay. The only thing that falls from the sky is birdshit and fools! Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
lost_n_confuzd 0 #4 August 28, 2011 I think the scrubbers and airflow would filter out the farts. Would be interesting though to have a device that could "see" farts. That way I could see the insta-fart in action as it goes from ass to nose immediately after flatulence. Or the tele-fart that only hits the guy across the room without leaving a trail. Can't forget the omni-fart that everyone gets a whiff of or the bee-fart that magically goes away after one person catches a sniff, leaving everyone else to doubt its existence. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
MikeJD 0 #5 August 28, 2011 QuoteHum....ok! OK say you fart in the space station......does the fart kind of just "hang there" and in theory could you create a "Wall-O-farts" I'm gonna go with 'no'. It would just dissipate the way it does on earth - farts don't need gravity to do that. A more interesting (but equally puerile) question would be this - in a weightless environment, could you actually propel yourself through the air by farting? Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
cocheese 0 #6 August 28, 2011 Dude that's an awesome question. Any Afghanis want to take this one? Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
airtwardo 6 #7 August 28, 2011 ~Who was the couple to git-a-little in the space station? ~If ya rub one out solo does it still count for a 'mile high' award? ~ If you choke a Smurf, what color does it turn? ~ Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
ZigZagMarquis 8 #8 August 28, 2011 Is the space station powered by whale oil or is that just the Hubble space telescope? Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
wmw999 2,116 #9 August 28, 2011 Forc (i.e. what's required to push you forward) e= mass X acceleration. Since a fart has very little mass as compared with the person emitting it, there's not going to be significant movement. At least we hope it doesn't have much mass -- if it turns out it's not a fart after all, well, there will be bigger problems in the space station than measuring how far the guy went Wendy P. There is nothing more dangerous than breaking a basic safety rule and getting away with it. It removes fear of the consequences and builds false confidence. (tbrown) Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
PiLFy 0 #10 August 28, 2011 Retired shuttle astronaut Mullane gives a pretty thorough explanation of quack attacks, & other modern space bathroom activities: http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0743276833 Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
billvon 2,384 #11 August 28, 2011 >could you actually propel yourself through the air by farting? Very slightly. Peeing would be better, and women will be better at it (higher specific impulse) than men. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
sacex250 0 #12 August 28, 2011 Did someone mention Rocket Science?It's all been said before, no sense repeating it here. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Remster 24 #13 August 28, 2011 I can't believe I'll be the one giving a serious space question answer after BV and Wendy already replied... Pretty much every communication satellite in in a geo-stationary orbit, meaning they are staying put over the same terrestrial point as the earth rotates on itself. So yeah, the space station could be at a spot like this. Remster Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Beerlight 0 #14 August 28, 2011 Quote I can't believe I'll be the one giving a serious space question answer after BV and Wendy already replied... Pretty much every communication satellite in in a geo-stationary orbit, meaning they are staying put over the same terrestrial point as the earth rotates on itself. So yeah, the space station could be at a spot like this. Yep. But how boring would that be! Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
sacex250 0 #15 August 28, 2011 Quote I can't believe I'll be the one giving a serious space question answer after BV and Wendy already replied... Pretty much every communication satellite in in a geo-stationary orbit, meaning they are staying put over the same terrestrial point as the earth rotates on itself. So yeah, the space station could be at a spot like this. "Serious space question answer"? Where was the serious space question? Actually, it would be kind of difficult to put a satellite in geostationary orbit over North America, Satellites in geostationary orbits have to be near the equator. Even GPS satellites don't stay in one spot.It's all been said before, no sense repeating it here. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
champu 1 #16 August 28, 2011 Most comm sats are in geosync roughly over the equator. This allows you to provide coverage to a given region using one satellite which is nice, and it has the added benefit that you don't need to do complex tracking with your antenna on the ground. Doesn't work so well at far North and South latitudes because a satellite over the equator would be too close to the horizon to reliably communicate with. The Soviets came up with a pretty cool orbit to get around this that is highly elliptical and has a period of 12 hours. The satellite spends most of it's time loitering at a high altitude over the edge of the arctic circle and makes two fast swingbys around the south pole every day. With two satellites timed correctly you can provide continuous coverage to high latitudes (or low latitudes, but I'm not aware of any satellites in this type of orbit over the antarctic.) Sirius radio uses a similar orbit but with a 24 hour period. Putting a manned spacecraft in orbits other than Low-Earth is a little trickier because the radiation levels you have to deal with are quite a bit higher out there. To stay out there long term you need much better shielding. GPS satellites move intentionally. This helps, for a couple reasons actually, with the position information you can get from them. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
lawrocket 3 #17 August 28, 2011 I like it. It's a fascinating thing. But re: ISS How much fuel is needed every year to keep the ISS at it's orbital altitude due to decay? My wife is hotter than your wife. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Calvin19 0 #18 August 29, 2011 QuoteGot any good space station questions? I understand the ISS is holding in LEO. I assume from the posted weight and size that the overall projected cross section is quite large for it's weight. What kind of orbit maintenance is needed to keep it at it's desired speed and altitude? Energy (N) needed? What kind of engines does it use for this? Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Squeak 17 #19 August 29, 2011 QuoteQuoteGot any good space station questions? I understand the ISS is holding in LEO. I assume from the posted weight and size that the overall projected cross section is quite large for it's weight. What kind of orbit maintenance is needed to keep it at it's desired speed and altitude?a thruster squirt here and there Energy (N) needed not near as much as you might have thought? What kind of engines does it use for this? Big ones but probably smaller than you thinkYou are not now, nor will you ever be, good enough to not die in this sport (Sparky) My Life ROCKS! How's yours doing? Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
billvon 2,384 #20 August 29, 2011 >How much fuel is needed every year to keep the ISS at it's orbital altitude due to decay? From the station - none at least in the past six years. They re-boost with the engines on the supply ships, Soyuz and Verne, but I don't know how much fuel they use during the manuever. In some ways it's "free" - the fuel has to be there anyway for contingencies during the approach. I believe the Zvezda ISS module can still use its thrusters to maneuver the ISS if needed, but it hasn't been needed in a while. I think they are still planning to add a 200 kW VASIMR engine to the ISS, which is something like 20 times more efficient than the chemical engines used now. It uses power from the solar panels to accelerate plasma to very high speeds, thus greatly reducing propellant requirements. On the other hand it's low thrust so it would have to fire for a long time - good for reboosting, bad for dodging or maneuvering. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
champu 1 #21 August 29, 2011 Quote>How much fuel is needed every year to keep the ISS at it's orbital altitude due to decay? From the station - none at least in the past six years. They re-boost with the engines on the supply ships, Soyuz and Verne, but I don't know how much fuel they use during the manuever. In some ways it's "free" - the fuel has to be there anyway for contingencies during the approach. I believe the Zvezda ISS module can still use its thrusters to maneuver the ISS if needed, but it hasn't been needed in a while. I think they are still planning to add a 200 kW VASIMR engine to the ISS, which is something like 20 times more efficient than the chemical engines used now. It uses power from the solar panels to accelerate plasma to very high speeds, thus greatly reducing propellant requirements. On the other hand it's low thrust so it would have to fire for a long time - good for reboosting, bad for dodging or maneuvering. Theoretically you could tune a VASMIR engine to [more or less] continuously counter drag which would keep the station at a constant altitude and you wouldn't corrupt or cause problems with long term microgravity experiments. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
shah269 0 #22 August 29, 2011 OK....engineers being "engineers" how do you keep those SOB's from "trying" to fix things on their own? Do they set up some sort of robot with tazors that floats around the place and every time one of the engineers has a "bright idea" of how he can do something "better" or why "Lynix is better" is said engineer tazed and has his undies pulled clear over his head by the robot?Life through good thoughts, good words, and good deeds is necessary to ensure happiness and to keep chaos at bay. The only thing that falls from the sky is birdshit and fools! Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Remster 24 #23 August 29, 2011 Quote "Lynix is better" For an engineer, you're pretty crap at this....Remster Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
shah269 0 #24 August 29, 2011 QuoteQuote "Lynix is better" For an engineer, you're pretty crap at this.... What spelling "Linux"? Ok how about this, whenever one of the engineers decides to "fix" something, said robot would start a discussion regarding fashion with said engineers. Maybe sprinkle in some random thoughts about astrology. That should be sufficient to cause offending engineer to either stop trying to "fix" what is not broken or......open the hatch and escape the station without a space suit! I'll be honest knowing way too many engineers and working very hard to suppress my own inner engineering compulsions it amazes me that none of these dorks have accidentally caused the station to self destruct because one of them had this bright idea of building their own dimmer switch or strobe light on the station? Do they lock up all the tools and only when there is a signal from ground control the tools are allowed to be accessed? Ok ok....how about this....so you are up there for month on end....are they allowed to download porn?Life through good thoughts, good words, and good deeds is necessary to ensure happiness and to keep chaos at bay. The only thing that falls from the sky is birdshit and fools! Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Andy9o8 0 #25 August 29, 2011 Quoteso you are up there for month on end....are they allowed to download porn? Ooh! I know that one. The ISS computers came pre-downloaded with a 10-year supply of porn. Interestingly, it was fully used up after just 19 months. Every resupply vessel carries a new supply. This will become obsolete, though, as they now film it on-board.* *Copyrights are still being negotiated. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
