Trumpet Number Two
International Space Station
Introducing the International Space station (ISS)
Anything that is 91 kilometres approximately above the Earth is considered space. The ISS is not on the outside of the firmament. It is inside as the word mountain in the Strong’s Concordance suggests (rising in the air).
When watching videos from the ISS sometimes you can see its shadow on the clouds and ground below. A lady by the name of Mary Hall[1] posts videos from the ISS video feed to youtube frequently. [2]
The cessation of use of the ISS. The latest report is January 2031.[3]
By science reporter Belinda Smith, Posted Mon 7 Feb 2022 at 5:30am
The International Space Station has put in the Ks: it travels at 7.7 kilometres every second and has done so since 1998.(Supplied: NASA)
The clock is ticking for the International Space Station, with NASA last week declaring plans to let it plummet back to Earth in 2031.
The iconic piece of space infrastructure will be nudged out of its orbit and eventually meet its watery demise when it plunges into the ocean and smashes into smithereens.
That day will mark the end of 32 years of space station construction, experiments, photography and — since November 2000 — continuous human habitation, all while hurtling around the planet once every 90 minutes or so.
On New Year’s Eve, NASA extended the space station’s operations from 2024 to 2030.
Given the space station’s decades of international cooperation — not to mention the cash needed to get it up and running (it’s the most expensive object ever built) — why will it be dragged down and destroyed?
And once it’s gone, what will take its place?
Why is the ISS being retired?
The space station’s international focus has been a “wonderful thing in many ways”, says Duncan Steel, a space scientist at Xerra Earth Observation Institute in New Zealand.
The US and Russia announced plans to build it together in 1993, and Japanese, Canadian and European space agencies signed on later.
The first segment of the space station, the Zarya Control Module, launched aboard a Russian Proton rocket from Baikonur Cosmodrome, Kazakhstan in 1998.
Tonnes of parts have been added, removed and replaced over the years since.
“But,” Dr Steel says, “it was never the idea that the space station would be permanent.”
This is partly because, quite simply, it’s wearing out.
It’s not just humans living on board. Bacteria, fungi and other microbes survive and thrive there too.
“Imagine living in a caravan, and you couldn’t open the windows, but you have to keep it clean,” Dr Steel says.
“There’s colonies of bacteria inside the space station which we don’t necessarily see, but you could expect to cause all sorts of problems.
“When there’s so much recycled air … it can get into the electronics and so on.”
The outer surfaces are becoming worn too.
The space station orbits about 400km above Earth’s surface.
Any objects below about 500km naturally fall back to Earth, so the space station is regularly boosted up to counter this effect.
This means there’s not too much in the way of space junk in the space station’s path.
But what is plentiful at 400km up is oxygen atoms. They comprise about 96 per cent of the atmosphere in low-Earth orbit.
“Oxygen atoms are very strongly oxidising, and the space station is flying around 7.8km per second through this very tenuous atmosphere of oxygen atoms,” Dr Steel said.
“And that’s actually corroding the outside.”
Docking and undocking of vehicles ferrying supplies and people to and fro can put strain on the space station’s structure, and various cracks and leaks have been patched up over the years.
The constant maintenance and upkeep needed to keep the station in working order and support inhabitants is expensive, so doing away with the space station will save plenty of cash.
For instance, NASA estimates savings “to be approximately $1.3 billion in 2031, ramping up to $1.8 billion by 2033”, which is money that could be put towards efforts “to explore further and faster into deep space”.
How will the ISS come down and where will it land?
The space station’s descent won’t be a random tumble back to Earth.
Once the space station is emptied and stripped of whatever needs to be saved, operators on the ground will control its descent using thrusters, gradually putting it on course for its eventual crash.
Its final resting place will be submerged in a patch of water dubbed the spacecraft cemetery (more formally called the South Pacific Oceanic Uninhabited Area).
The space station’s final resting place will be around 2,700km from any land. (Google Maps)
Hundreds of spacecraft have plopped in this zone, which is the furthest location from any land.
January 2031 is roughly when it will all kick off, but exactly when the operators will begin their descent manoeuvres is still up in the air.
If the denser lower atmosphere puffs up past 400km, the space station must deal with more drag, and it drops faster.
“This causes objects to re-enter the atmosphere and the space station is especially prone to that,” Dr Steel said.
End of article.
The “space” station is routinely refuelled to maintain its orbit. The Solar panels are to provide power for the crew and the electrical equipment.
Reading from the above article I think of the acumens some have alleged NASA stands for. Just to name two NASA stands for “Never a straight answer” or “Not a Space Agency”.
Why the International Space Station will crash down into the Pacific Ocean’s ‘spacecraft graveyard’[1]
By Marian Faa and Edwina Seselja
Posted Sat 12 Feb 2022 at 5:31amSaturday 12 Feb 2022 at 5:31am, updated Mon 14 Feb 2022 at 10:45am.
The International Space Station (ISS) will join hundreds of articles of space junk littered across the ocean floor in the Pacific when it is deorbited from space in 2031, renewing concerns about the environmental impact of the region’s “spacecraft graveyard”.
Key points:
- The ISS will crash at Point Nemo (spelt backwards is Omen) in the Pacific Ocean, an artificial reef made up of hundreds of deorbited spacecraft
- Bringing spacecraft down can result in toxic fuel leaking into the ocean
- Experts say it is the safest option, despite the environmental impact
NASA announced that the ISS will fall from space to its final resting place at Point Nemo in the South Pacific Ocean, to lay among about 300 spacecraft including Russia’s Mir space station and China’s Tiangong-1 space station.
Dr Brad Tucker is an astronomer at the Mount Stromlo Observatory in Canberra and said as the largest spacecraft to ever be deorbited, a controlled re-entry into the South Pacific was critical to bring the ISS back safely.
End of Article
The Bible indicates it will come down in a manner anything but safely. Which leads to ominous questions as the Bible indicates many creatures God created will be killed and one third of the ships destroyed.
Now at last we a date possibly. A month and a Year –
January 2031
[1] https://www.abc.net.au/news/2022-02-12/spacecraft-graveyard-pacific-ocean-environmental-concerns/100817404#:~:text=NASA%20announced%20that%20the%20ISS,China’s%20Tiangong%2D1%20space%20station.
[1] https://www.youtube.com/c/MaryHall/videos
[2] https://www.space.com/16748-international-space-station.html
[3] https://www.abc.net.au/news/science/2022-02-07/international- space-station-deorbit-retire-spacecraft-cemetery/100802664#:~:text=The%20clock%20is%20ticking%20for,ocean%20and%20smashes%20into%20smithereens.