Mir Space Station Coming Down
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US shares secrets to stop Mir disaster
Tony Allen-Mills, Cheyenne Mountain, Colorado
London Sonday Times
INSIDE a granite bunker 2,000ft deep in the Rocky Mountains, Major Scott Edwards and his number-crunching crew of military rocket scientists are preparing for a Russian funeral.
In a startling epilogue to four decades of cold-war space-racing, some of America's most sophisticated and sensitive military expertise is being placed in the hands of Russian scientists struggling to control the death throes of the Mir space station, which is about to become the largest man-made orbiter ever to fall back to Earth.
In the bomb-proof, quake-proof underground complex that houses the American military's high-tech missile warning and space command centres, American computers are maintaining a round-the-clock watch on a 140-tonne lump of Russian space junk that could plunge through the atmosphere towards the South Pacific as early as next Sunday.
The long-delayed demise of a 15-year-old prestige Russian project is posing unusual problems for the hard-pressed Moscow scientists fighting to steer their notoriously unstable craft to a safe re-entry position. It also represents a dilemma for American military observers, who are keen to help in a unique technological challenge, but who are also wary of the legal and political fallout should Mir's de-orbit go horribly wrong.
"This isn't an exact science, it's very much an art form," said Colonel Norm Black of the US Space Command, as he described the intricate process of controlling Mir's final fiery plunge from an orbit 155 miles above Earth.
Moscow's mission control is hoping for a trouble-free Pacific splashdown somewhere between Australia and Chile - but it took out a $200m (
Tony Allen-Mills, Cheyenne Mountain, Colorado
London Sonday Times
INSIDE a granite bunker 2,000ft deep in the Rocky Mountains, Major Scott Edwards and his number-crunching crew of military rocket scientists are preparing for a Russian funeral.
In a startling epilogue to four decades of cold-war space-racing, some of America's most sophisticated and sensitive military expertise is being placed in the hands of Russian scientists struggling to control the death throes of the Mir space station, which is about to become the largest man-made orbiter ever to fall back to Earth.
In the bomb-proof, quake-proof underground complex that houses the American military's high-tech missile warning and space command centres, American computers are maintaining a round-the-clock watch on a 140-tonne lump of Russian space junk that could plunge through the atmosphere towards the South Pacific as early as next Sunday.
The long-delayed demise of a 15-year-old prestige Russian project is posing unusual problems for the hard-pressed Moscow scientists fighting to steer their notoriously unstable craft to a safe re-entry position. It also represents a dilemma for American military observers, who are keen to help in a unique technological challenge, but who are also wary of the legal and political fallout should Mir's de-orbit go horribly wrong.
"This isn't an exact science, it's very much an art form," said Colonel Norm Black of the US Space Command, as he described the intricate process of controlling Mir's final fiery plunge from an orbit 155 miles above Earth.
Moscow's mission control is hoping for a trouble-free Pacific splashdown somewhere between Australia and Chile - but it took out a $200m (
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Australians will get only a 30-minute warning if the Mir goes off course:
From "The Guardian Unlimited"
Next weekend, more than the usual number of Australians may look up towards the heavens and utter a quiet prayer. The long-delayed final descent of the dilapidated Russian space station Mir is now due to begin between March 17-23 and, although Australia lies 3,000 miles east of Mir's planned resting place in the middle of the South Pacific ocean, the country is anxious.
Since the departure of the final astronauts from the 135-tonne space station in June last year, atmospheric drag and gravity has gradually been pulling the 15 year-old Mir back to earth. Each day it falls another 2km.
Russian officials have mapped out its controlled descent, with engineers igniting fuel rockets on the station when Mir reaches 220km from earth, to slow its fall. Mir was not built to withstand re-entry into the atmosphere and 90% of the station is expected to burn up as it travels high above Asia.
Russian officials say there is only a one in 33 chance that Mir will veer off course and estimate the likelihood of it smashing down on Sydney or any other city in the southern hemisphere to be a pretty slim 0.02%.
But Russia admits that 1500 fragments, with four or five the size of a small car, could survive re-entry. While Mir's plotted descent sees these raining down on the empty expanse of the Pacific ocean, if the larger chunks hit land they would have an impact equivalent to a medium sized passenger jet.
Emergency Management Australia (EMA), a division of the department of defence, last week revealed its four-month preparations for Mir's descent. All the country's emergency services have been briefed, and airlines and ships in the region are monitoring the situation.
While EMA expressed its confidence in Russian scientists, if the station veers off course towards Australia people will have less than 30 minutes warning that Mir is heading for their backyard. Not entirely reassuringly, the media will apparently be asked to spread the word, while officials have warned curious people not to touch any smouldering lumps of space junk which they may find embedded in their lawn.
Science is reassuring, but history is less so. Mir has long been troubled by problems. It has suffered around 1500 computer glitches during its lifetime. A series of faults with its oxygen and air purification systems in 1997 culminated in a Russian supply ship smacking into the side of the station and nearly destroying it. In July 1997, a hapless Russian astronaut accidentally unplugged the main computer. Most worryingly of all, Russia lost contact with the station for 24 hours in December last year.
Australia has also been at the sharp end of other botched space dumpings. In 1979 the USA managed to misguide its Skylab station down onto the empty plains of Western Australia. No one was injured.
The country is surprisingly stoic about its role as a helpless accessory in the superpowers' space - and nuclear - race. Nuclear bombs have been detonated on its deserts and, like Britain, the Australian government displays a lemming-like willingness for the US to use its spy stations for the National Missile Defence programme.
Other countries have also suffered from the scrapping of space projects. Canada was on the receiving end of a Soviet satellite in 1978. In 1991, a 40-tonne Russian space station, Salyut 7, fell down onto Argentina, and five years later the plutonium-bearing Russian Mars probe splashed into the sea perilously near Chile.
These incidents are, however, just a drop in the ocean. Around 9,000 man-made objects are currently orbiting earth. One third of these are respectable satellites, but the other are more maverick pieces of metal, from tennis ball-sized lumps of metal to large spent rocket fuel capsules. On average, one piece of junk re-enters the atmosphere every day. Most, luckily, burn up.
If Australia's bit-part role in the final minutes of Mir doesn't materialise, spare a thought for the South Pacific, the designated graveyard for much of the hard rain of nuts and bolts from space missions. If bits of hot metal don't hit Fiji, Tonga, Western Samoa, New Caledonia and many of the other islands at the bottom of this space wastebin, they could yet menace marine life when they splash down into the "empty" seas.
From "The Guardian Unlimited"
Next weekend, more than the usual number of Australians may look up towards the heavens and utter a quiet prayer. The long-delayed final descent of the dilapidated Russian space station Mir is now due to begin between March 17-23 and, although Australia lies 3,000 miles east of Mir's planned resting place in the middle of the South Pacific ocean, the country is anxious.
Since the departure of the final astronauts from the 135-tonne space station in June last year, atmospheric drag and gravity has gradually been pulling the 15 year-old Mir back to earth. Each day it falls another 2km.
Russian officials have mapped out its controlled descent, with engineers igniting fuel rockets on the station when Mir reaches 220km from earth, to slow its fall. Mir was not built to withstand re-entry into the atmosphere and 90% of the station is expected to burn up as it travels high above Asia.
Russian officials say there is only a one in 33 chance that Mir will veer off course and estimate the likelihood of it smashing down on Sydney or any other city in the southern hemisphere to be a pretty slim 0.02%.
But Russia admits that 1500 fragments, with four or five the size of a small car, could survive re-entry. While Mir's plotted descent sees these raining down on the empty expanse of the Pacific ocean, if the larger chunks hit land they would have an impact equivalent to a medium sized passenger jet.
Emergency Management Australia (EMA), a division of the department of defence, last week revealed its four-month preparations for Mir's descent. All the country's emergency services have been briefed, and airlines and ships in the region are monitoring the situation.
While EMA expressed its confidence in Russian scientists, if the station veers off course towards Australia people will have less than 30 minutes warning that Mir is heading for their backyard. Not entirely reassuringly, the media will apparently be asked to spread the word, while officials have warned curious people not to touch any smouldering lumps of space junk which they may find embedded in their lawn.
Science is reassuring, but history is less so. Mir has long been troubled by problems. It has suffered around 1500 computer glitches during its lifetime. A series of faults with its oxygen and air purification systems in 1997 culminated in a Russian supply ship smacking into the side of the station and nearly destroying it. In July 1997, a hapless Russian astronaut accidentally unplugged the main computer. Most worryingly of all, Russia lost contact with the station for 24 hours in December last year.
Australia has also been at the sharp end of other botched space dumpings. In 1979 the USA managed to misguide its Skylab station down onto the empty plains of Western Australia. No one was injured.
The country is surprisingly stoic about its role as a helpless accessory in the superpowers' space - and nuclear - race. Nuclear bombs have been detonated on its deserts and, like Britain, the Australian government displays a lemming-like willingness for the US to use its spy stations for the National Missile Defence programme.
Other countries have also suffered from the scrapping of space projects. Canada was on the receiving end of a Soviet satellite in 1978. In 1991, a 40-tonne Russian space station, Salyut 7, fell down onto Argentina, and five years later the plutonium-bearing Russian Mars probe splashed into the sea perilously near Chile.
These incidents are, however, just a drop in the ocean. Around 9,000 man-made objects are currently orbiting earth. One third of these are respectable satellites, but the other are more maverick pieces of metal, from tennis ball-sized lumps of metal to large spent rocket fuel capsules. On average, one piece of junk re-enters the atmosphere every day. Most, luckily, burn up.
If Australia's bit-part role in the final minutes of Mir doesn't materialise, spare a thought for the South Pacific, the designated graveyard for much of the hard rain of nuts and bolts from space missions. If bits of hot metal don't hit Fiji, Tonga, Western Samoa, New Caledonia and many of the other islands at the bottom of this space wastebin, they could yet menace marine life when they splash down into the "empty" seas.
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Don't forget to DUCK, mate 
Originally posted by AusS2000
This country was built on the motto of "She'll be right".
So, anyone wanna buy some space junk. I'm expecting a new shipment in the next week or so
This country was built on the motto of "She'll be right".
So, anyone wanna buy some space junk. I'm expecting a new shipment in the next week or so
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Brings to mine the Yahoo! commercial where the guy in an unhabitated part of Australia has to buy alot of pillows to cover the top of his trailer home so that the falling sattelite wouldn't damage his home.
Get them before it's too late
Get them before it's too late
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Taiwan man commits suicide due to Mir suspense
A Taiwanese depressive has committed suicide because he couldn't cope with the suspense of where the Mir space station might crash.
The emotional state of Su Chun-min is said to have worsened with worries over Mir's splashdown.
Reports say he doused himself with fuel before setting himself alight in front of his grandfather's grave.
The space station is expected to splash down at 06.30 GMT, somewhere in the South Pacific between New Zealand and Chile.
The central Taiwanese city of Taichung has put its fire department on a rapid-response setting to handle emergencies which might happen if Mir debris strikes the city.
A Taiwanese depressive has committed suicide because he couldn't cope with the suspense of where the Mir space station might crash.
The emotional state of Su Chun-min is said to have worsened with worries over Mir's splashdown.
Reports say he doused himself with fuel before setting himself alight in front of his grandfather's grave.
The space station is expected to splash down at 06.30 GMT, somewhere in the South Pacific between New Zealand and Chile.
The central Taiwanese city of Taichung has put its fire department on a rapid-response setting to handle emergencies which might happen if Mir debris strikes the city.