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Space Poop!

Sdashiki

Sdashiki

macrumors 68040
Original poster
Aug 11, 2005
3,529
11
Behind the lens
I recall watching this docu on the new toilets for the next phase of the International Space Station.

And, regardless of its design, the thing I took away from the show was this:

The shuttle brings back all trash from the ISS and the crew, on each return flight.

My flabberghasted question is, WHY!?


We got enough garbage here on Earth, why bring Sh*t from space? Literally?

Launch it out the airlock? Is that so bad?

Why not launch it towards the sun? Id think with out big brains we could come up with a trajectory to do that.

Even IF it happened to veer into Earth, I think it would burn up before it hit land.

I dunno, I just think that the world is filled with garbage, why bring down space poop?
 
so imagine a 10 kg frozen space turd hurtling at 20k mph..... if it was dropped out of the ISS and eventually managed to make it back to Earth it would burn up as it reentered the atmosphere.

If not, it would be a 10kg frozen space turd hurtling at 20k mph that could hit anything in orbit below it and that type of collision would cause a huge amount of damage, even capable of destroying the Space Shuttle.

Shooting it to the moon or sun requires energy to break orbit (or making it go even faster that 20k mph) Where does the energy come from? And how do you apply it?

Right now its easier to return with the trash - most human waste in space is reclaimed as water so there is a significant reduction in mass. But there really isn't an easier alternative yet.

D
 
Im all for:

emptying the landfills of the world

shooting it on a giant space barge into the sun.

WOOOHOOOO RECLAIMED LAND!

like what do you do with tons of spent nuclear fuel? bury it in a mountain forever? yeah like that will work forever.

send it to the sun.

theres only a slight chance it blows up on the launchpad dooming us all.
 
This thread made me fall out of my chair.

I can imagine the headlines in 10 years "Giant Ball of Feces on a Collision Course with Earth!"

There was a Futurama episode on this.
 
You wouldn't say that if you were floating through space doing important Bond-style repair work on the space station and it splattered across your big clear visor. :p
 
Sdashiki said:
Launch it out the airlock? Is that so bad?
Click to expand...

-Sdashiki

Mir actually did this, and now we have a lot of crap (pun intended) orbiting the earth. Yes, it'll eventially reenter, but like Mr. Anderson said, intil it does, it's just another 20,000kph bullet.

And even a grain of rice at 20,000kph could fatally wound the shuttle, or the ISS.

But, not to sound like I'm on a horse or anything, I think that if properly fired in retrograde from the ISS, in a large enough package (for ground tracking purposes), reentry could be gauranteed and the ISS could get a teensy little orbital boost from it.
 
they didnt send it to the sun.

they did wat beachgoers do, drop a deuce and keep swimming the opposite direction!


Im all for sending trash to the sun or out of the solar system, not into earth orbit, thats stupid.
 
This reminds me of Joe Dirt where he finds the giant poop. "Wha-cha got there is a big-ol cold chunk-u-poopy."

I loved that movie :D

Nuc
 
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