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richb01803
Rich
join:2001-02-14
02100 | Re: Interesting...but do we have the space? I think there are something like 100,000 pieces of space junk and/or operational satellites tracked in one of the NASA databases.
Adding a few hundred more amateur satellites might add to the dangers of collision, but not by much. | |
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Lingus
U.S. Navy AE3
Premium
join:2001-10-04
Greensburg, PA
clubs:
| Re: Interesting...but do we have the space? Dangers of Collision?
Don't be silly. They are in SPACE for crying out loud! Do you know how much SPACE there is in SPACE! The possibility of a satellite colliding with another satellite is practically zero. Think about this, in order to get two satellites to actually collide with one another you would probably have to do some serious planning and calculations first. 
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PARENTAL ADVISORY! Don't let your kids read what I say! | |
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Lingus
U.S. Navy AE3
Premium
join:2001-10-04
Greensburg, PA
clubs:
| Re: Interesting...but do we have the space? What is Junk to you?
To me this whole planet, the moon, the sun, the comets, the asteroids, and even the astronauts own urine is all the same as space junk. Just because there is a couple of nuts in bolts in SPACE seems like no harm to me. Nah, to me I would be more worried about the sun's radiation first. Second the effects of a vacuum. See I don't share any negative feelings towards any human created "JUNK" that we put into SPACE. If you think about it, that metal in that bolt has always existed in SPACE it just was in another form in the core of the earth. So I say relax. Another big bang will eventually come along in blast us all into some other form of matter and the cycle will continue.
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PARENTAL ADVISORY! Don't let your kids read what I say! | |
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Karl Bode
News Guy
join:2000-03-02 | Re: Interesting...but do we have the space? At 28,000 kilometres per hour, a single particle of dust has enough power to shatter the hull.
I'm sure engineers appreciate your suggestion of relaxing, but to avoid DEATH, they have to track every bit... | |
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Lingus
U.S. Navy AE3
Premium
join:2001-10-04
Greensburg, PA
clubs:
| Re: Interesting...but do we have the space? I understand they must track it, but hey when your crazy enough to go into space well thats the chance you take. Another thing if a piece of space junk lands on me, please please, make sure you have my body stuffed and mounted on a wall in the smithsonian with a sign that says "This A**hole got hit by a piece of space junk isn't he lucky!" Make sure you put a big smile on my face too like I just won the lottery if possible.
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PARENTAL ADVISORY! Don't let your kids read what I say! | |
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KrK
Heavy Artillery For The Little Guy
Premium
join:2000-01-17
Tulsa, OK
 ·Cox HSI
 ·AT&T Southwest
| The problem is simple. We've got all kinds of junk in earth orbit... much of it unintentional and too small to be tracked. It's really been a miracle at this point that nobody has been killed by space debris collision. Satellites have died from it. The problem is simple physics... you have a small object, which has very little mass, let's say it's a screw the size of one of the screws which holds PC slot covers on.... Now, it's in Earth orbit, so it's circling the earth at thousands of miles per hour.... and it's too small to track.
So, along comes XYZ company, and they launch their new multi-billion dollar communication satellite into earth orbit... unfortunately that orbit has a intersection with the aforementioned screw. When that screw hits it, well, for comparison, imagine what would happen to your car if it was hit by a tank shell. You get the idea.... and the collision itself would release numerous MORE debris.
SPACE itself may be massive..... But the space around the Earth isn't, and that's where 99.9% of the junk goes. | |
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rchandra
Stargate S G-1 And Atlantis Fan
Premium
join:2000-11-09
14225-2105
clubs:
| Re: Interesting...but do we have the space? one little note I'd like to add to this discussion: space may be expansive, but there are practical limits too. Signal strength varies inversely with the square of distance, if I recall my physics correctly. Sure, you can orbit a satellite at a distance greater than the moon, but what kind of power are you going to need to reach it? And what kind of power will be needed to get back, which will affect the size/bulk of this satellite? And what kind of RTT delays are you willing to tolerate?
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English is a difficult enough language to interpret correctly when its rules are followed, let alone when a writer doesn't follow those rules. | |
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Eatmeingreek
Gentard
join:2001-06-29
San Francisco, CA
| Re: Interesting...but do we have the space? There are only two zones in Earth orbit where space junk is a concern. LEO (Low Earth Orbit) which is at about 100 miles up, and Geosynchronous
orbit.
Lingus is right in that there is a whole lot of room up there, even in Earth orbit. Also, the vast majority of space junk would burn up in the atmosphere if it were ever to re-enter, so it doesn't really pose a hazard (there are exceptions) to humans on the ground.
The problem is that LEO and Geosynchronous are getting kind crowded after 50-odd years of space launches. A collision in Geosynchronous means an expensive satellite bites the dust. A collision in LEO can mean dead astronauts.
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Honey, the fairies are going to drive me to drink - My brother. | |
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| clecssuck
join:2002-01-23
Birmingham, AL | I was amazed when I read this until I thought about the space issue as well...we don't need a junk yard floating above us. What goes up must come down
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Eatmeingreek
Gentard
join:2001-06-29
San Francisco, CA
| Re: Interesting...but do we have the space? said by clecssuck:
What goes up must come down
Yeah, but most will burn up on reentry. Only really big things survive re-entry without shielding. And considering how expensive launch costs are, we don't have to worry about the public at large launching really big stuff. (Like say, a Datsun, for example.)
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Honey, the fairies are going to drive me to drink - My brother. | |
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djrobx
join:2000-05-31
Valencia, CA | Pictures? It is a neat story. It's too bad they didn't have a picture of it!
-- Rob | |
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buckbu
join:2001-12-27
Owings Mills, MD | Competition for Hughes/DPC? It looks like Petdude (Sat forum moderator) and some middies are trying to give DirecPC some competition...any FAP on this bird?
--buckbu
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djrobx
join:2000-05-31
Valencia, CA | Re: Competition for Hughes/DPC? "We hope you will adhere to the User Service Agreement (1 packet per 2 minutes maximum for now) so that as many people as possible get to operate via PCsat reliably. " | |
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kilingspam
join:2001-04-30
San Jose, CA |  I am willing to donate!
Any takers? =o)
The jackstands holding it up are included!!! | |
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nc1165
join:2001-04-10
Delray Beach, FL
| Re: I am willing to donate! said by kilingspam:
I have my Old Datsun 210 in the driveway I am willing to donate to be launched into orbit.
Any takers? =o)
The jackstands holding it up are included!!!
I'd pay just to see it burn on re-entry. Sell raffle tickets to try and pick where it hits.
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If my enemy cuts me, I will drown him in my own blood. | |
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depster
join:2001-06-07
Grand Rapids, MI | Re: I am willing to donate! Or we could put a target out in the middle of the ocean.  | |
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| | wtansill
Ncc1701
join:2000-10-10
Falls Church, VA
| said by nc1165:
I'd pay just to see it burn on re-entry. Sell raffle tickets to try and pick where it hits.
Nah -- get the guy who used Liquid Oxygen to fire his charcoal grill to come out and light up the Datsun. The resulting bonfire should be sufficient for a neighborhood weenie roast... <g>
»ghg.ecn.purdue.edu/~ghg/ | |
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Eatmeingreek
Gentard
join:2001-06-29
San Francisco, CA
| Well, it costs about $10,000 per pound to put things in orbit. It would cost about $20,200,000 to launch your Datsun 210.
That's enough to pay for an OC-3 to my house for the next 21 years.
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Honey, the fairies are going to drive me to drink - My brother.
[text was edited by author 2002-01-23 16:51:09] | |
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InitZero
@92.pinehills-u
| Re: I guess I have to try it Sending packets through PCSat is fairly easy. You can hit
it with less than five watts of power from a hand held radio
with a stock 'rubber duck' antenna. I've sent more than a
dozen packets through it.
To see everyone who has passes packets through the
satellite, along with their location and any messages
they might have sent, visit... »www.findu.com/cgi-bin/pcsat.cgi
(Netscape is better that IE for this page).
All it takes to use this satellite is a ham license (very
easy to get if you know anything about electronics) and a
low-end two-meter (144-148mHz) radio (easily under $200 --
less if used).
InitZero | |
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| nezbrun
join:2002-01-24
UK
| If a licensed amateur, you can communicate with PCSat (and several other amateur satellites) using equipment as basic as commercially available digital walkie-talkies.
You send and receive messages similarly to SMS. PCSat even has internet e-mail gateways so you can still be on-line in the middle of nowhere.
No, PCSat will not deliver megabits of bandwidth! That's not what it's designed for. So Hughes Corp are safe!
So think of it like you would SMS. The differences are that it works where your cellphone won't, and that the protocol used is a broadcast protocol rather than point-to-point.
Howard Long [G6LVB - PCSat European Command Station] | |
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Interesting...but do we have the space?
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I guess I have to try it