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NASA Nearly Bombs Australia With 635kg Ammonia Tank
Posted by John Herrman at 9:39 PM on November 5, 2008
Jettisoned over a year ago and expected to reenter the Earth's atmosphere on its own time somewhere in the beginning of November, one of the ISS's retired coolant tanks has careened through the Earth's atmosphere in the skies off the coast of Australia. Two lucky things happened here: the reentry took place — and this was completely up to chance — over water, and the atmosphere broke the 635kg tank into lots of small pieces.
NASA, which "as a matter of course, [does not] throw things overboard haphazardly", threw this tank overboard haphazardly when it was deemed too volatile to carry back on one of the agency's infrequent shuttle missions. No pieces larger than 7kg are believed to have made it to the surface, but even assuming that half of the craft was vaporised upon reentry, that makes for an awful lot of smelly chunks of metal. Paul Hogan seems to have escaped injury, but alas, Steve Irwin is still dead. And so continues life in Oz. [Daily Mail]
Comments (AU Comments · US Comments)
iNoob
Posted November 6, 2008 10:32 AM
Isn't this how Zombie apocalypses start?
Geez NASA dont you watch movies.....
stab
Posted November 6, 2008 8:24 PM
And you think Paul Hogan ISN'T a zombie?
- looks like a zombie...
- 'acts' like a zombie...
- 'smells' like a zombie...
Hmmmm?
Barry99705
Posted 12:02 AM 6/11/08
Wouldn't be the first time we bombed Australia from space.
Barry99705
strider_mt2k
Posted 11:46 PM 5/11/08
Residents were warned that the fog of ammonia might actually render their windows cleaner, but advised that newspaper and "some good old elbow grease" be used for maximum effect.
strider_mt2k
winshape
Posted 12:11 AM 6/11/08
@Barry99705: If I recall, they got hit with some large chunks of Skylab.
winshape
pleasenopuffin
Posted 12:42 AM 6/11/08
Yeah, the skylab killed a bunny. The first and only time so far something was killed by falling man made space debris.
pleasenopuffin
AmishJohn
Posted 1:02 AM 6/11/08
@pleasenopuffin: We're just warming up for the crowbar testing.
AmishJohn
navvywavvy
Posted 1:26 AM 6/11/08
@pevans34: There are loads of places in Australia that I've hit it. Nobody seemed to mind.
navvywavvy
navvywavvy
Posted 1:25 AM 6/11/08
@Barry99705: And it won't be the last, my friend. It won't be the last.
navvywavvy
pevans34
Posted 1:20 AM 6/11/08
its ok, you can still hit almost anywhere in australia without it really being a big deal
pevans34
USB_Humping_Dog
Posted 1:31 AM 6/11/08
Piss on Australia. Piss on it, I say!
USB_Humping_Dog
Jrsy is the dude, playin' the dude, disguised as another dude
Posted 2:06 AM 6/11/08
"That's not a tank."
Pulls out ammonia tank.
"Now that's a tank mate!"
Jrsy is the dude, playin' the dude, disguised as another dude
Jrsy is the dude, playin' the dude, disguised as another dude
Posted 2:05 AM 6/11/08
This ammonia tank was slightly larger than a can of Fosters beer so I don't think they would have noticed.
Jrsy is the dude, playin' the dude, disguised as another dude
TBM-Fan
Posted 2:04 AM 6/11/08
If the tank can survive through all the layers of the Atmosphere and still has a big massive load when it reaches Australia then bye bye Australia it was nice that we knew you
TBM-Fan
orappa
Posted 2:21 AM 6/11/08
What we learnt?
Aim better next time so we actually hit something or some one then we can call it a real bomb
orappa
broho
Posted 2:16 AM 6/11/08
Why wouldn't they launch this stuff in the other direction ... you know into the vastness of space instead of at planet earth?
broho
uhm...Bob
Posted 2:48 AM 6/11/08
What, no vid?!??!
uhm...Bob
AmishJohn
Posted 2:32 AM 6/11/08
@broho: A little thing called gravity. Perhaps you've heard of it?
AmishJohn
Log1c
Posted 2:53 AM 6/11/08
Fucking kangaroos...
Log1c
mfusion
Posted 4:04 AM 6/11/08
"as a matter of course, [does not] throw things overboard haphazardly"
that was almost as funny as the onion news clip
mfusion
m4ximusprim3
Posted 3:58 AM 6/11/08
@pleasenopuffin: "Yeah, the skylab killed a bunny. The first and only time so far something was killed by falling man made space debris."
that we know about. just sayin...
m4ximusprim3
phor11
Posted 3:52 AM 6/11/08
So when can we expect mutant sharks to start attacking people in australia?
phor11
GadgetPlay
Posted 4:59 AM 6/11/08
Mmmm.....Fosters.
I hope Steve Irwin is still dead. What would be more frightening than a Zombie Crocodile Hunter? Crikey!
GadgetPlay
GadgetPlay
Posted 4:55 AM 6/11/08
@AmishJohn: Apparently not.
GadgetPlay
aerospaceman
Posted 5:33 AM 6/11/08
@broho:
unless you strap a big ass rocket on it, any item you throw out in space is likely to either crash on earth, or end up on a slightly different orbit.
aerospaceman
aelver
Posted 6:44 AM 6/11/08
Wish it was more ... one way to clean up those filthy criminals!
aelver
ekow2kn3
Posted 7:14 AM 6/11/08
Isn't this what happened in cloverfield?
ekow2kn3
Hyman Decent
Posted 7:08 AM 6/11/08
@Barry99705: I remember radioactive debris from a Soviet satellite landed in Canada once. Edge: Russkies!
Hyman Decent
infmom
Posted 7:07 AM 6/11/08
First Skylab, now this. Way to go NASA.
infmom
broho
Posted 9:41 AM 6/11/08
@aerospaceman: It's called a giant ass slingshot and I'm disappointed that NASA didn't think of it sooner. And IMHO "end up on a slightly different orbit" is better than "smash into the Earth at 100mph".
broho
broho
Posted 9:56 AM 6/11/08
@AmishJohn: I've also heard of something called an escape velocity ... look it up.
broho
taodude
Posted 10:09 AM 6/11/08
@broho: If it's in a low earth orbit, it's gonna come down sooner or later. Changing the orbit ain't gonna help.
taodude
FiveLiters
Posted 11:16 AM 6/11/08
Missed it by....that much!
FiveLiters
Comrade GadgetPlay, Fellow Traveler
Posted 1:42 PM 6/11/08
@FiveLiters: That's what they'd like you to believe!
Comrade GadgetPlay, Fellow Traveler
Maxwell's Nylon Hammer
Posted 12:40 AM 7/11/08
@Jrsy is the dude, playin' the dude, disguised as another du...: We export Fosters mate, no one here drinks that rubbish.
Maxwell's Nylon Hammer
Maxwell's Nylon Hammer
Posted 12:39 AM 7/11/08
This is an American blog, which cites a British newspaper as its source. You'd think we here in Oz may have heard about it from our media, but no.
> crickets <
Maxwell's Nylon Hammer
stre
Posted 6:57 AM 7/11/08
@stre: daggum it. there is drag in space.
stre
stre
Posted 6:56 AM 7/11/08
@broho: really, can you hurl anything at escape velocity even in low earth orbit? they're not going to strap a rocket to it, and even if it ended up "on a lsightly different orbit", it would eventually fall anyway.
NOTE TO BROHO: there is drab in space (albeit very small) and everything will eventually slow and fall to earth. it's physics.
stre
kyot
Posted 10:14 PM 7/11/08
as long as you don't litter the coral reef, it's ok.
left Oz for HK for around 10 years already. sure miss the clear starry sky there.
kyot
broho
Posted 8:00 AM 11/11/08
@stre: "there is drab in space (albeit very small) and everything will eventually slow and fall to earth. it's physics."
NOTE TO STRE: Not 'everything' in space will eventually slow and fall to earth. Pretty sure the gravitational pull of the Earth isn't quite that strong. Unless someday Dubai collapses in on itself and creates an uber-blackhole. Maybe you can explain the physics for me?
broho