risks of space exploration. brainstorm: suppose you decide to enroll into nasa’s astronaut...
TRANSCRIPT
Brainstorm: Suppose you decide to enroll into NASA’s astronaut
program. What risks do you face when travelling to “outer space”?
Challenger disaster Columbia disaster - 2003
Running out of fuel Is calculated to the mL! – why?
Hitting a meteroid or other debrisUV/Solar radiation
Kills organ cells and damages bone marrow
Can burn up electronic circuits on board
Entering Earth’s atmosphere at correct angle Too shallow – bounce back into
atmosphere Too steep – can burn up
All the pieces of debris from rockets, satellites, space shuttles, probes, and space stations that remains in space
Ex. flecks of paint, bolt, satelliteTravels at 20 000m/s!
How to remove space junk -articlehttp://news.discovery.com/space/
cubesails-to-drag-space-junk-from-orbit.html
Vanguard I – launched by US in 1958, is the oldest space debris -located in MEO; lost contact in 1964 and will remain orbitting Earth for 240 years….until 2204!
Canadarm (1981) – launches and retrieves satellites Help fix Hubble Space Telescope Added modules on International Space
Station Can grasp objects, bend like an elbow
and move around the Space Station
Remote Manipulator System Docks space shuttle Moves around parts of shuttle
Mobile Base System Travels along a rail system to move
Dexterous Manipulator Two-armed robotic hand for assembly
work
1962- Alouette I1972 – Anik I
Gave satellite communications for the 1st time
1984 – first Canadian in space was Marc Garneau
1992 – Roberta Bondar was first Canadian female
Pro’s Improves life on Earth Determine ways of capturing solar
energy (solve energy crisis)Cons
Money could be going to stop hunder, pollution, poverty, disease
“ Who decides who owns space? Does Canada, USA, Russia, China? Who gets the resources (like energy sources) that are found in space?”
Who has to clean up the space junk? Who is responsible for protecting space environments from alteration?”