US military prepares for plummeting spy satellite The US military is putting into effect contingency plans to deal with the possibility that a large spy satellite expected to fall to Earth in late February or early March could actually hit North America. Exactly what these contingency plans consist of is not clear at this stage - we thought perhaps a giant baseball mitt. But …
"The US has never put a nuclear reactor into space. For deep space probes where the solar intensity is too poor to use solar power, the US uses radionuclide decay powered thermoelectric generators. "
What is the actual difference between a nuclear reactor (used to generate electricity) and an generator powered by nuclear decay?
And how important is that distiction when we're worrying about what might spill out of the satellite if it lands on us?
"They continued with radioisotope generators (RTGs) on missions to the Moon (to get round the 14 day Lunar nights) and outer planets; but it's worth remembering that two American RTGs been lost when coming back to Earth..."
The Moon is tidally locked to Earth, the same side is always pointing to Earth. Where you land if its day, it'll stay day, no 14 day nights...
"The Moon is tidally locked to Earth, the same side is always pointing to Earth. Where you land if its day, it'll stay day, no 14 day nights..."
OK, I'll explain this slowly.
Imagine I'm standing in the middle of a room, with a bright light shining on me from a lamp in the corner.
You enter the room and face me, then start sidestepping around me in a circle. Is the light always on your face?
Think about it...
Think about it...
... "Dark side of the Moon" - there is only the side we can't see from Earth! Full moon = sun on the side we can see (dark (or night) on the side we can't); new moon = shadow on the side we can see (light (or day) on the side we can't). Full night at any given point on the Moon is about seven Earth days.
Because the best way to minimize damage from a falling object is to make lots and lots of falling objects!
I especially like the low yield nuke comment. Radioactive falling objects! Yay!
The ignorance in these comments is astounding.
"The Moon is tidally locked to Earth, the same side is always pointing to Earth. Where you land if its day, it'll stay day, no 14 day nights..."
Go outside every few days, and look at the moon. Keep in mind your always seeing the same side. You might notice something - its not always a full moon.
The Register 
Biting the hand that feeds IT
Copyright. All rights reserved © 1998–2024
