Allemande
12-05-2005, 23:10
This is a spinoff from "Ad Astra (http://forums.jolt.co.uk/showthread.php?t=411882)", a thread documenting Allemande's efforts to become a spacefaring nation. In that thread, Allemande launched a space station (Vesta I) which didn't deploy properly due to electrical systems failure. A crew of astronauts attempted to repair the faulty space station six months later; that didn't work. A second space station was under construction, however (well, actually a second set of modules, designed to be added to the first but also flyable as a backup to the first station, should it fail to reach orbit); this was launched successfully and docked to the first station.
Over the next several months, five crews came and went, gradually stripping the faulty station module of anything useful that could be taken. Finally, the old station was ordered to separate from the new one, preparatory to its controlled destruction through re-entry over empty ocean.
It didn't.
Another crew went up and managed to get the old station undocked. But after moving the hulk to a lower orbit, the attempt to de-orbit it in controlled fashion failed. This left the station in an unstable orbit, one that would gradually decay and bring the hulk down ... somewhere.
As of this moment, the thing is still flying. There's about a 20% chance per day that it will come down, which means that Allemande could still get to it and execute a controlled de-orbit maneuver - but no one should count on that.
So where will it land? Who knows... I've got a random function to determine when, where, and in how many pieces (and even how big those pieces will be). So I'll be as surprised as anybody else...
___________
"Exactly how large is Vesta I?" asked a reporter.
"Upwards of 75,000kg," answered Samantha Arnaud, Secretary of Transportation. "Of course, it will break up into many smaller pieces, and much of it will burn up in the atmosphere, so the total mass of debris reaching the ground will be much, much lower."
"How much lower?" asked another reporter.
Secretary Arnaud hesitated. "That's currently impossible to say."
"Do we know where it will land?" piped up yet another journalist.
"No we do not, and we don't know when, either. It could be this year, or next, or a few years down the road. We just can't say at this point," sighed Ms. Arnaud.
"Any thought of shooting it down?" offered another correspondent.
"No," said the Secretary of Transportation sharply. "That might not help matters any, so no - we're not planning to do that."
Over the next several months, five crews came and went, gradually stripping the faulty station module of anything useful that could be taken. Finally, the old station was ordered to separate from the new one, preparatory to its controlled destruction through re-entry over empty ocean.
It didn't.
Another crew went up and managed to get the old station undocked. But after moving the hulk to a lower orbit, the attempt to de-orbit it in controlled fashion failed. This left the station in an unstable orbit, one that would gradually decay and bring the hulk down ... somewhere.
As of this moment, the thing is still flying. There's about a 20% chance per day that it will come down, which means that Allemande could still get to it and execute a controlled de-orbit maneuver - but no one should count on that.
So where will it land? Who knows... I've got a random function to determine when, where, and in how many pieces (and even how big those pieces will be). So I'll be as surprised as anybody else...
___________
"Exactly how large is Vesta I?" asked a reporter.
"Upwards of 75,000kg," answered Samantha Arnaud, Secretary of Transportation. "Of course, it will break up into many smaller pieces, and much of it will burn up in the atmosphere, so the total mass of debris reaching the ground will be much, much lower."
"How much lower?" asked another reporter.
Secretary Arnaud hesitated. "That's currently impossible to say."
"Do we know where it will land?" piped up yet another journalist.
"No we do not, and we don't know when, either. It could be this year, or next, or a few years down the road. We just can't say at this point," sighed Ms. Arnaud.
"Any thought of shooting it down?" offered another correspondent.
"No," said the Secretary of Transportation sharply. "That might not help matters any, so no - we're not planning to do that."