With the 24th local time, Russia launched a special military operation in the Donbass region, and Western countries such as the United States, Britain, Japan, and the European Union immediately launched a new round of sanctions against Russia. The Russian central bank and three commercial banks have all been dismissive of the SANCTIONS imposed on Russia by the United States and the West, but the seemingly unrelated Russian Federal Space Agency's post on social accounts has sent a different message, "If you block cooperation with us, who can stop the out-of-control fall of the International Space Station?" Dmitry Rogozin said.
Screenshot of the head of the Russian Space Agency on social media
Global Times integrated CNN and Newsweek news reported that after US President Joe Biden announced new sanctions on Thursday, Rogozin said on Twitter that the orbit and position of the International Space Station were controlled by Russian engines. As a result of sanctions against Russia, the International Space Station could de-orbit and crash somewhere on Earth. "The ISS doesn't fly over Russia, so all the risks are borne by you, are you ready," he said.
Screenshot of netizen comments
In the comment section of the news, many netizens said that "Russia is really ready to die." Are the consequences of the out-of-control fall of the International Space Station really unimaginable? The upstream editor has learned.
The orbit of the International Space Station covers most of the area of human activity
Heavens-Above is a non-profit astronomy website created and operated by Chris Pitt that queries satellite information, satellite orbital roots, satellite transit times, eclipse information, and more. Upstream Xiaobian learned through the website query that due to the rotation of the earth, the orbit of the International Space Station on the surface of the earth projection range is very wide, as of press time, the projection of the space station has passed through Australia, Western Europe and parts of South America, the North American continent will also be located below the projection of the space station at some point, it can be said that most of the human activity area is included in it.
Heavens-Above Orbit of the International Space Station
So the worst-case scenario is that the wreckage of the International Space Station is likely to crash into a densely populated area when it is out of control.
The space station is hollow and burned by the atmosphere without causing meteorite-like damage
Will the runaway Is the International Space Station like a meteorite weighing more than 400 tons, smashing into the ground at a very high speed and bringing about a huge disaster? The actual situation may not be as serious as imagined, for three reasons:
1) The hollow structure of the International Space Station simply cannot be compared with a solid meteorite, causing it to disintegrate rapidly after falling into the atmosphere.
2, the International Space Station uses most of the materials are light metals, most of the mass will be ablated in the atmosphere, only a small number of dense or high-temperature resistant parts can eventually reach the surface of the Earth.
3, the orbital speed of the International Space Station is the first cosmic speed, about 7.9 kilometers per second, in contrast, the speed of meteorites is basically more than ten kilometers per second, and the speed of some meteorites can even reach tens of kilometers per second.
International Space Station
Coupled with the light hollow structure of the International Space Station, the air resistance it encounters as it travels through the atmosphere is much greater than that of meteorites, and the terminal speed is much lower than that of meteorites.
For the above reasons, scientists believe that although the worst case scenario does pose a certain threat to humans, the degree of threat is not as high as imagined.
Jonathan McDowell, an astronomer at Harvard University who specializes in objects in and out of low-Earth orbit, gave the answer: The worst-case scenario is equivalent to a plane crashing and crashing in a densely populated area, which is bad, but not as bad as a meteorite hitting Earth.
The new export restrictions will continue to allow U.S.-Russian cooperation in the civilian space field
It is reported that the current International Space Station has four American astronauts, two Russian astronauts and one European astronaut living and working.
NASA did not respond directly to Rogozin's remarks, but it noted that NASA "continues to work with the Russian Federal Space Agency and our other international partners in Canada, Europe and Japan to maintain the safe and continuous operation of the International Space Station." ”
A NASA spokesperson told CNN that the agency "will continue to work with all international partners, including The Russian Federal Space Agency, to ensure the continued safe operation of the International Space Station." ”
"The new export restrictions will continue to allow U.S.-Russian cooperation in the civilian space field," the spokesman said. NASA's support for operations on orbit and ground stations has no changed plans. The new export restrictions will continue to allow the United States and Russia to cooperate in civilian space. ”
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International Space Station
The ISS is divided into two parts, the Russian orbital module and the United States orbital module, in cooperation with the United States, Japan, Canada and the European Space Agency.
The International Space Station, the largest space platform in orbit, is a space laboratory with modern scientific research equipment, can carry out large-scale, multidisciplinary basic and applied scientific research, jointly built, operated and used by 16 countries, is the largest, longest-consuming and most national space international cooperation project in history.
Since the official construction of the station in 1998, after more than ten years of construction, the construction task was completed in 2010 and transferred to the full use stage. The INTERNATIONAL SPACE STATION is mainly operated by NASA, the Russian Federal Space Agency, the European Space Agency, the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency, and the Canadian Space Agency.
Nemo point
While the ISS is still in orbit, it is no longer "young", and many of its infrastructure and components are showing signs of aging, so its retirement is already planned, in fact, according to NASA's announcement in early 2022, the ISS will crash in 2031. So how will the INTERNATIONAL SPACE STATION crash? Where will it fall? For these questions, scientists have already given answers.
Nemo Point was discovered in 1992 by Canadian survey engineer Lucatella. Nemo Point is the most remote site on the Earth's surface from land, located on the surface of the sea at 48°52.6′S123°23.6′W in the central South Pacific Ocean, 2688 km away from the nearest land mass. The marine environment around Nemo Point is not enough to support marine life, and only some of the bacteria on the seabed can survive. As a result, it is almost a silent Dead Sea.
But before Nemo Point was discovered and officially named, the vast ocean had long since entered the field of vision and exploited by the former Soviet Union and U.S. space agencies. In 1971, the former Soviet Union searched for a landing point for its abandoned spacecraft, and found nemo point to be the perfect "grave" of spacecraft debris. Because if the spacecraft wreckage falls into this area, its residual radiation and harmful substances will be trapped here and will not flow out, and will not pollute other places.
Since the soviet union first dropped spacecraft wreckage off Nemo Point, more than 260 spacecraft "remains" have rested here, most of which belong to Russia: more than 140 space supply ships, six Salyut space stations, and the Soviet-era Mir space station. In addition, there is a SpaceX rocket; 5 cargo ships of the European Space Agency; and 6 HTV cargo ships of Japan. The International Space Station, the most advanced man-made celestial palace currently in service, is expected to be decommissioned and controlled to fall within 10 years, and its wreckage will also fall into the sea where Nemo Point is located.
Upstream news synthesized from CCTV News Global Network China Youth Network Guangzhou Daily, etc. Pictures Xinhua News Agency, Guangzhou Daily, CFP, etc