Posted on 03/08/2024 11:29:46 AM PST by Red Badger
"Luminous phenomena or the perception of a sonic boom are possible."
The International Space Station jettisons a 2.9-ton pallet carrying used batteries on March 11, 2021. This photo was posted on Twitter by NASA astronaut Mike Hopkins (Image credit: NASA/Mike Hopkins via Twitter)
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A nearly 3-ton leftover tossed overboard from the International Space Station is nearing its plunge toward Earth.
The multi-ton Exposed Pallet 9 (EP9) was jettisoned from the space station back in March 2021. At the time, it was reported to be the most massive object ever tossed overboard from the International Space Station. Disposing of used or unnecessary equipment in such a way is common practice aboard the space station, as the objects typically burn up harmlessly in Earth's atmosphere.
Ahead of EP9's reentry, the Federal Office for Civil Protection and Disaster Relief, National Warning Center 1 in Bonn, Germany issued this information:
"Between midday on March 8 and midday on March 9, a larger space object is expected to re-enter the Earth's atmosphere and possibly fragment," the translated statement explains. "The object is battery packs from the International Space Station (ISS). Luminous phenomena or the perception of a sonic boom are possible."
The post from the warning center explains that "the probability of debris hitting Germany is considered to be very low. If the risk increases, you will receive new information."
According to a social media post by astronomer Jonathan McDowell of the Harvard–Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics, the battery should reenter between 7:30 a.m. ET (1230 GMT) on March 9 and 3:30 a.m. ET (0830 UTC) on March 9.
Germany's Federal Office for Civil Protection and Disaster Relief issued a map showing possible tracks of reentry for the battery pallet.
Ahead of its expected re-entry, satellite tracker Marco Langbroek caught a glimpse of the battery as it passed over the Netherlands, posting a video of it to X (formerly Twitter).
EP9 is loaded with old Nickel-Hydrogen batteries, NASA explained at the time it was jettisoned, also explaining that EP9 has the approximate mass of a large SUV and predicting it would re-enter Earth's atmosphere in two-to-four years.
The EP9 was delivered to the ISS via Japan's HTV-9 (Kountori 9) on May 20, 2020. The EP9 carried six Lithium-Ion battery Orbital Replacement Units (ORUs) which replaced existing ISS Nickel-Hydrogen batteries during an astronaut spacewalk.
“Nothing to get amped up about, but those in charge should be resisted...”
Your current post is too negative. Learn to be more positive.
Need SPF 1,000,000
Badda Boom!...
Good thing it ain’t Pb.
ISS batteries orbital ground track
Chart showing ground track of a set of used Nickel-Hydrogen batteries jettisoned from the International Space Station in 2021. Chart indicates situation as of 8 March 2024, 20:00 CET, and indicates a reentry between approximately 19:30 CET and 21:08 CET on Friday 8 March.
Heads UP!..................
WE have to waste time and water washing garbage so the Insane can call it recycling and don’t talk about batteries
If I am doing the conversion correctly. the batteries would have gone overhead around 2:32 pm EST, about a half hour ago.
So we’re safe..................for now..............
It might put it out....................
That would take an incredible amount of rocket fuel. You have to climb out of earth’s gravity well, then you have to negate all, or almost all, of the angular momentum associated with being in earth orbit.
Should be down by now... somewhere in the South Pacific??
If you launch the payload from space, it probably would take very much, would it?
Well, there’s a thought...
I hope so.
Preferably Gyorgy Schwartz.
Ohm my God, you're funny.
I worked on designing those Space Station Ni/H batteries. They're mostly hollow Inconel cylinders. Very light.
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