[meteorite-list] Space junk - marine life - shame on NASA

From: Greg Catterton <star_wars_collector_at_meteoritecentral.com>
Date: Mon, 3 Nov 2008 11:06:38 -0800 (PST)
Message-ID: <779862.19858.qm_at_web45614.mail.sp1.yahoo.com>

If that is the case, why was such a big deal made about not going anywhere near the debris if it had impacted on land becouse of toxic hazards?

I agree about the scuttled destroyer, but at the same time, I dont think that is right to do also.

Perhaps the toxic nature that has been reported has mislead me to think that it was more of a big deal then it is, but it is troubling to think that this was the best thing they could come up with.
Surely it could have been returned to earth on a shuttle and disposed of properly.





--- On Mon, 11/3/08, Chris Peterson <clp at alumni.caltech.edu> wrote:

> From: Chris Peterson <clp at alumni.caltech.edu>
> Subject: Re: [meteorite-list] Space junk - marine life - shame on NASA
> To: meteorite-list at meteoritecentral.com
> Date: Monday, November 3, 2008, 1:57 PM
> Hi Greg-
>
> It is inaccurate to say that this object "splashed
> down". In fact, much of
> it burned away during reentry, leaving much smaller debris.
> It would seem
> extremely unlikely that any ammonia was left by the time
> pieces hit the
> water. So there was only a bit of scrap metal, probably
> nothing of
> significant toxicity. The impact of this debris on the
> ocean ecology is
> likely to be near zero.
>
> Returning junk from low earth orbit is not currently
> practical in most
> cases. The only option is to allow it to reenter and
> (mostly) burn up. I
> suspect that the sum total of all the debris from space
> that has reached the
> ground doesn't add up to one scuttled destroyer (with
> far more toxics in the
> latter case as well). And ships are scuttled all the time,
> along with
> thousands every year that are simply lost at sea.
>
> Chris
>
> *****************************************
> Chris L Peterson
> Cloudbait Observatory
> http://www.cloudbait.com
>
>
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: "Greg Catterton"
> <star_wars_collector at yahoo.com>
> To: <meteorite-list at meteoritecentral.com>
> Sent: Monday, November 03, 2008 11:41 AM
> Subject: [meteorite-list] Space junk - marine life - shame
> on NASA
>
>
> > ""The junk was a tank full of ammonia
> coolant on the international space
> > station that was no longer needed. Astronaut Clayton
> Anderson threw it
> > overboard during a spacewalk in July 2007.
> >
> > Space station program manager Mike Suffredini said
> Monday that the debris
> > splashed down somewhere between Australia and New
> Zealand Sunday night""
> >
> >
> > Am I alone in the idea that Nasa should be held
> criminaly liable for the
> > polution of our waters?
> > If an ordinary person was to dump toxic material into
> the ocean, surely we
> > would be in alot of trouble... just becouse they are
> Nasa does not make
> > them above the law. Ammonia is highly toxic to marine
> life!
> > It is my opinion that this was an outright disrespect
> to the enviorment
> > and a potential hazard to the marine life in the area
> of impact.
> > I am very upset about this and feel Nasa was totally
> wrong for the actions
> > they have done.
> > This could have been handled in a much better fashion,
> and I for one would
> > like to see Nasa held accountable for this.
> > I am really upset about this whole situtation.
> > surely if it had fallen on someones propery NASA would
> be in alot of
> > trouble...
> > Shame on you NASA. Shame on you Clayton Anderson.
>
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Received on Mon 03 Nov 2008 02:06:38 PM PST