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To: one_less who wrote (37986)	8/15/2005 6:11:39 PM
From: bentway	Read Replies (3) \| Respond to of 306849

I think they don't want any more garbage up there they might run into than we've already dumped up there. It's a real hazard! If they just dump it outside, it just starts orbiting. It does seem like they could shoot it into the atmosphere somehow and let it burn up though.

To: one_less who wrote (37986)	8/15/2005 7:09:25 PM
From: Elroy Jetson	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 306849

In short, the shuttle is returning empty. And this is the least expensive way to dispose of trash. The alternative would require the space shuttle to allocate part of their cargo space on the way up for trash rockets or other propellant. Sending the trash back to earth is free, sending it out into space would be quite costly. Why? Sending the waste either into space, toward the sun or earth would require some form of rocket or other energy. Merely throwing it or pushing it in the desired direction would send the space station in the opposite direction. This would take the same amount of propellant to correct the space station's orbit as it would have to propel the trash in the first place, while jeopardizing the stability of the space station. You can eliminate this problem by simply letting the trash slowly float away, but in using this method, the trash will remain in orbit about as long as the space station itself, maybe a hundred years. This is not a cosmetic problem, but a highly dangerous object capable of destroying spacecraft. The trash when it floats away from the space station is travelling at 17,000 miles per hour relative to a rocket leaving earth vertically. Even a small piece of frozen urine fired at your automobile at 17,000 miles per hour would likely kill you and rip apart your car. Spacecraft are no different. NASA spends a great deal of money tracking the location of orbital debris, like an air traffic controller, to keep spacecraft safe. Cluttering up the orbital field of earth with more trash would be highly expensive. nasa.gov .