Tool bag lost in space now tracked by garbage watchers
- Reference: 1699951448
- News link: https://www.theregister.co.uk/2023/11/14/tool_bag_iss/
- Source link:
The bag entered orbit during a spacewalk conducted by NASA astronauts and International Space Station residents Jasmin Moghbeli and Loral O'Hara on November 1. During their almost seven-hour space stroll, during which they replaced bearings on a sun-tracking solar array and removed some communications equipment, NASA [1]revealed the tool bag "was inadvertently lost," by one of the dynamic duo.
"Mission Control analyzed the bag's trajectory and determined that risk of recontacting the station is low and that the onboard crew and space station are safe with no action required," the space agency added.
[2]
Dr Meganne Christian, a member of the European Space Agency’s 2022 astronaut class, shared a [3]snippet of helmet camera footage from Moghbeli's space suit showing the bag slipping away and the futile scramble to retrieve it.
[4]
[5]
But the container – a “crew lock bag” in official NASA parlance – didn’t just drift away out of human view.
Astrophysicist Jonathan McDowell of the Harvard Center for Astrophysics [6]confirmed last week that the bag had been [7]catalogued by the US Space Force as [8]58229/1998-067WC and was being tracked as a new orbital object.
[9]
The next day, Japanese ISS resident Satoshi Furukawa snapped a [10]photo of the bag following day as the ISS passed over Japan.
[11]
The lost crew lock bag - Click to enlarge. Source: NASA.
According to McDowell, the bag isn't in a stable orbit, and is expected to re-enter Earth's atmosphere in a few months, when it will burn up completely and won't be a risk to anyone on the ground.
For those interested in observing the bag before it burns up in Earth's atmosphere, that just [12]might be possible with the proper equipment and timing.
The bag's brightness is magnitude six , or just at the edge of the eye's unaided visibility limit under perfect conditions. Binoculars would make spotting it far easier. Sat-spotters seeking a sighting of the space spanners should look a few minutes ahead of the ISS’s expected path, which can be [13]tracked online or with a recently launched mobile app.
Another bag bites the dust
Moghbeli and O'Hara were on their first spacewalks, but they need not be too worried about getting in trouble with NASA for losing the bag because they’re not the first to do so.
Around fifteen years ago [14]the same thing happened to astronaut Heide Stefanyshyn-Piper when she and fellow astronaut Steve Bowen were working on the ISS in November 2008.
According to NASA, the bag lost in 2008 contained "two grease guns, scrapers, several wipes and tethers and some tool caddies."
[15]Space junk targeted for cleanup mission was hit by different space junk, making more space junk
[16]ESA funds space weather satellite swarm to understand and combat orbital debris
[17]Amazon's Project Kuiper thrusters deliver Prime orbit adjustments
[18]Astroscale wants to be the world's friendly neighborhood space garbage collector
"We tend carry ancillary tools in [crew lock bags]," Dana Weigel, International Space Station deputy program manager for NASA [19]said during a press conference convened to discuss last week's launch of commercial resupply mission to the ISS.
"This particular bag had some tethers and things like tool sockets, similar to common household sockets - these are fairly common items. It's unfortunate we lost them, but not a huge impact," Weigel said.
[20]
Replacements were sent to the ISS on last week’s resupply mission, which [21]docked at the ISS over the weekend, meaning they got there before the old bag even got a chance to fall out of the sky. ®
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[1] https://blogs.nasa.gov/spacestation/2023/11/01/astronauts-enter-station-complete-spacewalk/
[2] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_offbeat/science&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=2&c=2ZVNTVJU8tnPi0j62i9U76gAAAEo&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D2%26raptor%3Dcondor%26pos%3Dtop%26test%3D0
[3] https://twitter.com/astro_meganne/status/1721297966999236802
[4] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_offbeat/science&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=4&c=44ZVNTVJU8tnPi0j62i9U76gAAAEo&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D4%26raptor%3Dfalcon%26pos%3Dmid%26test%3D0
[5] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_offbeat/science&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=3&c=33ZVNTVJU8tnPi0j62i9U76gAAAEo&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D3%26raptor%3Deagle%26pos%3Dmid%26test%3D0
[6] https://twitter.com/planet4589/status/1721282347805393330
[7] https://twitter.com/planet4589/status/1721282347805393330
[8] https://planet4589.org/space/gcat/data/cat/satcat.html
[9] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_offbeat/science&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=4&c=44ZVNTVJU8tnPi0j62i9U76gAAAEo&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D4%26raptor%3Dfalcon%26pos%3Dmid%26test%3D0
[10] https://eol.jsc.nasa.gov/SearchPhotos/photo.pl?mission=ISS070&roll=E&frame=15786
[11] https://regmedia.co.uk/2023/11/13/nasa-orbiting-tool-bag.jpg
[12] https://earthsky.org/human-world/orbital-oopsy-a-tool-bag-is-now-orbiting-earth/
[13] https://spotthestation.nasa.gov/
[14] https://www.theregister.com/2008/11/19/dropped_toolbag/
[15] https://www.theregister.com/2023/08/23/space_debris_targeted_for_groundbreaking/
[16] https://www.theregister.com/2023/10/06/esa_space_debris_swarm/
[17] https://www.theregister.com/2023/11/10/amazon_project_kuiper_thrusters/
[18] https://www.theregister.com/2023/06/16/space_junk_wef_astroscale/
[19] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_lDK9MhSAyg&t=1577s
[20] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_offbeat/science&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=3&c=33ZVNTVJU8tnPi0j62i9U76gAAAEo&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D3%26raptor%3Deagle%26pos%3Dmid%26test%3D0
[21] https://blogs.nasa.gov/crs-29/2023/11/11/dragon-docks-to-station-carrying-science-and-supplies/
[22] https://whitepapers.theregister.com/
Re: Who, me?
What a tool.
"It's unfortunate we lost them, but not a huge impact,"
So I presume there is another bag with the big impact drills in case they want to hang a picture on the wall?
Its in the Russian module, last use to drill some holes to hang pictures of Putin from.
(Comrade - do you know what that hissing noise is?)
The irony
Said NASA: the bag contained some tethers....
Bet someone wishes they'd used one of them now! :)
HMRC are keeping an eye on this one...
https://www.gov.uk/guidance/carrier-bag-charges-retailers-responsibilities
Tools in Spaaaaaaaaaace!
Because.
Well, that’s going to put a spanner in the works
Why
After the last time this happened, why don't the bags have velcro or some other form of attachment that is mandatory to use? Almost everything else has to be attached to someone/thing at all times.
Re: Why
What I was thinking as well. Given they cannot just nip down to B&Q to get a replacement I find a really crazy that they are able to lose an entire bag.
Re: Why
why don't the bags have velcro or some other form of attachment that is mandatory to use
They do. I guess the trouble is that in order to get around outside the ISS, the bag needs to be constantly attached to then detached from anchor points as the astronaut moves down the spacecraft, and it was while being detached that the bag was lost due to clumsiness. Given that the space suits worn during an EVA have been described as less like suits and more like personal spacecraft, I think we can forgive the astronaut concerned for their lack of agility.
Such a shame
'According to NASA, the bag lost in 2008 contained "two grease guns.."'
Such a shame two iconic firearms will burn up in orbit because of this. Clearly their drill Sgt didn't traumatise them enough!
It reminds me of Jules Verne's excellent "Around the moon", when they disposed of the dead dog by throwing it out of the window. Days later it was still there right outside the window, following the same trajectory as the space capsule.
Why people should read more SF
There is a wonderful James White short story called Deadly Litter - the title says it all
I like to think that all the 10mm sockets that go missing from my toolbox end up in space.
Because fuck knows where they are if they haven't!
If, when you find them, there's also a yellow handled jeweller's screwdriver with them please let me know.
Spanners
Not just 10mm sockets, people "borrow" my 10mm spanners. But only 10mm, what is it about this size? (For west pondians spanner = wrench)
Who, me?
"Our heroine, who we'll Regomize as "Buzz", was performing field maintenance on behalf of her employer, NASA, when she noticed that her tool kit was moving increasingly out of reach".