Missed me by thaaat much.
The doomed Phobos-Grunt spacecraft … will re-enter Earth’s atmosphere between Saturday and Monday (Jan. 14-16) …. [P]hobos-Grunt was identified to be no high-risk object … due to the relatively low dry mass of the errant spacecraft — just 2.5 tons.
There is about 11 tons of toxic propellant onboard, adding up to the probe’s total mass of 13.5 tons. [S]tudies by the Russian space agency (known as Roscosmos) and NASA indicate that Phobos-Grunt’s fuel [propellant] tanks should burst high above the Earth, releasing a load of propellant that will subsequently dissipate. “More than 50 percent of all re-entered spacecraft material is titanium, beryllium or steel, which has a melting point twice that of aluminum, so the likelihood of the fuel tanks surviving is very low” [i.e. lower (what's "very" mean?)] …. “The fuel is [propellants are] reported to be hydrazine and nitrogen tetroxide, which boil at [235 F to 69 F] respectively, so it will evaporate at high altitude once the tanks go.” [more]
Hydrazine and nitrogen tetroxide (di-nitrogen tetroxide, actually, aka NTO, or mixed oxides of nitrogen, aka MON) are major-league toxic, and the NTO/MON will dissolve your lungs from the inside out.
Hydrazine and nitrogen tetroxide are also hypergolic (i.e. they explode on contact without needing an ignition source, which is why they’re used in the Titan family of liquid-propellant boosters and ICBMs), so let’s hope the propellant tanks don’t land together intact.
(What? Yes, that would be a bad thing.)
Don’t worry your little heads, kids, the propellant tanks won’t survive re-enty.
If they fail at the same time, though, there’ll be one helluva ‘splodey show.
On the other hand, there’s a re-entry capsule on board which is designed to survive re-entry;
but it probably won’t, since it probably needs to be stabilized and oriented properly to survive,
but I could be wrong about that.
So, yeah, we’ll probably all survive; but if you’ve gotta go, swing for the fence.
*whew* It missed us and scattered itself across the Southern Hemisphere between the SE Pacific and Brazil.
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9 Comments!
I worked a bit at Edwards AFB at the NASA ‘hot rod shop’. Big signs everywhere about “If you smell Ammonia, immediately press a Red Button’.
It was explained to me later that if you smelled the hydrazine, you were toast, but it would be a nice gesture to set the alarm and warn others to evacuate upwind.
Nasty stuff Doug.
^ Wollf
Yeah, I remember hours down at the pad supervising the pre-load preps of the Agena’s hypergolic bipropellants IRFNA (inhibited red-fuming nitric acid) and UDMH (unsymmetrical dimethyl hydrazine). The Agena was part of the satellite which sat atop the TitanIIIB, which used hypergolic bipropellants NTO and Aerozine 50 (half hydrazine, half UDMH).
Had to go down to the pad after Titan fueling. Gets your attention, lookin’ up at a huuuge metal bottle filled with tons of explosive poison and acid.
You know those sci-fi and disaster movies where a guy gets a leak in his protective suit and dissolves away as you watch? Yeah, that’s how we treated it.
Seems the Ruskies don’t want to take credit. . .
Yeah, blame someone else for their screw ups.
Doug, absolutely high Pucker. Factor. Good thing I had carry privilege….. Would Never have been able to conceal a .38revolver in my butt!
*see how I tied the posts?* :)
^ Wollf,
Yeah, I see what you did there.
Ties in with the Russians, too, methinks.
^^ mech,
Thanks for the link. Hadn’t heard that. Very, very interesting.
[redacted], so you’re probably right.
My first thought was the white house.
Am I going to the bad place?
“just” 2.5 tons?
Roscoe Smos??!? I knew a guy in Miami that…. nevermind.
Still has propellant and they’re letting it fall???!!!!!!!?????????????!??
designed to survive re-entry; but it probably won’t, since it‘s Russian
“Don’t touch NOOOOT’ING!!!!
so how come no shrill howls of outrage from the lib/progressive greenies when the atmosphere gets polluted by russkie reds? selective resentment–my bad.
Since all of us are heading for room temperature, I am praying for SACRAMENTO impact point. So fucking sue me……