6 ms·
How on earth would a leaky Soviet reactor create orbital debris?
by Ferrotin 4y ago
How on earth would a leaky Soviet reactor create orbital debris?
- thatcherc 4y agoCommenter is probably referring to this incident[1] where a sodium-cooled nuclear reactor on a Soviet satellite ended up spraying a bunch of small beads of sodium into Earth orbit. The number and density of the beads makes them a long-lived hazard. [1] - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kosmos_954 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kosmos_954
- Rebelgecko 4y agoThere's a few dozen nuclear powered RORSATS. When their start leaking (due to micrometeorite strikes or just wear & tear), they leak out globs of coolant that coagulate together. Each satellite has a few hundred points of coolant, which can make a LOT of 1cm across globs (or larger globs, or droplets that are too small to detect). I don't have a paper handy, but IIRC these droplets were the #1 source of space junk up until the 2007 antisatellite weapon test e: Paper here, https://citeseerx.ist.psu.edu/viewdoc/download?doi=10.1.1.27.8466&rep=rep1&type=pdf https://citeseerx.ist.psu.edu/viewdoc/download?doi=10.1.1.27...
- Ferrotin 4y agoThanks, I’ll read it.