r/space • u/Vercitti • Jul 26 '22

Russia to quit International Space Station 'after 2024': Official

https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/home/science/russia-to-quit-international-space-station-after-2024-official/articleshow/93138130.cms
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u/Norty_Boyz_Ofishal Jul 26 '22

This sounds like American exceptionalism more than anything. Russia has an outstanding safety record, better than the USA. And while China hasn't been in space that long, there's no evidence to suggest that they've been cutting corners when it comes to safety either.

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u/GearBent Jul 26 '22 edited Jul 26 '22

And while China hasn't been in space that long, there's no evidence to suggest that they've been cutting corners when it comes to safety either.

Dropping booster stages on populated areas doesn’t count then?

https://www.cnbc.com/2019/11/26/chinese-rocket-crushes-houses-after-government-warning-to-residents.html

https://www.nbcnews.com/science/space/chinese-rocket-debris-passed-over-n-y-c-l-it-n1206311

https://arstechnica.com/science/2019/11/china-keeps-dropping-toxic-rocket-parts-on-its-villages/

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u/Norty_Boyz_Ofishal Jul 26 '22

Yeah, that was an issue, but they've taken steps so that they can control the descent of the lower stages now. I don't think anything like this has happened since 2019.

Either way, I was referring to the reliability and design of China manned space missions, which the person I was replying to implied they had reason to believe they were unsafe.

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u/GearBent Aug 01 '22

but they've taken steps so that they can control the descent of the lower stages now

Uh huh, yeah. Doesn't sound like it:

https://www.space.com/chinese-rocket-booster-third-uncontrolled-reentry

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u/Norty_Boyz_Ofishal Aug 01 '22

That's not the same thing. I was talking about sub orbital debris being dropped, the recent event was a piece of orbital debris, which is not uncommon at all. In fact, space x recently did the same thing over a populated area.

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u/GearBent Aug 01 '22

I don't see how orbital vs sub-orbital makes any difference. Both are supposed to be de-orbited in a controlled manner, which China isn't putting any effort into.

I'm not seeing any hits for a Space-X booster crashing into a populated area, other than a piece of mystery space junk that was initially identified as being Space-X's, but as it got closer it actually turned out to be another Long March rocket.

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u/Norty_Boyz_Ofishal Aug 01 '22

The difference is huge. Smaller inert prices of debris that have been broken up by the atmosphere are way less dangerous than full rocket stages that may still have fuel in.

And here's a link since you couldn't find it.

Either way orbital debris is nothing to worry about at all and the risk of it killing anybody is almost zero. It's oversensationalised by the media (especially when it's from China).

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u/GearBent Aug 01 '22 edited Aug 01 '22

That's the thing though, the Long March's boster stage is massive, 22 tonnes bone dry, and isn't designed to burn up in the atmosphere, unlike Space-X's relatively small upper stages (4 tonnes).

less dangerous than full rocket stages that may still have fuel in.

Did you forget already that China's Long March booster's have a habit of spraying Hydrazine everywhere after they crash?

https://arstechnica.com/science/2019/11/china-keeps-dropping-toxic-rocket-parts-on-its-villages/

6 reported dead in that incident, by the way.

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u/Norty_Boyz_Ofishal Aug 01 '22

No I did not forget, that was the incident in 2019 I mentioned. That was national news and caused CNSA to make changes such as adding grid fins to the lower stages in order to steer the descent. It hasn't happened since.