Explain this: ISS orbits around 17,000mph, how do they do space walks?

[RedPonyDriver]

Gravity. Please. Relative to our sun were blazing along at like 30 km /sec.
So I might not go into orbit, but I'd definitely end up a couple towns over.

Seriously? How on earth can ANYONE get through high school or college without a science class that at least covered some basic physics? In order to go a couple towns over, your velocity relative to orbital speed would have to be pretty high, negating gravity and friction.

Please tell me you're a Poe...

 

[durangodawood]

Seriously? How on earth can ANYONE get through high school or college without a science class that at least covered some basic physics? In order to go a couple towns over, your velocity relative to orbital speed would have to be pretty high, negating gravity and friction.

Please tell me you're a Poe...

Somehow you got my position on this matter totally backward. May have been my fault, but I thought I was being clear.

 

[GoldenBoy89]

The same way you can walk to the front of a train while it is moving forward.

 

[whois]

How do the actornauts do spacewalks when the ISS is orbiting around at 17,000mph? Can you do that with a moving vehicle?

actronauts . . . heh, heh, now that's funny.
they got them hung on wires.

The ISS is more than 15 years old, how come there are no maintenance activity of the thousands of seals, airlocks and such? The astronauts should be covered in grease rushing to keep up and do maintenance.

i'm sure your mom has told you, over and over, "make yourself presentable for your pictures".

Even Aircraft have more maintenance...hundreds and thousands of parts need to be replaced...how come the ISS doesn't (especially without an atomsphere)?

well, because it's . . . fake.
fake stuff doen't require maintenance.

How come during the Apollo missions, the astronauts fall down constantly on rocks and are never bothered to check their suits? Depressurization of their suit would be a big problem. They act like nothing is wrong.

why would the suits be pressurized on earth?

How does the ISS produce oxygen? Yes it uses water. How does it produce water then? No system can produce 100% effiency so they are losing massive amounts of water. Where does it come from?

have you seen the movie spaceballs where they use a giant vacuum cleaner?
that's how.

I can barely get satellite TV sometimes. How come there is constant communications from the ISS especially when they are on the other side of the world?

hmmm . . .
that's a tough one.

 

[essentialsaltes]

Ok, so what happens when a passenger steps out of a moving car? Isn't that what the astronaut is doing when they step out of the ISS?

#1 on earth, the car is supported by the ground, so it doesn't fall due to gravity, but a person stepping out of the car will. In space, both the station and the actornaut will orbit in basically the same orbit due to gravity.

I don't care if it's a vacuum or not.

#2 Whether you care or not, it makes a big difference. If you throw a feather out the window of your car, the mass of the air outside will carry it away. If you throw a feather out of the ISS, there is no air to carry it away, so it will move along with the station.

 

[joshua 1 9]

I can't answer all your questions, but I know:

Speed is no problem for spacewalks, because virtually all of space is a vacuum (no atmosphere or matter at all). It's not like your dog sticking his head out the truck window; they can exit their craft and no wind will blow them around because there's nothing there.

If I remember correctly, the moon's gravity is 1/6 that of earth's, so falling on the moon doesn't produce the strong forces and impacts that we encounter on earth. In addition, space suits are made of extremely tough tear-resistant material, and would probably withstand similar falls on earth.

The earth is a closed system, and all the oxygen and water on earth remain here to be recycled. Spacecraft use the same principle and remain closed systems; however, they need only work for months, not eons, so a little loss is allowable.

I imagine ISS communication uses antennas positioned all around the earth, or a link to a geo-synchronous satellite. Probably better electronics than Direct TV also.

What does Poe have to do with it? "Nevermore?"

How fast does the earth spin? How fast is the Earth orbiting the Sun?

 

[Oafman]

How fast does the earth spin?

It completes one rotation per day

How fast is the Earth orbiting the Sun?

It completes one orbit per year

Hope that helps!

 

[joshua 1 9]

It completes one rotation per day


It completes one orbit per year

Hope that helps!

Actually that is not true. In the last 10 years they have had to adjust the clock three times because the rotation is not exact due to the wobble effect created by the other planets. Also we have a leap year so an orbit being a year is not exact either. That of course does not even take the spin-down rate into consideration. This is nothing compared to the fact that if you go by the moon there would be closer to 13 months in the year.

 

[Oafman]

Actually that is not true. In the last 10 years they have had to adjust the clock three times because the rotation is not exact due to the wobble effect created by the other planets. Also we have a leap year so an orbit being a year is not exact either. That of course does not even take the spin-down rate into consideration. This is nothing compared to the fact that if you go by the moon there would be closer to 13 months in the year.

I was rounding

 

[gord44]

A few hours with Kerbal Space Program and all your questions will be answered.

 

[[serious]]

So you are telling me that a space craft moving at 17,000mph isn't going to pull on an astronaut doing a spacewalk? What about when the astronaut switches directions away from the spacecraft?

And without an atomsphere, the sun's rays are what? More than 200 degrees in the sunlight and -200 degrees in the shade? Can the suits handle that? Where does it radiate the heat to? What about solar storms?



But they do not even check for once. It is a matter of life and death, surely human nature would check for once. Unless it was all in a hollywood studio.



California can use that system, they are severely running out of water.



The military upgraded the old LORAN navigational system to GPS. Why wouldn't NASA let Direct TV have the same tech? NASA has given companies several tech. Why not Direct TV?

I rode on an airplane not too long ago. I got up and walled down the aisle. Same thing. The astronauts are traveling the same speed as the iss.

Also, https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/International_Space_Station_maintenance

 

[[serious]]

No. Not yet anyway.
I did have coffee on a TGV in France though. But I didnt pour it. The cup must have kept it from sloshing back at 180 mph and soaking me.

Japan's bullet train handles open cups fine.

 

[[serious]]

Ok, so what happens when a passenger steps out of a moving car? Isn't that what the astronaut is doing when they step out of the ISS? I don't care if it's a vacuum or not.

They would be fine until they hit the ground, as are the asyronauts.

 

[durangodawood]

Japan's bullet train handles open cups fine.

Because they are open at the top.
If they were open at the side then youd have to keep that side pointed forward to keep the coffee from blasting out backward.

 

[lesliedellow]

Ok, so what happens when a passenger steps out of a moving car? Isn't that what the astronaut is doing when they step out of the ISS? I don't care if it's a vacuum or not.

a.) Unlike with the space station, air resistance will decelerate him.
b.) Unlike with the space station, gravity will pretty soon cause him to hit the deck.

 

[Xalith]

Because they are open at the top.
If they were open at the side then youd have to keep that side pointed forward to keep the coffee from blasting out backward.

Actually, no.

If you were to take a cup of liquid while on a train, plane, etc and dump it out it would merely fall straight down to the floor just like it would if you were standing still on the ground. You can also test this in a less messy way by using any small harmless object.

Get on the train (or airplane), hold this object out and let go of it. It will drop straight down to the floor and behave exactly like it would if you were on the ground.

It doesn't matter how fast or slow the vehicle is moving, everything on and in the vehicle has the same forward velocity until or unless an outside force acts on it. This includes the air inside the vehicle (but not the air outside of it!). If you were able to stand on the wing of an airplane and let go of an item, it would fly backwards (depending on how heavy it is and how much air can hit it) because the air outside the plane is not moving.

However, if you stand inside the airplane, and drop an item, it'll fall straight down because the air inside the plane is moving the same speed the plane itself is.

You can repeat these same experiments with a pickup truck: sit in the passenger seat and drop a paper airplane and watch it fall harmlessly to the floor. Then, stop the truck, get in the bed of the pickup and then drop the paper airplane while travelling 20+ MPH and watch the air catch and take the paper airplane away.

 

[Wgw]

Actually, no.

If you were to take a cup of liquid while on a train, plane, etc and dump it out it would merely fall straight down to the floor just like it would if you were standing still on the ground. You can also test this in a less messy way by using any small harmless object.

Get on the train (or airplane), hold this object out and let go of it. It will drop straight down to the floor and behave exactly like it would if you were on the ground.

It doesn't matter how fast or slow the vehicle is moving, everything on and in the vehicle has the same forward velocity until or unless an outside force acts on it. This includes the air inside the vehicle (but not the air outside of it!). If you were able to stand on the wing of an airplane and let go of an item, it would fly backwards (depending on how heavy it is and how much air can hit it) because the air outside the plane is not moving.

However, if you stand inside the airplane, and drop an item, it'll fall straight down because the air inside the plane is moving the same speed the plane itself is.

You can repeat these same experiments with a pickup truck: sit in the passenger seat and drop a paper airplane and watch it fall harmlessly to the floor. Then, stop the truck, get in the bed of the pickup and then drop the paper airplane while travelling 20+ MPH and watch the air catch and take the paper airplane away.

Interestingly if you blew air across the pickup truck in a wind tunnel, or parked it facing 20 MPH winds, you would get basically the same effect. This entire thread seems to resolve around people not understanding the concepts of atmospheric drag and gravitation.

 

[Xalith]

An addendum to the above: Gravity is different, and it behaves differently. That is why Zero-Grav aircraft are possible. Climbing and diving in a vehicle behaves differently than velocity does, because no matter what, gravity is always constant (until you get far enough away from the Earth to achieve weightlessness).

 

[Xalith]

Interestingly if you blew air across the pickup truck in a wind tunnel, or parked it facing 20 MPH winds, you would get basically the same effect. This entire thread seems to resolve around people not understanding the concepts of atmospheric drag and gravitation.

Or use a jet liner's engines... actually don't do that. A jet liner can pick a car up and throw 10+ feet with its exhaust.

 

[Wgw]

An addendum to the above: Gravity is different, and it behaves differently. That is why Zero-Grav aircraft are possible. Climbing and diving in a vehicle behaves differently than velocity does, because no matter what, gravity is always constant (until you get far enough away from the Earth to achieve weightlessness).

Or fast enough. Orbital and escape velocity and all that.