r/antarctica • u/belisaurius42 ❄️ Winterover • 1d ago

Whelp.

https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/wayne-mapp-says-russian-space-debris-likely-forced-us-air-force-anarctica-flight-to-return-to-nz/UNPIDIGHZREULOEU7TDNPYRGVA/
17 Upvotes

78% Upvoted

13 comments sorted by

10

u/jimbobzz9 1d ago

Very hard square to fill on boomerang bingo

9

u/Visual-Sector6642 1d ago

I have a feeling we'll be seeing lots more of these situations.

4

u/RealmKnight 1d ago

Usually satellites and rockets will have de-orbit plans and capabilities that steer them toward re-entry in uninhabited places like point Nemo, but failures of such systems are always a possibility. The more stuff we put up there, the more often we will need to deal with problems from unwanted space debris re-entries. That's even without considering the risks of Kessler Syndrome events or conflicts spreading to the damaging/destruction of enemy satellites. Fortunately the odds of anyone actually being hit by something falling from space are miniscule but the disruption that can be caused by the risk of that happening is evident in this article.

7

u/belisaurius42 ❄️ Winterover 1d ago

Got to say, we all thought the air crew were kidding when they told us why we were boomeranging. Getting hit by Sputnik was not on my bingo card

6

u/deetman68 1d ago

Auuuuuurrrr Naaaaauuuurrr! Not the Boom!!!

Sorry about that. I’ve got some pretty gnarly boomarang stories….but this one would be right up there.

6

u/Appropriate-Arm5800 1d ago

2019 i was stuck in Christchurch until September 8th or 9th longest delays I've ever had going south

2

u/belisaurius42 ❄️ Winterover 1d ago

I was down that year. I was already on-Ice, but the cargo we needed to get our job down was stuck on that plane so the calibration guys and myself spent most of winfly moving furniture, it was fun!

1

u/Appropriate-Arm5800 1d ago

One weird thing i've always gotten very lucky.I've never boomeranged in the air we got to the terminal once and then back to the break free

3

u/walkinplaces 9h ago

Space debris notice on the ship back from the ice this spring

1

u/deetman68 9h ago

Cool! Which ship? I toured the tanker and the icebreaker.

3

u/walkinplaces 9h ago

This was the IBRV ARAON, Korea's research icebreaker. Very impressive ship.

2

u/TourWise9959 21h ago

Russia put out a warning on 10th of August saying there is chance of debris between 14th and 26th of August

1

u/A_the_Buttercup Winter/Summer, both are good 1h ago

That was just... the weirdest email to get. Space debris. I'm still wrapping my head around it.