Golfing In Space

[Vicious_AD 0]

Russia plans to hit a golf ball into Earth orbit from the International Space Station. If NASA approves the plan, the ball would set records for the longest drive ever made â but some experts warn that a mishap could cause "catastrophic" damage to the station.
The plan is part of a commercial deal between the Russian space agency and Element 21 Golf Company, based in Toronto, Canada. In the plan, the station's next crew members, due to launch to the station on 29 March, will try for the record-breaking swing during one of three planned spacewalks by September 2006.


Golf in space - a harmless PR stunt or a calamity in the making?
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A gold-plated, six-iron golf club will be used to hit the ball, which is made out of the same scandium alloy used to build the station. After being hit from a special platform alongside the station, the ball is expected to orbit Earth for about four years, beaming its location to Earth-bound computers using global positioning transmitters. Eventually, the ball will lose altitude through atmospheric drag and burn up in the atmosphere.

But that scenario depends on the ball being hit out of the station's orbital plane. If it somehow stayed in the same plane as the station, it might actually fall back onto the station or collide with it during a subsequent orbit. The damage caused by such a collision would depend on factors such as the impact angle, the speed of collision and the mass of the ball.

Fore!

In a worst-case scenario, the ball would remain at the same altitude long enough that its orbital plane shifted until it could hit the station side-on, says J C Liou, an orbital debris expert at NASA's Johnson Space Center in Houston, Texas, US. "Then you could potentially have something similar to a head-on collision with an impact speed of about 9.4 kilometres per second," Liou told New Scientist.

The force of such a collision would be equivalent to that of a 6.5-tonne truck moving at nearly 100 kilometres per hour. "So the outcome of the worst-case scenario could be quite catastrophic," he says. But he adds that such a dire scenario is "highly unlikely" to occur.

Bill Ailor, director of the Center for Orbital and Reentry Debris Studies at The Aerospace Corporation in El Segundo, California, US, says that if the ball simply falls back onto the station without first going into orbit, it should not be moving so quickly, relatively speaking, and would pose little threat.

He estimates that, if the ball should strike the station in that manner, it would be at the same relative speed at which the astro-golfer initially hit it â at most 30 metres per second. "I would doubt the astronaut will be able to hit it very hard at all," Ailor told New Scientist, as heavy spacesuits will hinder a zippy swing.

What's the point of this? Sure it's kinda funny, but isn't that just a waste of tax money? I mean, this /is/ being payed for by taxes that could go towards making our schooling system NOT filled with a bunch of self absorbed morons, or perhaps free healthcare like canada, or something else equally useful, but instead they do this simply for one reason "because they can". They already know they can put things into orbit, so what's the point?

I think it's still pretty cool though. Logic aside, it's a funny way to waste money rather than a boring one. I'd prefer they launch a few thousand pounds of trash into space far enough away to not get stuck in the orbit of any of our planits, or perhaps send it straight to the sun. Sure, it'd kinda mess up the purity of the universe, but that's assuming that there aren't other beings who do the same thing. any thoughts?

[Reaver 0]

Hmm i can definitely see your side of the argument but then on the other hand i dont think its tax payers money thats doing it says it is an arrangement bewteen the russian space stations and the Element 21 Golf Company, so its their money to "waste"in essence so sit back and enjoy the show if it is going to take place, from what i have read in the article it is very very dangerous if it goes wrong with the whole 6.5 ton truck scenario and the Prof said that it will be highly unlikely but thats th e whole point its a statistic not a science, at one point in time being in outer space was highly unlikely so i say they should scrap the whole idea who cares how minimal the chance of disaster is, playing with matches i say ....someone "statisticly" will get burned.

[sparx 0]

Old News ! The Brits have already played golf in spaceBritain's Prof. Colin Pillinger recently located the remains of his lost Mars Spacecraft Beagle II. The damaged craft was found tucked rather nicely inside a small crater. While a loss to science, he may have earned a place in history with the first interplanetary hole-in-one. <grins>

[kaputnik 0]

Wow, now that's quite a something, launch a sattelite from a satellite, with human power.. Now, I'm all for the theory that the golf ball is actually a trial minature satellite, that may or may not be part of a hive of hundreds of minature satellites, to be utilized for communications, positioning and keeping an eye out on the planet or maybe out into space. There's been talk over the years of deploying a mesh or hive of minature sattelites, that may not be detectable by ground stations, that may be used for any of many uses. Also, with the kind of miniturization available today, it's very likely that a mesh/hive of tiny satellites, with distributed computing and the ability to rapidly bounce signals between themselves and earth stations, such a space solution becomes a very viable option for anyone willing to make the investment. And the lone golf ball actually amongst the mesh may not be a publicity stunt, and actually be a back up story just in case any of the hive satellites hit another space object.

[Vicious_AD 0]

doesn't russia really need the money though? I'm not too big on my world economy or history but isn't most of russia kinda like... (excuse my expression) the armpit of the world? isn't it in deep poverty? I may be mistaken but I just thought they where in /need/ of money, not in need of intertainment.

[cyborgxxi 0]

I have to agree with some of you guys. It's really a big waste of money used for these crazy self-actualization things. I mean, golf in space? Come on - go play REAL golf!If you need entertainment, then, well, I guess this is the answer for you, scientists! But I think it really is a waste of money I would spend it on more productive things, like getting a car, my own house, investing in stocks, etc etc.Hmmhm - but I have to say, you dont really have to spend money on charity and donations. It would be good if you did, but there's nothing wrong with not giving money away.

[grnjd 0]

Russia has many problems and yet they are spending money on all this usless junk to show how advance their country are. They want to show how great their nation is. But that's just really stupid, other nations will look at Russia and say whats wrong with you, go make your economy better or something. Man, it probably takes more money to hit a golf from space then to send more people into space. What a waste of money, trying to have the longest golf drive ever

[Vicious_AD 0]

Russia has many problems and yet they are spending money on all this usless junk to show how advance their country are. They want to show how great their nation is. But that's just really stupid, other nations will look at Russia and say whats wrong with you, go make your economy better or something. Man, it probably takes more money to hit a golf from space then to send more people into space. What a waste of money, trying to have the longest golf drive ever

I agree, and if it has high risks but absolutely no benifits, then why take the risks? REally stupid, eh? It'd be fine if there where no risks, but there ARE and they are HIGH so NO NO RUSSIA!

[iGuest 3]

I agree, and if it has high risks but absolutely no benifits, then why take the risks? REally stupid, eh? It'd be fine if there where no risks, but there ARE and they are HIGH so NO NO RUSSIA!

Haha, I agree Still though, what the heck's the point of this? Why golf?! Lets see some videogames up in space >_< Lets see them try playing some GameBoys or something No just kidding haha.

[Vicious_AD 0]

Haha, I agree Still though, what the heck's the point of this? Why golf?! Lets see some videogames up in space >_< Lets see them try playing some GameBoys or something No just kidding haha.

 

hah. funny. One thing I would like to see, is what would happen if they did that thing that a japanese company is doing, and make images out of plasma float in midair but in space to see if it'd work. I mean, if that did work, they could make a plasma image of a bird or something and it'd just float away and stay floating for probably years and years. I think it'd work too because the vacuum of space would probably support that the same the vacuum of a light-bulb would support it. Here is the article:

 

https://www.newscientist.com/article/dn8778-3d-plasma-shapes-created-in-thin-air/

 

That would be more worth while to me. because people golf all the time. btu this is combining two different innovations. That would be awesome.

[Shadow X 0]

What's the point of this? Sure it's kinda funny, but isn't that just a waste of tax money? I mean, this /is/ being payed for by taxes that could go towards making our schooling system NOT filled with a bunch of self absorbed morons, or perhaps free healthcare like canada, or something else equally useful, but instead they do this simply for one reason "because they can". They already know they can put things into orbit, so what's the point?

I definetly agree with you on this Vicious_AD. Except I don't find it even a bit funny. This crazy sceme is gonna cost Russia millions of money and it's not even going to help humanity. All they are trying to do is get into the record books! WHat is the point of this anyway, are they trying to prove that objects fly faster and higher in space?! They might as well just send a probe or a spaceship into orbit for all the good a golf ball will do ... at least the spaceship will be able to get pictures and images of space!
But of NASA will grant their permission. They're not the ones wasting money. Nothing bad will happen to NASA. The only people losing out are the Russians. I agree with you, they are losing their tax money and their time. And i'm sure that this is only the first of some more crazy plans.

[Atrus 0]

It would be interesting if the ISS was taken down by a golf ball.

[Vicious_AD 0]

It would be interesting if the ISS was taken down by a golf ball.

It would also be interesting if in a few billion years the golf ball gathered dust and debris little by little untill it became a moon. That's probably not feasable though.