Path: utzoo!utgpu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!cs.utexas.edu!usc!elroy.jpl.nasa.gov!euclid.jpl.nasa.gov!pjs From: pjs@euclid.jpl.nasa.gov (Peter Scott) Newsgroups: sci.space.shuttle Subject: Re: water dump Message-ID: <1990Dec28.190702.12646@elroy.jpl.nasa.gov> Date: 28 Dec 90 19:07:02 GMT References: <1990Dec19.172159.15458@focsys.uucp> Sender: news@elroy.jpl.nasa.gov (Usenet) Reply-To: pjs@euclid.jpl.nasa.gov Followup-To: sci.space.shuttle Distribution: na Organization: Jet Propulsion Laboratory, NASA/Caltech Lines: 23 Nntp-Posting-Host: euclid.jpl.nasa.gov In article <1990Dec19.172159.15458@focsys.uucp>, jack@focsys.uucp (Jack Houde) writes: > This may have been answered before but... > > Since the beginning of manned space flight, what happens to > the water that is dumped during flight? > > In the case of the Shuttle, is it close enough to Earth to > cause it to re-enter? Else, does it become a frozen mass of > whatever, forever stuck in orbit? > > Or is it simply that they figure we have enough of it that > it can be thrown away without any thought? The water separates into little ice balls that bombard the atmosphere at random intervals, providing a distinct "cometesimal" UV signature that can be photographed by satellites, and... oh my God... :-) :-) :-) :-) -- This is news. This is your | Peter Scott, NASA/JPL/Caltech brain on news. Any questions? | (pjs@euclid.jpl.nasa.gov)