List of reentering space debris

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An external tank floats away from the Space Shuttle orbiter. 134 of these tanks were brought into orbit and then released for re-entry (135 total orbital missions minus Challenger)
The External Tank for STS-1 is released from the Space Shuttle. This was a Standard Weight tank and was painted white

List of large reentering space debris is a list of man made objects reentering Earth's atmosphere by mass (see space debris). They are typically destroyed by reentry heating, but some components can survive. Most of these objects are relatively small but larger objects have survived but usually break up into smaller pieces during reentry.[1][2][3]

The STS program brought 134 external tanks into space, they could weigh empty 78,100 pounds (35,425.6 kg), although they were not necessarily completely empty when discarded.[4] There was several different tanks with different weights, including the Standard weight, Lightweight, and Super Lightweight Tank. In general the heavier tanks were early, and over the decades new materials and removal of unnecessary features brought the mass down. The tanks fueled the spacecraft's acceleration to orbital velocity, after which they could be discarded and the STS then used its Orbital Maneuvering System which used a different fuel and engines

Many other launch systems have discarded spent stages into space, but not all stages go into orbit or even space. For comparison the STS boosters did not reach space.

Examples of heaviest re-entering spacecraft or components

Object Owner Mass Reentry Date Age[7] Reentry type Launch Date[7][8]
Mir CIS 120,000 kg (260,000 lb) 23 March 2001 15 years Controlled 20 February 1986
Skylab[3] USA 69,000 kg (152,000 lb) 11 July 1979 6 years Partially Controlled 14 May 1973
Salyut 7/Cosmos 1686 USSR 40,000 kg (88,000 lb) 7 February 1991 8 years Uncontrolled 13 May 1982
STS External Tank (Standard Tank) USA 35,000 kg (77,000 lb)+remaining fuel 1981 (1981–83) Partially Controlled
Salyut 6/Cosmos 1267 USSR 35,000 kg (77,000 lb) 29 July 1982 4 years Controlled 29 September 1977
STS External Tank (Lightweight Tank) USA 30,000 kg (66,000 lb)+remaining fuel 1983 (1983–98) Partially Controlled
Cosmos 557 USSR 19,400 kg (42,800 lb) 22 May 1973 11 days Uncontrolled 11 May 1973
Salyut 5 USSR 19,000 kg (42,000 lb) 8 August 1977 1 year 2 months Controlled 2 June 1976
Salyut 1 USSR 18,900 kg (41,700 lb) 11 October 1971 5 months 23 days Controlled 19 April 1971
Salyut 3 USSR 18,900 kg (41,700 lb) 24 January 1975 6 months 30 days Controlled 25 June 1974
Salyut 4 USSR 18,900 kg (41,700 lb) 2 February 1977 2 years 1 month Controlled 26 December 1974
Apollo SA-5 Nose Cone USA 17,100 kg (37,700 lb) 30 April 1966 2 years 3 months Uncontrolled 29 January 1964
Apollo SA-6 CSM BP-13 USA 16,900 kg (37,300 lb) 1 June 1964 4 days Uncontrolled 28 May 1964
Apollo SA-7 CSM BP-15 USA 16,650 kg (36,710 lb) 22 September 1964 4 days Uncontrolled 18 September 1964
Cosmos 929 USSR 15,000 kg (33,000 lb) 2 February 1978 6 months 16 days Controlled 17 July 1977
Cosmos 1443 USSR 15,000 kg (33,000 lb) 19 September 1983 6 months 17 days Controlled 2 March 1983
CGRO[3] USA 14,910 kg (32,870 lb) 4 June 2000 9 years Controlled 5 April 1991
Phobos-Grunt[9] Russia 13,500 kg (29,800 lb) 15 January 2012 2 months 6 days Uncontrolled 9 November 2011
Pegasus 1 USA 10,297 kg (22,701 lb) [10] 17 September 1978[11] 13 years Uncontrolled 16 February 1965
Pegasus 2 USA 9,058 kg (19,969 lb)[10] 3 November 1979[11] 14 years Uncontrolled 25 May 1965
UARS[12] NASA 5,900 kg (13,000 lb) 24 September 2011 20 years Uncontrolled 12 September 1991
ROSAT[13] DLR 2,400 kg (5,300 lb) 23 October 2011 21 years Uncontrolled 1 June 1990

See also

References

  1. ↑ "Largest Objects to Reenter". Center for Orbital and Reentry Debris Studies.
  2. ↑ Orbiting Debris: A Space Environmental Problem-Background Paper (PDF) (OTA-BP-ISC-72 ed.). U.S. Congress, Office of Technology Assessment. October 1990.
  3. 1 2 3 Larsen, Francis Lyall, Paul B. (2009). Space law : a treatise ([Online-Ausg.]. ed.). Farnham, Surrey, England: Ashgate. pp. 114–121. ISBN 0-7546-4390-5.
  4. ↑
  5. 1 2
  6. ↑
  7. 1 2 For composite objects such as space stations, age and launch date are based on the first launched module.
  8. ↑ McDowell, Jonathan. "Launch Log". Jonathan's Space Page. Retrieved 20 December 2010.
  9. ↑ Amos, Jonathan (15 January 2012). "Phobos-Grunt: Failed probe 'falls over Pacific'". BBC.
  10. 1 2 "World Civil Satellites 1957-2006". Space Security Index. Archived from the original on 18 July 2011. Retrieved 20 December 2010.
  11. 1 2 McDowell, Jonathan. "Satellite Catalog". Jonathan's Space Page. Retrieved 20 December 2010.
  12. ↑ Justin Mullins, Paul Marks (20 September 2011). "Hardy 6-tonne satellite falls to Earth". New Scientist. Retrieved 25 September 2014. "This is the largest NASA satellite to come back uncontrolled for quite a while," says Nick Johnson, chief scientist for NASA's Orbital Debris Program Office at the Johnson Space Center in Houston, Texas.
  13. ↑ Paul Marks (23 September 2011). "Second big satellite set to resist re-entry burn-up". New Scientist. Retrieved 25 September 2014.
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