Comment

Comment on Anon has a warning about the ISS

A structural crack wouldn’t necessarily be in the hull of the habitat modules. The ISS has a big frame (the Integrated Truss Structure) which supports the solar arrays, power distribution and heat radiators. If the frame is damaged, firing the engines to maintain orbit might be impossible.

Atmospheric drag reduces the altitude by about 2 km a month on average. Orbital boosting can be performed by the station’s two main engines on the Zvezda service module

source

Sort:hotnew top

Tar_alcaran@sh.itjust.works ⁨1⁩ ⁨month⁩ ago
And most supply missions give it a boost before leaving as well. Also, the ISS can “glide” by turning it’s narrow end forward, getting less drag from the atmosphere and reduce the decay rate at the cost of power generation

source
- NaibofTabr@infosec.pub ⁨1⁩ ⁨month⁩ ago
  Yup, but boosting and turning would both be things you wouldn’t want to do with a weakened frame.
  
  source
- corsicanguppy@lemmy.ca ⁨1⁩ ⁨month⁩ ago
  
  it’s narrow end
  
  is it?
  
  source
  - Tar_alcaran@sh.itjust.works ⁨1⁩ ⁨month⁩ ago
    My autocorrect vastly prefers “it’s” to “its”, regardless of grammer.
    
    source