Posted by Shawn Kelly on
URL: https://www.shado-forum.com/Conflict-tp1497792p1497802.html


This was exactly the point I brought up last time we discussed Conflict.
The chances of hitting any single object of any size is small but the
chance of impact when there is a wide spray of buckshot coming at you is
greatly increased. The effect of getting hit is devastating when the
object is anywhere above about 1 gram so you're far better off just leaving
junk alone rather than blowing it to bits. The odds for survival greatly
favor a miss of a big object rather than an impact with one of many tiny
bits since even a collision with a tiny fragment makes you just as dead.
Re-entering junk whole is by far the best solution, but then examinations
and good reporting of things like space junk had never really been
distributed to the public when UFO aired so I don't really blame them.

Hindsight being what it is, I think UFO missed an opportunity to inform
people far more accurately as to the realities of the problem of space
junk, and they could have done it without disrupting the script or the
story much at all. Sci-Fi is always best when served with a healthy side
order of solid science. They could have even gotten away with blowing
things to bits (so important for adding action and thrill) as they showed
the re-entry of the junk. It was good that they brought up the subject of
space junk but bad in the fact that they helped to propagate the myth of
blowing up space junk which has stayed with the general public even to
today.

Shawn "GOT*SKY?" Kelly
www.sdaa.org


Date: Tue, 8 Oct 2002 19:02:35 -0700
From: "Ron DeMedeiros" <[hidden email]>
Subject: Re: Conflict

Conflict has always been one of my favorite episodes. One change I would
have made to the script to make it more accurate is to have the limpets
fire
a rocket to put the space junk on a trajectory to reenter the atmosphere
and
burn up.

The process of blowing up the space junk actually exacerbates the problem
because you create a high quantity of small debris. A small piece of debris
traveling at 17,000 + mph can do some serious damage.

I'll have more comments on the episode when I have a chance to watch it
later this week.

Ron