Wednesday February 21 04:06 PM EST U.S. Federal Agencies Networked for Mir Fall

By Leonard David Senior Space Writer, SPACE.com

WASHINGTON -- The U.S. government is coordinating federal agencies to prepare for the fall of the Russian Mir space station. In the event that an out-of-control Mir crashes in the United States, the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) is ready to respond to the calamity.

The Defense Department is expected to announce this week a linking of government organizations that will form a network to monitor the deorbiting of the huge station, approaching its last days in orbit.

Mir's crash dive to Earth is projected to occur between March 13 and 18, according to officials at the U.S. Space Command in Colorado Springs, Colorado.

Russian roulette

Because of the immense size of the Russian space complex, space debris experts expect as much as 50 tons (45 metric tons) of the 130-ton Mir (117 metric tons) to survive the atmospheric plunge and strike the surface. It will be the largest space structure ever dropped from orbit.

Russian space engineers will attempt targeting the Mir into a remote south Pacific impact zone, some 1,850 miles (3,000 kilometers) east of New Zealand's southern tip. But due to the immense size of the outpost, there are no guarantees that Mir leftovers might not fall outside the predicted splashdown zone.

Moreover, if control over Mir is lost, then the situation turns into a true game of Russian roulette. When and exactly where the station bullets its way to Earth becomes far less predictable.

FEMA at the ready

As part of a government Mir watching network, a FEMA operations center is to receive updates on the demise of the complex.

"It's basically a matter of contingency planning," Marc Wolfson, spokesperson for FEMA told SPACE.com. "FEMA has an operations center that we staff 24 hours a day. We'll be monitoring the situation with NASA and the rest of the federal government," he said.

As it does for natural disasters like earthquakes and hurricanes, Wolfson said FEMA will be in monitoring mode during the hours Mir tumbles to Earth.

"If for some reason things don't go as planned, and Mir ends up hitting somewhere in the U.S., then FEMA may be called upon to activate the Federal response plan to provide Federal assistance to whatever area would be impacted," Wolfson said.

In the event of Mir crashing into the United States, Wolfson said any initial response is likely to be handled by local fire departments and emergency rescue teams. "We would be their backup. If they needed additional federal resources to help with the situation -- or whatever special technical expertise they would need -- we would bring in our troops to help them out," he said.

Because Mir is so large, FEMA is being prudent by being ready for any possible emergency call, Wolfson said.

Command central: eyes on the prize

Air Force major Perry Nouis, a spokesman for the U.S. Space Command in Colorado Springs, said Mir is tracked every day. "We track about 8,300 other objects that are in orbit. Mir is certainly one of the key ones," he said.

"We will be providing updated tracking information to the Russian space agency so that it knows where Mir is when it conducts its deorbiting operation," Nouis told SPACE.com.

U.S. Space Command radar and telescopes located around the world provide space surveillance data on the location of Mir.

This powerful array of sensors will monitor Mir's fiery finale. U.S. Space Command data -- in near real-time -- is to be fed into the National Military Command Center for U.S. federal agencies including FEMA, the Federal Aviation Administration and the State Department, as well as the White House situation room, Nouis said.

Similarly, that information is also being piped to the NASA Johnson Space Center Mission Control in Houston, Texas. NASA, in turn, is to feed updates on the exact whereabouts of the station to a Mir control center just outside of Moscow, Russia.

Simulations of how best to coordinate NASA and Russian Mir reentry specialists were to begin this week at the Johnson Space Center.

"There are two flows of information we are providing. One to U.S. government agencies and one to the Russian space agency," Nouis said.

Window watching

Nouis said that the Russians have announced they are committed to a safe deorbit.

The U.S. Space Command is slated to provide the Russian space agency a projected entry point of where Mir will enter Earth's atmosphere on deorbit day.

"What we will provide is a 15-minute-plus, and a 15-minute-minus window -- so you are talking about a 30-minute window that we'll provide to the Russian space agency as to where we think Mir will be coming in," Nouis said.

In those 30 minutes, as Mir speeds around Earth, the distance covered is roughly 6,000 miles (9,655 kilometers).

"So it's a rather large window," Nouis said.

"Because it's so large, that's part of the reason why we can't predict what pieces of Mir will reach the surface, if any. They do expect, because it's so big, that some will survive reentry. But how it breaks up depends on many different factors. The aerodynamics of pieces could make it quite a range as to where those pieces could wind up," Nouis said.

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-- (look@out.below!), March 01, 2001

Answers

How much control do the Russkies have over this piece of crap? Somewhere between March 13 and March 18 doesn't sound too good.

-- don't worry (FEMA @ has. body bags ready), March 01, 2001.

I'm sure Rich will be able to tell us when ans where this will land!

-- FutureShock (gray@matter.think), March 01, 2001.

LOL, good one FS,

RICH, HELP us out here, please?

BTW, got basement.

-- sumer (shh@aol.con), March 01, 2001.

sumer, you grab the hats...

and I'll grab the drinks...meet ya in the basement ;)

-- Peg (pegmcleod@mediaone.net), March 01, 2001.

Which one is you Peg? Who are the others? Captions please!

-- (let@us.know), March 01, 2001.

let@us.know...

I don't know who these people are...ya see, it's (was) a joke.

Space station Mir falling from the sky...betta get a tinfoil hat..har har.

Oh, nevermind!

-- Peg (pegmcleod@mediaone.net), March 01, 2001.

Don't forget to 'foil' the babies...

-- CD (costavike@hotmail.com), March 01, 2001.

ROFL, CD...too cute!

-- Peg (pegmcleod@mediaone.net), March 01, 2001.

What if the Russians planted an EMP bomb or a nuke in this sonofabitch, and were planning to "accidentally" steer it of course into the United States?

I'll bet this is why our Defense Department has been testing that missile interceptor off of the Marshall Islands. They want to be able to take this sucker out just in case it strays into our airspace.

-- (but can @ we. hit it?), March 02, 2001.

I kinda figured Peg was the skinny one and Sumer was the tub-o-lard. Does anyone have any pics from the last get-together?

-- (would like @ to. see), March 04, 2001.

I kinda figured Peg was the skinny one and Sumer was the tub-o- lard.

Let me repeat myself...

I DO NOT KNOW WHO THOSE PEOPLE ARE...

It was just something I got off the net for the tinfoil hats!!!

-- Peg (pegmcleod@mediaone.net), March 04, 2001.

I kinda figured Peg was the skinny one and Sumer was the tub-o-lard. Does anyone have any pics from the last get-together?

Passing the above resident MORON a reading book entitled:

See Dick

basic reading 101 buthead :-)

PS to PEG: I luved the pic w/the heineken, you ARE my kinda party gal. Grabs the Reynolds Wrap and Runssssss...........hee hee

-- sumer (shh@aol.con), March 05, 2001.