• NASA Backs Shuttle Successors
    30 replies, posted
[QUOTE=Mattk50;29316386]wouldnt it burn up in the atmosphere?[/QUOTE] If you apply thrust in the direction you're moving in orbit, it raises the altitude of your orbit. If you apply thrust opposite the direction you're moving, it lowers your orbit. Firing a bullet in space means you're applying thrust, specifically adding 780 m/s of velocity. If you fire the bullet opposite your direction of motion, the bullet will be in a lower orbit than the gun that fired it, and will burn up pretty quick. If you fire in the same direction you're moving, the bullet will be in a significantly higher orbit. Those bullets will take a lot longer to reenter, because higher altitudes have less atmospheric drag. Eventually, though, they will be slowed by the drag at the lowest part of the orbit and reenter, just like everything else in LEO. Until then, they are a space debris hazard, because I'm pretty sure a cannon round is too small for NASA's tracking systems, but big enough to cause damage to whatever it hits.
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