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3

It is a weathering process ("space weathering") and these are hard to predict. They alter surfaces of airless bodies over time. I would, though, assume, that the lifetime of the objects we put in space is too short (years to decades) to render them useless by weathering alone, if not single events get in the way. Though they will suffer some degradation over ...

6

As a new user I cannot comment or tweak the original answer, so I'll try my own. Happy update per any recommendations that come up. @uhoh's answer is close, but a few things to note. The TLE tells us the number of orbits per day is 15.50995519 (line 2 columns 53–63)  \frac{24 \frac{hours}{day} * 60 \frac{mins}{hour} }{15.50995519 \frac{orbits}{day}} = ...

3

Heat transfers in one of three ways: convection, conduction, and/or radiation. In the vacuum of space, radiation is the primary mechanism of heat leaving a spacecraft. Radiation is slow acting and relatively easy to insulate against. In a high altitude balloon, objects passing through the cool air outside readily transfer their heat to the surrounding ...

7

I've been refining a general rocket launch simulation program over the last few years, modeling it on the work described here by Robert Braeunig. According to my current version of the simulation, it's possible to launch 134,000kg of payload (including fairing mass) to a 185 km x 200 km orbit at 28.5º inclination on the INT-21, in addition to the nearly-...

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