Comments on: Researchers Plan to Launch Paper Airplane from ISS

By: Universe Today » Paper Boomerang will be Tested on Space Station

Universe Today » Paper Boomerang will be Tested on Space Station — Mon, 28 Jan 2008 15:56:30 +0000

[...] of Yasuhiro Togai, a world boomerang champion from Osaka, Japan. With the announcement that a paper airplane will be launched from the ISS, space is beginning to look like an unruly high school classroom. But [...]

By: Paul

Paul — Sun, 27 Jan 2008 21:09:12 +0000

Great!! Just Great!! More space junk!
A paint flake the size of a regular stamp would be like getting hit by a 16 pound ten pin bowling ball.

Imagine what this thing would do to the ISS, Astronaut or Satellite.

Take what's up there already, place it all in the same orbit from the smallest piece of sand to the largest pieces of space junk. And we would have a ring around the Earth twice that of Saturn!

Dangerous enough up there I would say. I can see the headlines now…"Astronaut Killed by Paper Airplane!" what a way to go!

By: Bertie

Bertie — Sat, 26 Jan 2008 12:38:46 +0000

Here's something interresting for you guys to think about. A paper plane doesn't work on the same principles that a real plane does. Lift, in the most common sense doesn't play as big a role. I read this in a book by Eric Kenneway on origami called: The A-Z of Origami.

By: Jason Leary

Jason Leary — Sat, 26 Jan 2008 02:51:28 +0000

It's a fascinating project and worthwhile .

If it had a message of peace written in Hebrew and Arabic and landed in Israel or Palestinian territories might it lead to a sense of awe amongst people in those violence torn areas .

If it landed in Australia amonst the aborginals of the wild outback deserts might it be a new catalyst for a new form of Dreamtime ?

If it landed in the town in Japan from which the project originated that would be rather Borgesian !

By: Tristan MacAvery

Tristan MacAvery — Thu, 24 Jan 2008 22:11:04 +0000

It's not an "exercise in stupidity"; it's an exercise in whimsy. Who among us hasn't stood upon some high promentory and wanted to toss a pebble, a pine cone, a paper ariplane? And what higher promentory than something in orbit about the Earth? Not everything in science has to be absolutely practical. The "what if" has led to more discovery than the "what a stupid idea". (I'm waiting for some person on EVA to see if s/he can skip a flat object off the atmosphere as one skips flat stones over the surface of a lake!)

By: Chuck Lam

Chuck Lam — Thu, 24 Jan 2008 20:25:46 +0000

This looks like an exercise in stupidity.

By: Peter Giancana

Peter Giancana — Thu, 24 Jan 2008 14:58:21 +0000

Having been thought of, it needs to be done.

By: Tech Roach

Tech Roach — Thu, 24 Jan 2008 10:39:49 +0000

Whats the point ? I mean, no tracking, nothing special and nothing. So, whats this all about ? Scientist gone whacky ?!

By: N Stone

N Stone — Thu, 24 Jan 2008 00:50:47 +0000

even if someone on earth did find one of the paper airplanes, the chances of that person knowing of this project is very slim

By: Michael

Michael — Wed, 23 Jan 2008 20:15:59 +0000

Of course, the odds of any of these things (even the 10,000 idea) being found by a human being are so remote as to be nearly nil. That's with the oceans, ice caps, jungles, mountains, etc., etc. Though we feel crowded here on the east coast of the U.S. the Earth is largely uninhabited, of course!

By: Harry M

Harry M — Wed, 23 Jan 2008 20:00:44 +0000

Embed an RFIC for tracking.

By: Richie

Richie — Wed, 23 Jan 2008 19:23:59 +0000

Don't suppose there is any chance of them being fined under the international litter law as defined in offences against the planet act, section 94281 sub section 37984B paragraph 591 etc, etc….

By: Alex

Alex — Wed, 23 Jan 2008 17:59:31 +0000

Haha nice chris…

How about depleated uranium slugs with notes inside them that we drop over cities around the world? That would be fun?

By: Chris

Chris — Wed, 23 Jan 2008 17:50:20 +0000

And one of these thousands of origami planes hangs out in orbit and gets stuck on the camera lens of a multi billion dollar spy satellite.

Oops.

By: mollycunneen

mollycunneen — Wed, 23 Jan 2008 17:44:32 +0000

I know nothing about the dynamics of this, so don't yell at me. could notes be put into a "bottle thing" would it fall to earth? Would they land at different places? Could the paper airplanes be big enough to be very noticeable if one was found with information to contact the delivering site where it was found? I think Miguel was being sarcastic, but it doesn't seem like such a bad idea to get funding.

By: Miguel V.

Miguel V. — Wed, 23 Jan 2008 16:13:53 +0000

Yes! Launch hundreds or thousands. Go to a big company for the money to finance the project. Print its logo in the planes and film their lauch. Award the first who find one plane with $1M or so. Etc.

By: Alex

Alex — Wed, 23 Jan 2008 15:54:39 +0000

Very interesting question… In order to get that, however, you would have a huge mass fraction in the airframe – and far less payload.

Probably a better project would be to drop many gliders (1000 or so) from a high altitude balloon and see where it lands. Have the participating students chart out the landing sites and use those for some research. Maybe different designs could be tested to see which glides the farthest?

By: actionforspace.com

actionforspace.com — Wed, 23 Jan 2008 15:35:50 +0000

This is a fantastic and interesting idea. I hope that it serves to inspire young people and the general public to look heavenward and think of the scientific possibilities in space. Does this mean that if they made a spacecraft with the lift to weight ratio of a paper airplane, they could eliminate thermal protection and reentry systems?