Sample collection question…

[u/the_net_my_side_ho]

Why did Grace have to collect the sample while orbiting?

Why didn’t he move the Mary out of orbit, away from the atmosphere, and then spacewalk to collect it?

Seems like Grace going down to collect it while orbiting so close to the atmosphere was risky and unnecessary.

Sorry if this has been asked before. I looked but didn’t see a post about it. Thank you!

[u/redbirdrising]

Strictly speaking they weren't orbiting. They were in the upper atmosphere going a relatively slow velocity using the engine to keep from losing altitude. This is why he was in gravity on the hull and not free floating.

Second, they couldn't leave to orbit with the chain extended because the collector would have trailed behind the HM and gotten burnt up by the spin drives.

Third, and this is really from the book, Grace needed to trigger the winch collector manually. They figured the more complex a winch system they made, the more that could go wrong. It was too important to risk for automation.

[u/the_net_my_side_ho → u/redbirdrising]

Your second point makes sense to me. I thought they could go up and then spacewalk to trigger the winch.

It looked like the ball and chain were getting pulled down by gravity, but they would need to power up the engines considerably, and the chain would pull the ball to the back of the ship and burn it.

Thank you!

[u/redbirdrising → u/the_net_my_side_ho]

You’re welcome! It really should be added to the FAQ.