Will the space station grow large enough to be visable to the naked eye during daylight?

Question

If not, how large would a man made object be (assuming the albedo (sp?) of the space station). My assumption is that low orbit objects should be easier to spot since they are close and would therefore reflect more light to the observer (assuming a sort of inverse square law application to reflection, which I'm not sure is accurate, but does seem to be a good starting point).

Answer 1

NASA flight director Paul Hill thinks so. After the STS-104 EVA to install the Quest airlock he said:

"And to think that in a couple of years, after we've built out to the alpha joints and added the rest of the solar modules, when this thing flies over - during the daylight - you'll be able to look up for the first time and see a man-made object flying through the sky with the naked eye. That's pretty significant. We're halfway there and this opens the door up for that becoming reality." (Ref. 1)

Nothing that has happened since then has changed his mind. (Ref. 2)

There are skeptics, though.

"I think it's a bit of a p.r. exaggeration. Total cross-sectional area will roughly double when the remaining large components are added to the ISS. That corresponds to a brightess change of about one magnitude. Not really a big deal." (Ref. 3)

We'll see what we see...

Answer 2

I am sorry I cannot answer your very interesting question but I am reminded of the first satellite, the Sputnik and an event back in the late 50's, early 60's.
When the Sputnik was launched and circling the earth, an newspaper photograph was published at regular intervals back home in Dublin. It was done on a delayed exposure resulting in a white line representing the orbit across the photograph. People were quite interested. One evening my friends and I were crossing O'Connell's Bridge when suddenly one of them shouted 'There she is, it's the Sputnik'. He was pointing skywards. I, and my other friends began looking and he continued to point. Within minutes, there was a crowd of about fifty people all looking up at the sky with others pointing. Within more minutes the crowd had grown to hundreds with cars and buses stopping. Within a total of about 8 minutes, the entire bridge was traffic bound with literally a couple of thousand people searching the sky. I eventually asked my friend 'Where is she'. He replied 'I haven't the faintest idea, but did you ever see so many bloody idiots'..............................

Answer 3

http://www.chron.com/content/interactive/space/station/stories/2000/20000808.html this article reveals a 2000 space station being seen early in the morning. That qualifies as daylight, although later the article goes on to say that full daylight disallows the visual.

Answer 4

it sort of is, its just a tiny spot of light moving slowly across the lonely sky

Answer 5

Of course stupid. How do you think they find the feckin' thing.
It's all a question of proximity.

Answer 6

If it passes over your area, you can see it now. Check out this site to see if it is visible in your area. http://spaceflight.nasa.gov/realdata/sightings/

Answer 7

yes someday

Answer 8

Maybe not in our lifetime