Natural Science Forum / Physics / General Physics / July 2008

a = GM/r^2  M is the Earth's mass, r is the radius to its center of
gravity.  Integrate dr for large /_\r above the surface.

The test mass' center of mass is accelerated toward the Earth's center
of mass (with centripetal correction to center of gravity) by 1 gee.
For a non-local mass distribution a quadrupole tidal force rotates its
largst moment of inertia axis until it is aligned parallel to gee.

This is one reason why ISS FUBAR is such a loathsome piece of sh.t.
In free fall its long axis would point toward the Earth's center.
NASA wants it flying tangent to the surface for photo ops.  Two real
world consequences ensue:

  1) ISS FUBAR constantly burns outs steering reaction wheels, and

  2) Despite ISS FUBAR being the size of a half-dozen 747s, the total
true free fall volume within ISS FUBAR is about four basketball's
worth.