Spy Satellite to Hit Earth by late February to March |
Spy Satellite to Hit Earth by late February to March |
Guest_Bobby_* |
Jan 27 2008, 04:47 AM
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Guests |
Just read at MSNBC that a large U.S. spy satellite will hit Earth by the end of February or early March.
Better keep our hard hats ready??? Here is the article: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/22857051/ |
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Feb 20 2008, 03:09 AM
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Senior Member Group: Admin Posts: 4763 Joined: 15-March 05 From: Glendale, AZ Member No.: 197 |
http://www.space.com/news/080219-satellite-shootdown.html
The collision between the fired missile and the satellite would not only break the massive hunk of metal into pieces but would also speed up its tumble through Earth's atmosphere. "If you want to bring something down, you slow it down. You apply a force on it which results in it being slowed down and decrease in its orbit," Carrico told SPACE.com. "Right at that point where they want to engage [the satellite] is at the edge of the atmosphere, so you're bringing it down faster." I believe that was the point I was trying to make above. -------------------- If Occam had heard my theory, things would be very different now.
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Feb 20 2008, 06:05 PM
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Member Group: Members Posts: 321 Joined: 6-April 06 From: Cape Canaveral Member No.: 734 |
http://www.space.com/news/080219-satellite-shootdown.html [i]The collision between the fired missile and the satellite would not only break the massive hunk of metal into pieces but would also speed up its tumble through Earth's atmosphere. I believe that was the point I was trying to make above. The force that is going to bring down the fragments is drag, not the impact. The fragments have a lower ballistic coefficent |
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Feb 20 2008, 06:09 PM
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#4
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Senior Member Group: Members Posts: 3648 Joined: 1-October 05 From: Croatia Member No.: 523 |
The force that is going to bring down the fragments is drag, not the impact. The fragments have a lower ballistic coefficent I believe the space.com story doesn't mean the impact will bring down the fragments, it will lower the perigee so it runs into the denser atmosphere much sooner. Hence the "speed up its tumble through Earth's atmosphere". It's inevitable the fragments will be robbed of some energy by the impact in addition to increased drag due to fragmentation you mention. -------------------- |
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Feb 20 2008, 06:55 PM
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#5
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Dublin Correspondent Group: Admin Posts: 1799 Joined: 28-March 05 From: Celbridge, Ireland Member No.: 220 |
I know this is a stupid question and I'm sure I should know the answer myself but I'm having trouble getting my head around it. Lower orbits have a higher orbital velocity than higher orbits so if this exercise is (as seems likely) going to be a head on collision then it will slow down the whole satellite and probably seriously slow down quite a lot of the debris. Ignoring drag which I fully accept will act much more effectively on the resulting impact compromised debris why doesn't this deceleration cause the whole thing to end up in a higher orbit?
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