[X] My Assistant

[remcook]

for updates:

http://planetary.org/solarsailblog/index.html

main page:

http://www.planetary.org/solarsail/

[djellison]

And as fans of orbiter know - the kick need to raise from say 500x90 to 500x500 isnt that much iirc

(goes away, opens orbiter)

Yeah - from a 500km x 90km orbit - I was at 7055m/sec and needed to raise that to 7174 m/s to circularise at 500k (ish) - we're taking 120m/sec. I doubt, to be honest, if it's got that much kick on board.

Depending on the current atmos. conditions, 90km might be enough to kill it in half a dozen orbits or it might survive a dozen or so - who knows. Sans-sails, it's fairly small so not that

This might turn out to be one of those amazing mission-rescue jobs, or it might turn out to be a total loss

Pity - I was really looking forward to spotting it with heavens-above.com


Doug