[amsat-bb] Re: Scratch two sats

[Nigel Gunn G8IFF/W8IFF]

Nothing in the change list on Spacetrack yet and nothing looking suspicious in the Irridium keps.

Auke de Jong, VE6PWN wrote:
> I wonder which particular object humbers these were?
> Will they dissapear from the next set of Keps?
> Was the russian one, a ham one?
> 
> 73
> 
> ----- Original Message ----- 
> From: "Andrew Koenig" <ke5gdb at gmail.com>
> To: "Andrew Glasbrenner" <glasbrenner at mindspring.com>
> Cc: <amsat-bb at amsat.org>
> Sent: Wednesday, February 11, 2009 5:37 PM
> Subject: [amsat-bb] Re: Scratch two sats
> 
> 
>> Let's hope that this doesn't happen to AO-51, AO-7 or any other birds that
>> are still in use today.
>>
>> On another note, it's really quite a small world. Mark Matney (the orbital
>> debris scientist) was our mentor for the Team America Rocket Challenge
>> (TARC) rocket that we built at school. We actually thought about putting
>> APRS in the rocket :-).  If I'm not mistaking, he was quite angry when the
>> Chinese blew up that old meteorological satellite during the TARC class.
>>
>> 73 de KE5GDB
>>
>> On Wed, Feb 11, 2009 at 6:22 PM, Andrew Glasbrenner <
>> glasbrenner at mindspring.com> wrote:
>>
>>> http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20090211/ap_on_sc/satellite_collision
>>>
>>> Iridium versus a Russian satellite, I wonder who'll get the ticket.
>>>
>>> 73, Drew
>>>
>>> CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. - Two big communications satellites collided in the
>>> first-ever crash of two intact spacecraft in orbit, shooting out a pair 
>>> of
>>> massive debris clouds and posing a slight risk to the international space
>>> station.
>>>
>>> NASA said it will take weeks to determine the full magnitude of the 
>>> crash,
>>> which occurred nearly 500 miles over Siberia on Tuesday.
>>>
>>> "We knew this was going to happen eventually," said Mark Matney, an 
>>> orbital
>>> debris scientist at Johnson Space Center in Houston.
>>>
>>> NASA believes any risk to the space station and its three astronauts is
>>> low.
>>> It orbits about 270 miles below the collision course. There also should 
>>> be
>>> no danger to the space shuttle set to launch with seven astronauts on 
>>> Feb.
>>> 22, officials said, but that will be re-evaluated in the coming days.
>>>
>>> The collision involved an Iridium commercial satellite, which was 
>>> launched
>>> in 1997, and a Russian satellite launched in 1993 and believed to be
>>> nonfunctioning. The Russian satellite was out of control, Matney said.
>>>
>>> The Iridium craft weighed 1,235 pounds, and the Russian craft nearly a 
>>> ton.
>>>
>>> No one has any idea yet how many pieces were generated or how big they
>>> might
>>> be.
>>>
>>> "Right now, they're definitely counting dozens," Matney said. "I would
>>> suspect that they'll be counting hundreds when the counting is done."
>>>
>>> As for pieces the size of micrometers, the count will likely be in the
>>> thousands, he added.
>>>
>>> There have been four other cases in which space objects have collided
>>> accidentally in orbit, NASA said. But those were considered minor and
>>> involved parts of spent rockets or small satellites.
>>>
>>> Nicholas Johnson, an orbital debris expert at the Houston space center,
>>> said
>>> the risk of damage from Tuesday's collision is greater for the Hubble 
>>> Space
>>> Telescope and Earth-observing satellites, which are in higher orbit and
>>> nearer the debris field.
>>>
>>> At the beginning of this year there were roughly 17,000 pieces of manmade
>>> debris orbiting Earth, Johnson said. The items, at least 4 inches in 
>>> size,
>>> are being tracked by the U.S. Space Surveillance Network, which is 
>>> operated
>>> by the military. The network detected the two debris clouds created
>>> Tuesday.
>>>
>>> Litter in orbit has increased in recent years, in part because of the
>>> deliberate breakups of old satellites. It's gotten so bad that orbital
>>> debris is now the biggest threat to a space shuttle in flight, surpassing
>>> the dangers of liftoff and return to Earth. NASA is in regular touch with
>>> the Space Surveillance Network, to keep the space station a safe distance
>>> from any encroaching objects, and shuttles, too, when they're flying.
>>>
>>> "The collisions are going to be becoming more and more important in the
>>> coming decades," Matney said.
>>>
>>> Iridium Holdings LLC has a system of 65 active satellites which relay 
>>> calls
>>> from portable phones that are about twice the size of a regular mobile
>>> phone. It has more than 300,000 subscribers. The U.S. Department of 
>>> Defense
>>> is one of its largest customers.
>>>
>>> The company has spare satellites, and it is unclear whether the collision
>>> caused an outage. An Iridium spokeswoman had no immediate comment.
>>>
>>> Initially launched by Motorola Inc. in the 1990s, Iridium plunged into
>>> bankruptcy in 1999. Private investors relaunched service in 2001.
>>>
>>> Iridium satellites are unusual because their orbit is so low and they 
>>> move
>>> so fast. Most communications satellites are in much higher orbits and 
>>> don't
>>> move relative to each other, which means collisions are rare.
>>>
>>> Iridium Holdings LLC, is owned by New York-based investment firm 
>>> Greenhill
>>> &
>>> Co. through a subsidiary, GHL Acquisition Corp., which is listed on the
>>> American Stock Exchange. The shares closed Wednesday down 3 cents at 
>>> $9.28.
>>>
>>> ___
>>>
>>> AP science writer Seth Borenstein in Washington and AP technology writer
>>> Peter Svensson in New York contributed to this report.
>>>
>>>
>>> _______________________________________________
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>>
>>
>> -- 
>> Andrew Koenig
>> _______________________________________________
>> Sent via AMSAT-BB at amsat.org. Opinions expressed are those of the author.
>> Not an AMSAT-NA member? Join now to support the amateur satellite program!
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> 
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-- 
<><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><>
Nigel A. Gunn. G8IFF   W8IFF (was KC8NHF)
1865 El Camino Drive, Xenia, OH 45385-1115, USA   937 825 5032
e-mail nigel at ngunn.net             www  http://www.ngunn.net
Member of  ARRL, GQRP #11396, QRPARCI #11644, SOC #548,  Flying Pig #385,
                   Dayton ARA #2128,  AMSAT-NA   LM-1691,  AMSAT-UK, MKARS,  ALC
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