Something to watch for this weekend

From: Mike DiMuzio (mdimuzio@cisnet.com)
Date: Fri Apr 05 2002 - 21:55:05 EST

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    Dolores Beasley
    Headquarters, Washington               April 4, 2002
    (Phone: 202/358-1753)
    
    Nancy Neal
    Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, Md.
    (Phone: 301/286-0039)
    
    RELEASE: 02-63
    
    PARTIAL LAUNCH VEHICLE AND SPACECRAFT 
    TO RE-ENTER EARTH'S ATMOSPHERE
    
         The upper stage of a Pegasus launch vehicle with NASA's 
    first High Energy Transient Experiment (HETE-1) and the 
    Argentine SAC-B spacecraft still attached is predicted to re-
    enter the Earth's atmosphere at approximately 7 a.m. EDT 
    Sunday, April 7. This prediction is uncertain to within plus 
    or minus two days.
    
    The total weight of the upper stage and combined spacecraft 
    is 535 kilograms (1,177 pounds). Initial analysis indicates 
    that only four small stainless-steel batteries, weighing a 
    total of 15 kilograms (33 pounds) will survive re-entry.
    
    "The re-entry is uncontrolled, and due to potential solar 
    flux variations, time and location predictions will not be 
    reliable until only a few hours before the re-entry event," 
    said Scott Hull, Spacecraft Engineering Lead for Space 
    Systems Mission Operations at NASA's Goddard Space Flight 
    Center, Greenbelt, Md. 
    
    The U.S. Space Command will track HETE-1/SAC-B and the 
    launch-vehicle third stage until re-entry. NASA will monitor 
    the orbital parameters based on Space Command data and will 
    supply updates and technical information as needed.
    
    The HETE-1 satellite was launched Nov. 4, 1996, along with 
    SAC-B, on a Pegasus rocket from Wallops Island, Va. The 
    Pegasus rocket achieved a good orbit, but the third stage 
    failed to release the two satellites. As a result, SAC-B and 
    HETE-1 were unable to function as designed and both died due 
    to power failure within days of launch.
    
    SAC-B is connected to a Dual Payload Attach Fitting canister 
    containing HETE, which is in turn connected to the Pegasus 
    third stage. The combined stack is just over three and a half 
    meters (11.6 feet) long with a diameter of one meter (3.3 
    feet).
    
    The HETE mission was rebuilt and re-flown as HETE-2, with a 
    successful Pegasus launch Oct. 9, 2000.
    
    Updated information on the re-entry will be available on the 
    Internet at:
    
    http://www.gsfc.nasa.gov/topstory/20020401hetereenter.html
    
    
    -- 
    41.087N  80.714W 305 meters
    Mike DiMuzio	mdimuzio@cisnet.com	AOL-IM   Mike4Stars
    Purgamentum init, exit purgamentum.
    
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