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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