Re: Re Entry ..Brazil..July 1st ?
Alan Pickup (alan@wingar.demon.co.uk)
Thu, 21 Aug 1997 20:49:37 +0100
In message <08324839003109@cybase.co.uk>, John Locker
<satcom@cyserv1.cybase.co.uk> writes
>Can anyone identify for me the object which re-entered on July 1st around
>2200 gmt.
>
>Location of impact was Brazil...approx co-ordinates 57 west,13 south..the
>Matto Grosso region.
>Reports indicate that debris,about 3-4 feet in diameter , described as an
>"iron ball" crashed down leaving a sizeable crater.
> ...
>Sounds like a bit of launcher debris to me.....any ideas?
The closest re-entries to this date, taken from my SatEvo decay list #34,
are:
# Designation Name SatEvo decay day+dec NASA decay
17481 87- 12 B M-3S2 r June 28.78 June 28
24205 94- 29 KG STEP-2 Pegasus deb July 2 June 2
(80261 95- 28) Cosmos 2313 deb July 3.0 (not listed)
11075 78- 80 D Molniya 1-42 SL-6 r2 July 3.54 July 3
#24757 (Progress M-34) is reported to have been deorbited on July 2. The
final elsets for this are/were (note that day 97183 is July 2):
Progress M-34 393 x 375 km
1 24757U 97014A 97182.85055067 .00022057 00000-0 25900-3 0 1323
2 24757 51.6511 12.1633 0013888 196.9229 184.0919 15.61285879 13466
Progress M-34 393 x 375 km
1 24757U 97014A 97183.16686013 .00072254 00000-0 82977-3 0 1331
2 24757 51.6526 10.5730 0013088 196.0624 163.9704 15.61284840 13515
Progress M-34 393 x 375 km
1 24757U 97014A 97183.16686461 -.00027477 00000-0 00000-0 0 1341
2 24757 51.6559 10.5707 0013869 197.7968 162.2708 15.61257323 13513
I note that this orbit would have taken Progress near to the reported
"impact" site at 22:42 UTC on July 1. The track being:
UTC Latitude Longitude
22:41 10.2S 60.4W
22:42 13.3S 58.1W
22:43 16.3S 55.8W
Is it possible that the re-entry was of an uncatalogued object in the
Mir/Progress orbital plane? On the other hand, it sounds like a substantial
chunk of debris to have missed while in orbit.
Many other fragments from the Cosmos 2313 breakup were also decaying during
this period, but none of them (I believe) could have had orbits over Brazil
near the crucial time.
Alan
--
Alan Pickup | COSPAR site 2707: 55d53m48.7s N 3d11m51.2s W 156m asl
Edinburgh | Home: alan@wingar.demon.co.uk +44 (0)131 477 9144
Scotland | SatEvo satellite page: http://www.wingar.demon.co.uk/satevo/