Re: Scatha

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SCATHA -  Spacecraft Charging at High Altitude - is a fairly small
satellite - about 6 ft. tall cylinder, 6 ft. in diameter.  It has some
fairly long antenna but I doubt they'd be very visible.  The satellite is
spin stabilized, although I would suspect that after this long it would
have at least some nutation to its spin.

One of my references says Martin Marietta built it for the Air Force
Geophysics Lab and that it tested an ion engine.

All things considered this is a relatively small geosync satellite so I'm
rather amazed at the observing skills of those who have seen it.



Philip Chien, KC4YER
Earth News
world (in)famous writer, science fiction fan, ham radio operator,
all-around nice guy, etc.

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• Maybe in reply to: Ron Lee: "Scatha"
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