On Wed, 20 Mar 2002, Chris Peat wrote:
> As part of the GRACE team here at GSOC, I think I can answer this one. The
> Briz upper stage did indeed perform a de-orbit burn a few minutes after
> separation of the GRACE-1 and 2 spacecraft which happened about 90 minutes
> after launch. However, not enough fuel was left to bring down the perigee
> far enough to cause an immediate re-entry, but rather it was brought down to
> around 150 km and the rest of the job will be left to the atmosphere over
> the next few days.
Just to clarify, are you saying that the intention was to do a burn that
would have brought Briz-KM down to an almost immediate re-entry
? EUROCKOT's reply to my query indicated that an immediate re-entry was
not planned and they had intended to leave the stage in a low-perigee
orbit and allow natural decay to take place over a few weeks time.
If a burn to bring the stage out ot Earth orbit was planned then the lack
of propellant at the time that the burn took place would indicate a
failure - albeit a fairly minor one - of the rocket stage.
Phillip Clark
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