NOAA's imaging system is designed to look vertically downwards at large-scale objects. At 1 km, the resolution of the radiometer that feeds the HRPT system is about 15 metres. NOAA's solar panel span is 6 metres and the body is 4 x 2 metres. If one NOAA passed directly below the other at significantly less than 1 km range, and with sufficient visible/IR contrast against the brightness of the Earth, then it might show up as a defect in an image. If it were to be detected at the APT resolution, then expect cessation of service followed by addition of a some fragments to the Catalogue. We may be heading OT here - I will post no more. Bob Christy > -----Original Message----- > From: Dale Ireland [mailto:direland@drdale.com] > Sent: 15 March 2007 04:27 > To: 'Seesat-L' > Subject: NOAA12/15 > > Hello > It appears that during the time period centered on June 3 Noaa 12 will > slowly pass Noaa 15 within 5-50 miles. Could be interesting > visually. Their > orbits are not perfectly circular so they will both have > opportunities to > image the other although one will have APT off because they > both broadcast > on the same frequency. HRPT could be worth watching. Does > anyone have any > details on this close approach? > Dale > > > -------------------------------------------------------------- > ----------- > Subscribe/Unsubscribe info, Frequently Asked Questions, > SeeSat-L archive: > http://www.satobs.org/seesat/seesatindex.html > > ------------------------------------------------------------------------- Subscribe/Unsubscribe info, Frequently Asked Questions, SeeSat-L archive: http://www.satobs.org/seesat/seesatindex.html
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