On Fri, 30 Nov 2001, MALEY, PAUL D. (JSC-DO511) (USA) wrote:
> The explosion onboard Cosmos 2367 is not likely to have blown it to bits,
> regardless of the number of debris pieces being tracked. I have observed
> prior such events and the main spacecraft is *always* left nearly intact as
> far as the eye can tell. Of course, there could always be a first time. The
> principle debris piece is actually now in a slightly higher orbit.
I agree here - I was simply making the suggestion because apparently the
remaining parent satellite had not been seen visually.
I guess that the remainder of this message will stray a little OT for
SEESAT, but I will cross-post to FPSPACE in case anyone there is
interested in such mundane matters as EORSATs disintegrating .....
This disintegration once more suggests that it is due to some consumable
on board the satellite. When the end-of-mission burns put the EORSATs
into higher orbits, we regularly saw disintegrations - sometimes more
than one per parent - but then the Russians started to perform end-of-life
burns which lowered perigee, allowing a fairly rapid decay from
orbit. My guess is that they did not "fix" whatever was causing the
disintegrations, they just ensured that the satellites re-entered before
the time came for the "bang".
Then the EORSAT launch rate started to decline and the satellite lifetimes
were pushed closer and closer to their theoretical limits. Recent
EORSATs which have operated for around the 20-24 months mark have
manoeuvred off-station and then suffered disintegrations while the rapid
decay phase was being undertaken. In the instance of C2367 we have had
the disintegration before the end-of-life manoeuvre, suggesting that maybe
the Russians pushed this satellite a little too far.
It is unclear what causes the disintegration. I understand that the
Russians have indicated that it is not propellant-related - that would
have been the obvious cause.
In the meantime, let us see how quickly a new EORSAT a launched. I have
heard that a new one is to be launched during December aboard a two-stage
Tsyklon-M out of Baikonur, but it is not clear whether that is from a
launch schdule or speculation that C2367 was due for retirement around
now, so a new launch "should" be due.
Phillip Clark
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
Phillip S Clark Flat 2 Wellington Houses
Molniya Space Consultancy Castle Hill Passage
Compiler/Publisher, Worldwide Satellite Hastings
Launches E Sussex TN34 1PG
U.K.
Specialist in "space archeology" - the older and more obscure the more
interesting it is !
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Unsubscribe from SeeSat-L by sending a message with 'unsubscribe'
in the SUBJECT to SeeSat-L-request@lists.satellite.eu.org
http://www.satellite.eu.org/seesat/seesatindex.html
This archive was generated by hypermail 2b29 : Fri Nov 30 2001 - 10:14:21 EST