In a message dated 11/4/2005 2:55:41 AM Pacific Standard Time, robbonz1@xtra.co.nz writes: >>Presumably as it is deliberately "launched" it is debris rather than a fragment - or will it be an object in its own right? :-)<< I'd call it "floating point probe" in any table of earth satellites. It would certainly be "debris" (in the long run, once it has outlasted its use), and since it is deliberately launched it would not be a "fragment." We need a term for a nondescript object (that is, one that is otherwise unidentified) in orbit that is not a fragment from an on-orbit breakup, an object that is in orbit because it (presumably) was deliberately put there during the course of the satellite launch or operation. As Jonathan McDowell says, the old term "metal object" won't do any more (unless the object is in fact made of metal). Perhaps "hardware"? "Floating point probe hardware" (if the probe is a part of something bigger)?? ------------------------------------------------------------------------- Subscribe/Unsubscribe info, Frequently Asked Questions, SeeSat-L archive: http://www.satobs.org/seesat/seesatindex.html
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