On 11/28/05, Ted Molczan <seesat@rogers.com> wrote: > George Olshevsky wrote: > > > The Centaur 2 rocket body 1963-047A was apparently set > > tumbling at 48 rpm by a fuel tank vent that stuck in the open > > position until the gas was exhausted, as a result of which it > > threw off pieces of its LH2 tank insulation. This means it > > could still be flashing with a period of 1.25 seconds 42 > > years later (it's still in orbit). Has anyone ever reported seeing it? > > The geomagnetic field would have been expected to fairly quickly slow its > rotation...observations of 1963-047A dating back to 1964, when Pierre Neirinck report a period of 16 s. Today, its period is greater than one minute. Wow, that geomagnetic back EMF does add up after 42 years, doesn't it? Most interesting! ------------------------------------------------------------------------- Subscribe/Unsubscribe info, Frequently Asked Questions, SeeSat-L archive: http://www.satobs.org/seesat/seesatindex.html
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