Itīs the end of hope and the beginning of the concerns ? *"November 11 developments* All efforts to contact Phobos-Grunt proved futile and the attention of the press was quickly switching to the inevitable uncontrolled reentry of the spacecraft into the Earth atmosphere, expected sometimes from the end of November to the middle of December. NORAD reportedly projected the reentry of the spacecraft on November 26. According to known technical specifications of the Phobos-Grunt mission<http://www.russianspaceweb.com/phobos_grunt_design.html>, the 13-ton vehicle contains more than 10 tons of toxic propellants - unsymmetrical dimethylhydrazine (fuel) and nitrogen tetroxide (oxidizer). Although most of the fuel and oxidizer would burn during the initial phase of reentry, the size and mass of the spacecraft practically guarantees that surviving metal debris would reach the Earth surface. In addition, a capsule for soil samples designed to survive a hard landing would be reentering alongside the spacecraft. Due to its insulated design, the capsule would likely be torn off from the rest of the vehicle early into the reentry and its impact would likely take place away from the rest of the debris along the reentry path. The crash could take place anywhere from 51.4 degrees North latitude to 51.4 degrees South latitude." source: http://www.russianspaceweb.com/phobos_grunt_launch.html#11_11 Carlos Bella -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: http://mailman.satobs.org/mailman/private/seesat-l/attachments/20111111/952d1d31/attachment.html _______________________________________________ Seesat-l mailing list http://mailman.satobs.org/mailman/listinfo/seesat-l
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