Re: FW: Satellite with a bright halo.

From: Tony Beresford (dberesford@adam.com.au)
Date: Mon Sep 30 2013 - 10:17:34 UTC

  • Next message: Ted Molczan: "RE: Satellite with a bright halo."

    At 05:26 PM 9/30/2013, you wrote:
    >Hi all,
    >
    >This is an interesting observation report. Any ideas? Some kind of
    >out-gasing?
    >
    >
    >
    >Chris Peat
    
    
    Hi there Chris and others. It was part of the launch  of the Falcon 9,
    launched from Vandenberg AFB at 1600 UT Sep 29. A whole list of 
    associated objects are
    displayed on the current list of recent launches on celestrak.com
    You can read all about the launch and its outcome on 
    <http://spaceflightnow.com/tracking/index.htm>http://spaceflightnow.com/tracking/index.htm 
    ,
    clicking on the mission link to see the details. After deploying all 
    its passenbers the upper stage was
    supposed to ignite again to demonstrate its ability to restart .
    Given the number of objects associated with 2012 55 it looks to me 
    like it exploded.
    What Serge saw was of course the 3rd stage and after the failure of 
    the second burn,
    I suspect. I have no idea as to how attitude control works for the 
    SpaceX upper stage.
    Members of this list of some years standing will remember the images 
    of the centaur
    from an Atlas V launch of a USAF weather satellite that Greg Roberts took
    as it coasted over Cape Town on its way to Europe and to solar orbit.
    True to the animated models of a coasting Centaur show  in earlier
    launches you could see the expanding shell produced by 5-10? second
    pulses of the attitude control thrusters.
    
    Tony Beresford
    Cospar 8597
    
    
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