Mike McCants wrote: > However, if the density is constant, the actual mass increases > in proportion to the cube of the radius, while the area increases > with the square of the radius. So the mass to area ratio increases > in direct proportion to the radius. So a large bowling ball will > last much longer than a small bowling ball. I get it! Thanks to all for replying without insulting my ignorance! Starshine had a mass of approx 68 lbs., I think, and orbited for several months. Is OCS (don't know the mass) expected to decay comparatively rapidly as it is a large, thin balloon? I believe I have read that some sort of canister is still attached, just to complicate things... Tom Troszak, Asheville, NC, USA 35.601 N, -82.554 W elevation 2,300 ft. mailto:tom@bullhammer.com http://www.bullhammer.com/satphotos1.htm http://www.bullhammer.com ----------------------------------------------------------------- Unsubscribe from SeeSat-L by sending a message with 'unsubscribe' in the SUBJECT to SeeSat-L-request@lists.satellite.eu.org http://www2.satellite.eu.org/seesat/seesatindex.html
This archive was generated by hypermail 2b29 : Wed Apr 12 2000 - 14:31:14 PDT