On Mon, 5 Aug 2002 02:35:06 -0400, you ("Ted Molczan" <molczan@rogers.com>)
wrote:
...very good stuff.
>Factoring in its apparent size, based on its brightness, suggests a mass
>of several hundred kilograms, no more than 10 percent of the expected
>mass of USA 144. Perhaps it is debris, or less likely, a decoy. If it is
>USA 144, then it must be a very unusual spacecraft.
At the risk of asking the obvious, but if it is debris, then where (and
what) is the original "primary" payload? Debris of what?
Considering its apparent brightness regardless of its rather remarkable
altitude, I have always tended to think of a really huge antenna
construction, or at least a similarly unfolding structure. Not necessarily
a dish, but an antenna of sorts. Would that make sense?
CU! Markus
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Unsubscribe from SeeSat-L by sending a message with 'unsubscribe'
in the SUBJECT to SeeSat-L-request@lists.satellite.eu.org
http://www.satellite.eu.org/seesat/seesatindex.html
This archive was generated by hypermail 2b29 : Mon Aug 05 2002 - 09:14:24 EDT