Anyone have a theory on how the trapezoidal Grace satellites flare? My guess now is that their flares have to be off the two trapezoidal ends. I don't see how the other four sides could reflect down to Earth: http://www.csr.utexas.edu/grace/spacecraft/config.html The Globalstars have a similar trapezoidal body, but apparently it's upside-down compared to GRACE, and they have solar "wings": http://www.floridatoday.com/space/explore/uselv/delta/d253/d253j.jpg I think I finally found why Globalstars often seem brighter than they ought to be; apparently the body is covered with kapton insulation: http://www.floridatoday.com/space/explore/uselv/delta/d253/d253g.jpg Raining here.... I'm in a library hoping I can go home in a while; didn't bring an umbrella with me today. Ed Cannon - ecannon@mail.utexas.edu - Austin, Texas, USA ----------------------------------------------------------------- To unsubscribe from SeeSat-L, send a message with 'unsubscribe' in the SUBJECT to SeeSat-L-request@satobs.org List archived at http://www.satobs.org/seesat/seesatindex.html
This archive was generated by hypermail 2b29 : Wed Aug 13 2003 - 22:45:37 EDT
