Regarding the appearance of 66-5N

Maley, Paul D. (PMALEY@GP808.jsc.nasa.gov)
Wed, 15 Jan 1997 13:15:00 -0600

1966-5N (also known as 24704) was catalogued on 27 November. It was
followed on 30 November by the cateloguing of another separate Transit
satellite piece called 24705 from 1965-109. There is even another piece
that was found 5 December from a third Transit satellite. I have been
informed that such events have been seen since 1979 from this series of
satellites in particular where the new object that appears is
characterized by a fairly high drag compared to that of the parent.
Collisions are not thought to be the cause.

Paul


Paul D. Maley
DO64/ Payload Operations
NASA Johnson Space Center
Houston TX 77058 USA
phone 281-2440208
fax 281-2447622
email: pmaley@gp808.jsc.nasa.gov