Visually Observed Natural Re-entries of Earth Satellites, Draft #1

From: Ted Molczan (ssl3molcz@rogers.com)
Date: Mon May 20 2013 - 19:12:38 UTC

  • Next message: Ted Molczan: "RE: Visually Observed Natural Re-entries of Earth Satellites, Draft #1"

    Despite the considerable interest and effort to observe and analyze Earth-satellite re-entries over the six decades of
    the space age, no comprehensive public record of such events seemed to exist, so I decided to compile a table. It is now
    sufficiently developed to make public as a draft:
    
    http://satobs.org/seesat_ref/misc/Visually_Observed_Natural_Re-entries_DRAFT_1.pdf
    
    Events are listed chronologically. Objects are identified by their International Designation, US Strategic Command
    catalogue number (aka SSN), country of origin, common name, type code (P=payload, R=rocket body, H=hardware element,
    D=debris), model and mass. Sighting locations and information sources complete the vital information.
    
    Many of the abbreviations that appear in the sources:
    
    AP     Associated Press
    APRO   Aerial Phenomena Research Organization
    AUFORN Australian UFO Research Network
    CP     Canadian Press
    FSR    Flying Saucer Review
    GEIPAN Groupe d'Etudes et d'Information sur les Phénomènes Aérospatiaux Non Identifiés
    MNASSA Monthly Notes of the Astronomical Society of Southern Africa
    MOD    Ministry of Defence (UK)
    MUFON  Mutual UFO Network
    NRC    National Research Council (Canada)
    NUFORC National UFO Reporting Centre
    PBB    Project Blue Book
    RAAF   Royal Australian Air Force
    RAE    Royal Aerospace Establishment
    RNZAF  Royal New Zealand Air Force
    SAO    Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory
    UFOBC  UFO British Columbia
    UPI    United Press International
    
    The final compilation is likely to consist of some combination of web pages and pdfs, with as many links as possible to
    sources (the draft lists most of my sources, but provides URLs for very few - that will be remedied).
    
    Still to come: acknowledgment of those who assisted me, documentation of methods and sources, supporting facts and
    arguments for what I believe to be newly identified re-entries (those highlighted in orange font) and those that I
    rejected, perhaps analysis and discussion of some of the more interesting (to me) events, and the visual phenomenon in
    general.
    
    I am certain that many more re-entries remain to be discovered or re-discovered. Asia is *severely* under-represented,
    as are most other non-English-speaking regions. I would be pleased to consider any known/suspected events from anywhere
    on Earth that you believe may meet the criteria for inclusion. Please include supporting sighting reports and/or URLs.
    
    I am also interested to know of any errors or omissions, or additional sources that should be listed.
    
    If you need help locating a reference, or have any other questions, please do not hesitate to seek my assistance.
    
    Ted Molczan
    
    
    _______________________________________________
    Seesat-l mailing list
    http://mailman.satobs.org/mailman/listinfo/seesat-l
    



    This archive was generated by hypermail 2b29 : Mon May 20 2013 - 19:13:48 UTC