Iridium dimensions (was Re: Iridium Format...)

Neil Clifford (clifford@astro.ox.ac.uk)
Tue, 23 Sep 1997 13:06:45 +0100 (BST)

|>about Iridium's visual, or is it optical, behaviour. Yet when I
|>traveled from home to my office (by bus) I think I was able to
|>calculate the size of the reflecting surface from our brightest
|>observations. The result is: at least 4 square meters. I am anxious
|>to know how large it really is.

I don't have any solid figures but the images at

http://www.satellite.eu.org/image/iridium_construct.gif
http://www.satellite.eu.org/image/iridium_construct2.gif

might lead you to a guesstimate (perhaps 2.5 m length for the antennae,
~3m for the solar arrays and ~4m for the satellite bus itself, with
widths of ~1m)?

regards,

-- 
Neil Clifford                                       <neil@satellite.eu.org>
                                  http://www.satellite.eu.org/satintro.html