Thomas Dorman wrote: > My feeling are there is more to this decaying sat,than > meets the eye of media at this time.Over the years > many US satellites have decayed back to earth with > propellants on board that were dangerous. > In the way the U.S. government is acting in this > matter and the reports of no solar panels being > observed.I am getting the gut feeling that this > satellite may have been powered by a Snap type power > unit.If so that could be the big worry over this sat. > debris coming down over a land mass. As far as can recall, every US-launched "Snap type" power unit is designed to withstand reentry without breaking apart and dispersing its plutonium. This has been demonstrated on multiple occasions, even on payloads (e.g. the Aquarius Lunar Module) that were not expected to ever return to earth. So, even if there were plutonium on board US-193 (something which is, to say the least, unproven), I wouldn't expect it to be a radiation hazard. ------------------------------------------------------------------------- Subscribe/Unsubscribe info, Frequently Asked Questions, SeeSat-L archive: http://www.satobs.org/seesat/seesatindex.html
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