Posted on 11/08/2013 5:58:50 PM PST by BenLurkin
With no remaining fuel to guide its re-entry there’s no way to nudge its descent. And while most of GOCE is predicted to disintegrate in the atmosphere, several parts might reach Earth’s surface. Experts predict as much as 25% of the spacecraft will survive reentry, as many parts are made of advanced materials, such as carbon-carbon composites.
Today, engineers from the GOCE mission said that the spacecraft it predicted to enter into Earth’s atmosphere sometime during the night between Sunday and Monday, November 10-11, 2013. Break-up of the spacecraft will occur at an altitude of approximately 80 km. “At the moment, the exact time and location of where the fragments will land cannot be foreseen,” says ESA.
(Excerpt) Read more at . ...
When that little amber light on the Gas Gauge lit up they should have puled into the first Rocket Fuel Station.
Maybe Kramer was trying to see how far it would go on empty.
At what time exactly?
I do believe it does not have a perfectly circular orbit.
My question is even dumber than you might think. It says “ALT” which I’m guessing is altitude, so what does the number after that represent? Feet? Meters? Can’t be miles.
As I recall the Globe is not a pure circle, fatter at the equator than at the poles, so the KiloMeter range would increase there, and decrease as it came back down to the equator.
ALT = Kilometers.
175km = 108.7miles
Thank you.
Thanks BenLurkin. A nice extra to APoD, now, if I can just get my big behind around to posting the *actual* APoDs from the past few days, that will be even better.
Thank you so much, SunkenCiv.
Get a good night’s sleep.
Mo Problem, Sunken Civ!
I, for one, appreciate how tricky it is to get a thread posted EVERY DAY along with links, graphics, and different fonts.
It is a labor of love, and I appreciate APOD whenever I see it in my mailbox!
((((HUGS))))
Oh crap!
I think it just took a dive. The website tracker says the mission ended Nov 11, 2013. A little after 5 pm Cst.
Thanks ltos for the kind remarks!
It’s my pleasure! :-)
From http://www.spaceflightnow.com/news/n1311/10goce/#.UoAapCd6PLk
European officials said Sunday the 2,200-pound fuel-depleted GOCE satellite was expected to re-enter the atmosphere Sunday evening between 2250 GMT and 0050 GMT (5:50-7:50 p.m. EST), putting the most probable re-entry zones over the Atlantic or Pacific Oceans, or over Earth’s polar regions.
That means it should be coming down now,..or for another hour,...wait,..what’s tha
should be over the east coast now (7:30est)
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