Posted on 03/26/2018 9:01:33 PM PDT by BenLurkin
Scientists at the Fraunhofer Institute for High Frequency Physics and Radar Techniques(Fraunhofer FHR) are monitoring the 8.5-ton (7.7 metric tons) space station module using a tracking and imaging radar system, which they say is one of the most powerful such radars worldwide. Their observations help inform forecasts from the European Space Agency (ESA) and the German Space Situational Awareness Center.
Tiangong-1 was traveling at about 18,000 mph (29,000 km/h) in an orbit nearly 168 miles (270 kilometers) above Earth when the radar images were acquired, according to Fraunhofer FHR. Researchers are also watching the rotation of the station, under a commission from ESA. The rotation is one of the factors in determining when the space station will hit Earth. Tiangong-1 is expected to fall somewhere under its orbital inclination (between 43 degrees north and 43 degrees south latitudes), and some pieces of the space station will make it to the surface.
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The institute's tracking and imaging radar system uses signals in the Ku-band and I-band radio frequencies to track Tiangong-1. Radar allows the institute to watch the station regardless of the weather, or if it is day or night.
"By precisely determining the orbital data of Tiangong-1 until it re-enters at the end of March/beginning of April 2018, FHR offers the German Space Situational Awareness Center valuable support in forecasting the time and place of re-entry," Fraunhofer FHR representatives said in the statement. "Regular checks are also carried out to establish whether or not Tiangong-1 is still fully intact."
Eat dirt! I already called dibs for it to land on Ottawa!
My first car was a 1973 Plymouth Satellite. I bought it for $700. A $100 per working cylinder. I drove it for 45,000 miles. Best $700 I ever spent.
If it is to land in the Atlantic has any warning been given to commercial and civil shipping? Also how about Belize Grenada and other coastal areas?
Where’s Ned Scott when ya need him?
I got $5 each on Sacramento, Commiefornia and Dearbornistan, MI.
168 miles is on the low side of LEO. Earth’s orbital velocity is ~28 km/h. In order to stay in orbit, an object would have to maintain that orbital velocity AND stay above 160 miles. This object’s orbit is decaying rapidly. Objects under 100 miles in altitude will be exposed to denser atmosphere and will fall back to Earth in relatively short order.
Those orange spots are just Chinese New Year lights they couldn't shut off.
Trump gonna slap an import tarrif on this Chinese import?
I looked up the space shuttle last night and one article mentioned that the average mission altitude was only in the 170s. ISS is higher at 260 or so.
The Karman Line is 100 km (62 miles). Any lower than that, and Earth’s atmosphere must be overcome to maintain orbit. The lowest an object can be to maintain orbit without propulsion is ~150 km (90 miles).
Even the ISS has to perform regular boost maneuvers to maintain its orbit. Earth’s atmosphere doesn’t just stop existing at an arbitrary number.
The Karman Line is the universally-accepted altitude at which space begins, but atmosphere does still exist there.
Excellent.
I remember when Skylab was about to come down back in the 70s. There were a couple of entrepreneurs from Spokane who started selling “Official US Government Skylab Target” posters & t-shirts . It was basically just a white poster with a red Target on it and the words “Official US Government Skylab Target”. Their premise was that if you had one of those things on your house or were wearing the T-shirt, there was no way you could ever be hit... Since the government is absolutely incapable of doing anything right whatsoever. They even painted the Target on the side of the building where they had their office in downtown Spokane. They made some money, not a lot, but some. It must have worked... No one knows wearing their shirt or had the poster got hit.
So, it will ditch in the southern Atlantic? Probably hit the missing Argentinian sub.
Yup
If we are lucky, maybe hit MH370 on the ricochet.
Now, where did I place my SkyLab T-shirt?
Interesting. I have always wondered where gravity was no longer a factor. When that guy jumped out of the capsule, he was in space, or so I thought..
International aero and astronautical bodies recognize the Karman Line (100 km) as the start of space. Felix Baumgartner jumped at 39 km, far short of the Karman Line, but it was a world record for skydiving.
It sure looked like space!
Gravity never stops being a factor. Objects in orbit are continuously “falling”, but their motion is forward, around the planet. If the object did not have forward motion it would fall straight down, like a free-falling parachutist.
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