[meteorite-list] EUVE reentry

From: Matson, Robert <ROBERT.D.MATSON_at_meteoritecentral.com>
Date: Thu Apr 22 09:55:56 2004
Message-ID: <AF564D2B9D91D411B9FE00508BF1C8698E596C_at_US-Torrance.mail.saic.com>

Hi Ron and List,

> The EUVE spacecraft has re-entered over Egypt.
> Please, no Nakhla dog jokes. :-)

Humorous coincidence not withstanding, I'll bet dollars to donuts
that the reentry did NOT occur over Egypt. USSPACECOM merely
*presumes* it did based on propagation modeling. Notice the
wording of the report:

"According to calculations made by the United States Space Command
Space Control Center, EUVE re-entered the atmosphere over central
Egypt."

It was not actually "observed" to reenter over Egypt. The amateur
satellite tracking community, of which I am a part, has its own
various models for predicting such reentries, and there is too
much uncertainty in the behavior of the satellite breakup to
be as specific as "central Egypt" without additional information.
Absent an observation, it could just as easily have been over
Libya or Saudi Arabia, and perhaps even further afield. If I
find out more, I'll pass it along.

The reason this could turn out to be of interest is that some of
the pieces of the reentry could eventually be recovered.

Best,
Rob
Received on Thu 31 Jan 2002 01:06:14 PM PST