[meteorite-list] Meteoroids hitting man-made satellites

From: Matson, Robert <ROBERT.D.MATSON_at_meteoritecentral.com>
Date: Thu Apr 22 10:01:36 2004
Message-ID: <AF564D2B9D91D411B9FE00508BF1C86901B4E20C_at_US-Torrance.mail.saic.com>

Hi John,

A meteoroid (or a piece of man-made space debris -- probably no way to
know which) severed the tether on one of the early LEO satellite
tether experiments. (I can dig up the name if you're interested).
One other satellite, whose name escapes me at the moment, was also
hit and disabled -- sometime in the last 10 years. I'll check through
my archives to see if I can find the names of these two sats. --Rob

-----Original Message-----
From: John Reed [mailto:john_at_findalltrades.com]
Sent: Friday, June 28, 2002 8:50 AM
To: Walter Branch
Cc: meteorite-list_at_meteoritecentral.com
Subject: Re: [meteorite-list] [Fwd: Re: Will space cities get pelted ?]


Walter do you know if a meteor has ever hit a man made object in space ?
Thanks John

Walter Branch wrote:

> Hello John and List,
>
> Slight correction. Because of the Challenger accident, LDEF actually
stayed
> in space about five and a half years! It was retrieved shortly before
it
> would have entered the Earth's atmosphere.
>
> -Walter
> -----------------------------------------------
> Walter Branch, Ph.D.
> Branch Meteorites
> 322 Stephenson Ave., Suite B
> Savannah, GA 31405 USA
> www.branchmeteorites.com
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: "John Reed" <john_at_findalltrades.com>
> To: <meteorite-list_at_meteoritecentral.com>
> Sent: Friday, June 28, 2002 2:07 AM
> Subject: [meteorite-list] [Fwd: Re: Will space cities get pelted ?]
>
> >
> >
> > -------- Original Message --------
> > Subject: Re: Will space cities get pelted ?
> > Date: Thu, 27 Jun 2002 09:36:30 -0700
> > From: "Alan Rubin" <aerubin_at_ucla.edu>
> > Organization: UCLA
> > To: "John Reed" <john_at_findalltrades.com>
> > References: <3D1B3B4A.822F9849_at_findalltrades.com>
> >
> > NASA put a satellite in orbit called the Long-Duration Exposure
> > Facitility (LDEF) to see how many impacts it experienced. It
> > experienced a lot of micrometeorite impacts during the 13 or so
> > months it was in space. Shielding could protect a space habitat
> > from that, but the Earth's atmosphere also protects us against
> > much bigger rocks; many break apart in the atmosphere and many
> > slow down due to ablation and atmospheric drag. A space city
> > could only rely on shielding to protect it. It would indeed be a
> > formidable problem.
> > Alan Rubin
> >
> > ----- Original Message -----
> > From: John Reed <john_at_findalltrades.com>
> > To: Alan Rubin <aerubin_at_ucla.edu>
> > Sent: Thursday, June 27, 2002 9:20 AM
> > Subject: Will space cities get pelted ?
> >
> >
> > > I believe that some day people will move to a "space satellite"
> > type
> > > city.(say the satellite has a surface area of approx. 1 sq. mile
> > and it
> > > was in orbit around earth) would you expect that meteorite
> > impacts
> > > would be problematic? I was thinking even one the size of a golf
> > ball
> > > traveling at around 20k miles per hr and if it hits something
> > > weightless would that be catastrophic?
> > > Thanks for your help
> > > John
> > >
> >
> > ______________________________________________
> > Meteorite-list mailing list
> > Meteorite-list_at_meteoritecentral.com
> > http://www.pairlist.net/mailman/listinfo/meteorite-list
> >


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Received on Fri 28 Jun 2002 01:42:17 PM PDT