[meteorite-list] Genesis crash

From: Marco Langbroek <marco.langbroek_at_meteoritecentral.com>
Date: Thu Sep 16 05:22:40 2004
Message-ID: <00b301c49bce$b57c7fa0$9600000a_at_HAL>

> Yes, but the probe had a significant difference then a solid, smooth object.
> It was irregular in shape, and was probably light for it's surface area in
> respect to a glob of metal or stone. The characteristics through the
> atmosphere after losing cosmic velocity should be very different. The
> atmospheric drag on an object like this should me much greater, thus one
> would suspect that a meteorite that loses cosmic velocity should fall to
> earth much faster? What say you physics guru's?

There are some differences with a true meteorite impact. A 1.5 meter wide
meteorite body would fragment in the atmosphere, hence be reduced to much
smaller pieces. These would slow down appreciably by drag, hence impact at
smaller speeds.

- Marco

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Marco Langbroek
Dutch Meteor Society (DMS)
Leiden, the Netherlands
52.15896 N, 4.48884 E (WGS 84)

e-mail: meteorites_at_dmsweb.org
DMS website: http://www.dmsweb.org
priv. website: http://home.wanadoo.nl/marco.langbroek
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Received on Thu 16 Sep 2004 05:22:31 AM PDT