[meteorite-list] Airborne Researchers Catch up with Falling Space Debris (WT1190F)

From: Ron Baalke <baalke_at_meteoritecentral.com>
Date: Tue, 17 Nov 2015 10:55:25 -0800 (PST)
Message-ID: <201511171855.tAHItPoe013052_at_zagami.jpl.nasa.gov>

http://spaceflightnow.com/2015/11/16/airborne-researchers-catch-up-with-falling-space-debris/

Airborne researchers catch up with falling space debris
by Stephen Clark
Spaceflight Now
November 16, 2015

Stationed aboard a Gulfstream business jet over the Indian Ocean, an international
team of scientists observed a mysterious fragment of space junk falling
through Earth's atmosphere Friday years after it was discarded on a deep
space mission.

Astronomers saw the re-entry, which was predicted after the object's rediscovery
in early October, as a prime research opportunity to study the behavior
of objects plunging to Earth at high speed, even faster than typical chunks
of space junk coming back from low Earth orbit.

Named WT1190F, the object was about 1-2 meters (3-6 feet) across with
low density, leading experts to conclude it was likely a rocket or spacecraft
fragment from an Apollo lunar mission or a more recent deep space launch.
It was found in a highly elliptical orbit around Earth taking it twice
as far as the moon during each circuit of the planet.

After tracking the object twice in 2013, astronomers with the University
of Arizona's Catalina Sky Survey detected it again in October and found
it on a trajectory to re-enter Earth's atmosphere over the Indian Ocean
just south of Sri Lanka.

Chartered by the International Astronomical Center and the United Arab
Emirates Space Agency, the Gulfstream 450 flight hosted scientists from
the IAC, the UAE Space Agency, NASA's Ames Research Center, the SETI
Institute, the Clay Center Observatory in Massachusetts, Embry-Riddle
Aeronautical University, and two researchers from the University of Stuttgart
in Germany sponsored by the European Space Agency.

The aircraft had to be positioned in clear skies above a blanket of clouds
that blocked ground-based observers from viewing the event.

"Much of our flight to the area saw haze above our flight altitude at
45,000 feet, but our navigator, pilot and first officer found a small
clearing and managed to put the aircraft there at the right time," scientists
from the SETI Institute wrote on their website. "We had a perfect view
of the WT1190F reentry, which was bright by naked eye. We have incredible
imaging data and also succeeded in doing quality spectroscopy at blue
and red wavelengths, which is a first for us in daytime conditions."

Scientists say the example of WT1190F, which was discovered to be heading
toward Earth a month in advance, is a model for potential asteroid impacts
in the future, where incoming objects could be found with weeks of warning.

"This event was therefore good to practice some of the procedures that
NASA's Near-Earth Object Observations Program would follow if a small
asteroid were on a collision course with Earth," NASA wrote in an update
on its website. "Those procedures include detecting and tracking of the
object, characterizing its physical parameters, calculating its trajectory
with high precision modeling, and delivering accurate predictions to scientists
who would like to observe the entry through Earth's atmosphere."
Received on Tue 17 Nov 2015 01:55:25 PM PST