Syzdekistan

The Shuttle has undocked from the Space Station and is scheduled to land in Florida or California tomorrow. The Navy is probably going to take its first shot at the satellite on Thursday. Meanwhile, some modeling on population densities where the satellite could come down (basically between 58° N and 58° S latitude), agree with […]

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The “dangerous” hydrazine propellent in the failed spy satellite is in a 40 inch diameter spherical tank and is frozen, says amateur satellite observer, Ted Molczan (link):
“I just have a hard time being worried about a 40-inch sphere of hydrazine. I normally try not to get political in this stuff, but the thought that crossed […]

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NASA is planning on activating the Shuttle backup landing site at Edwards Air Force Base in California to ensure that the shuttle could be landed there or at the usual landing site Florida (link). Since the Shuttle and the ISS are in a circular orbit about 210 miles altitude. The failing satellite is at an […]

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Today, the news media reported that the Pentagon has decided to “shoot down” an spy satellite that failed to reach orbit. The satellite is in a very low orbit and is hitting the tenuous upper atmosphere enough to cause it to come down on its own in a few weeks. The problem is, that no […]

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A while ago, I wrote about a fascinating meteorite fall in Peru (1, 2, 3). An American meteor collector has published a webpage with some additional crater photos, pictures of the meteor fragments, a map, and a photo of the meteors smoke trail. Although he has given some pieces to academics for research, he is […]

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I finally got a chance to get out and find comet 17P/Holmes. With a sky map from spaceweather.com, it was relatively easy to find with the naked eye and looked like a small round cloud in the northeast sky. I was at my parent’s working on their computers so I showed Dad. I had planned […]

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Well, I was wrong. The mysterious crater formed in Peru last month was the result of a meteorite impact. Peruvian scientists have produced an initial report (in English) and have recovered some fragments of the meteorite. Locals took much of the material, but enough material was recovered to determine that the meteorite was a stony […]

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On one hand, a Peruvian scientist from the Geological, Mining and Metallurgical Institute says that the recently found crater is the result of chrondite meteor. Chrondites are the most common type of meteor and are usually fairly ordinary silicate rocks. On the other hand, Fox News interviewed several scientists that pretty much agree with what […]

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There are some news reports from Peru (1,2) that a meteor struck the ground near a village in the Andes. According to news report, the crater is either 10 or 30 meters wide and is emanating noxious fumes that are causing nausea, vomiting, and other sickness. Despite reports of a fireball in the night sky, […]

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The Martian dust storm continues and Mars rover Opportunity is in trouble (link):
Dust in the atmosphere and dust settling onto Opportunity’s solar panels challenges the ability of the solar panels to convert sunlight into enough electricity to supply the rover’s needs. The most recent communication from Opportunity, received Monday, July 30, indicates that sunlight over […]

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