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WG3K > ANS 07.07.24 03:30l 36 Lines 2146 Bytes #107 (0) @ AMSAT
BID : ANS-189.11
Read: GUEST
Subj: Satellite Shorts From All Over
Path: IZ3LSV<DB0ERF<DK0WUE<DK0WUE<VK5RSV<VK2RZ<W0ARP<WW4BSA<VE3CGR<KA1VSC<
WG3K
Sent: 240707/0128Z 6016@WG3K.#SMD.MD.USA.NOAM LinBPQ6.0.24
+ *What GOES up …* NOAAâ€Ös latest Geostationary Operational Environmental
Satellite, GOES-U, launched on the first Falcon Heavy of the year on June
25 from Launch Complex 39A at Kennedy Space Center. The mission, the last
of the GOES-R series of geostationary weather satellites, continuously
monitors weather systems over the Western Hemisphere. Assuming that next
weekâ€Ös planned burn to lift the satellite to geosynchronous orbit is
successful, this satellite will be re-designated as GOES-19 and will, in
coming months, take over the GOES-East duties from the aging GOES-16. (See ANS
182 https://www.amsat.org/ans-182-amsat-news-service-weekly-bulletins/
last week for more details.)
+ *Musk come down …* Elon Muskâ€Ös SpaceX has won a contract valued at up to
$843 million to build a vehicle capable of safely deorbiting the
International Space Station once the station is decommissioned in 2030.
While many people have suggested raising the ISSâ€Ös orbit and turning it
into a museum, the amount of fuel needed to move the approximately 420-ton
station to a high enough orbit to remain stable for long durations is
prohibitive.
+ *Blow up …* Russian Resurs-P1, an almost-six-ton defunct Earth
observation satellite that stopped orbit maintenance in 2017 but continued
operations until 2022, unexpectedly exploded last week into hundreds of
fragments. Expected to reenter later this year, Resurs-P1 was orbiting at
~350 km, close enough to the ISSâ€Ös orbital altitude that the event forced
ISS astronauts into shelter for an hour while debris was tracked.
+ *Or go up, come down, and blow up (unexpectedly) …* during a static fire
test of the first stage of Chinaâ€Ös close-to-finished Tianlong-3 rocket, the
hold-down hardware failed to do its singular job: hold down the rocket.
Moments after ignition, the rocket shot 1.5 km into the sky above the city
of Gongyi, China. With no guidance system, gravity took over, resulting in
a massive fireball on impact. Very fortunately, there were no casualties as
the rocket mostly went straight up and straight back down.
(ANS thanks The Orbital Index for all of the above items.)
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