Forwarding this to The List for: ----- Original Message ----- From: "Kelly Beatty" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To: "Sterling K. Webb" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Sent: Friday, February 15, 2008 2:57 PM Subject: RE: [meteorite-list] U.S. To Shoot Down Defunct Spy Satellite
Sterling... I'm sending you this directly because for some reason my posts to the meteorite list aren't going through. > Rob pointed out that only a very small percentage of the > debris will be directed into potentially dangerous orbits, but > a "small percentage" of 100,000 is still a respectable number. *none* of the debris will survive more than a few weeks. that's because while, conceivably, the fragments' apogees will change a bit, the perigees will not. and the perigees are already so low that fairly rapid decay is assured. all else being equal, breaking up the satellite will actually hasten reentry because virtually all the resulting pieces will have higher area/mass ratios that the intact satellite did. clear skies, Kelly Beatty Executive Editor SKY & TELESCOPE 617-864-7360 x2148 SkyandTelescope.com ______________________________________________ http://www.meteoritecentral.com Meteorite-list mailing list Meteorite-list@meteoritecentral.com http://six.pairlist.net/mailman/listinfo/meteorite-list
