[amsat-bb] Re: Kick motors on Oscars: How does attitude controlwork?
Hi Peter,DB2OS If I well remember in addition with the Magnetorquing ,AO40 was equipped with a 3 axis X-Y-Z stabilization wheel/EPU acting as gyroscopes that never where used except one time I remember to have seen on the P3T TLM the wheels were tested rotating for a short time at a very low numbar of turns ... or I am wrong ? Why the 3 axis stabilization wheel/EPU whre never used on AO40 ? Thanks for your answere. 73 de i8CVS Domenico - Original Message - From: Peter Guelzow peter.guel...@kourou.de To: amsat-bb@amsat.org Sent: Sunday, September 22, 2013 11:21 PM Subject: [amsat-bb] Re: Kick motors on Oscars: How does attitude controlwork? Hi Burns, yes - all Phase 3 satellites use Magnetorquers to control attitude during perigee. They were pulsed by the IHU on-board computer which was running a model of the physics and orbital dynamics to trigger the correct coils at the right moment. This Timing was synchronized with the Sun sensor... indeed P3 spacecrafts are Spin stabilized... There was no feedback. Command stations did some calculations based on Earth and Sun sensor data, but once calibrated the system worked quite smoothly and predictable... For the motor burns, the attitude was indeed determined by the Sun and Earth sensors and several times corrected until the perfect attitude was achieved.. this took a few days. Basically a very simple system was simple physics involved... 73s Peter On 22.09.2013 22:19, Burns Fisher wrote: There has been a lot of discussion about AO-10, 13, and 40 (and maybe others) with various kinds of apogee kick motors (and inclination changers etc). Rather than fanning any flames, I just want to ask a question: If you have a motor of a few hundred Newtons, how to you keep the attitude stable during the burn? For that matter, how do you get the attitude correct for the start of the burn? I would not think that electromagnets operating against the earth's magnetic field would have enough power with such a large motor. Obviously it depends on the balance of the satellite relative to the position of the kick motor, but still...was the balance really good enough to allow magnetic attitude control? Was it active (i.e. with feedback)? Does that imply a rate gyro? (No MEMS then, I suppose). Thanks in advance for the technical history lesson... 73, Burns W2BFJ ___ Sent via AMSAT-BB@amsat.org. Opinions expressed are those of the author. Not an AMSAT-NA member? Join now to support the amateur satellite program! Subscription settings: http://amsat.org/mailman/listinfo/amsat-bb
[amsat-bb] Re: Kick motors on Oscars: How does attitude controlwork?
Hi, After a long absence I decided to check out the AMSAT mailing list again. It's been on my spam list for some time now, (mainly because of the insane FM square collecting posts)but I thought it time to check again. Amazingly I now find real technical discussions being carried on, is this now normal? could some one reply to the affirmative I may even find some funds to rejoin amsat if the board now reflects the experimental and technical pursuits of real satellite enthusiasts. Please no more FM sats. I like beep sats and enjoy getting data from them. Don. ___ Sent via AMSAT-BB@amsat.org. Opinions expressed are those of the author. Not an AMSAT-NA member? Join now to support the amateur satellite program! Subscription settings: http://amsat.org/mailman/listinfo/amsat-bb
[amsat-bb] k8bl road trip
Here is the Itinerary for/*K*//**//*8BL's road trip starting today:*/ Be sure to listen for Bob on all satellites! Below is the email Bob sent me: /*Here is my plan for the week of 9/23-9/27.*/ /**/ /**//**/ /**/ /*I'll be driving around Lake Huron and activating as many of the Grids I pass through as possible. On Monday 9/23 I'll be headed north from Detroit and hit EN84, 85, 75, 76, but I may make it to EN77/87 by late*/ /**/ /*afternoon depending on speed traffic. On Tuesday 9/24 my plan is to quickly go through EN76 77 to hit rare EN87 and back down through EN77, 76 and into EN86. On Wednesday 9/25 I'll be in EN96 and go for rare EN97 and head down into EN95. Thursday 9/26 will take me through FN05, 04 and into EN94. On Friday 9/27 I expect to be in EN94, 93 92. All of this*/ /**/ /*is flexible based on road situations as they arise, but my goal is to activate*/ /**/ /*as many of these Grids as possible. By Saturday 9/28 my plan to to just dead-head back to my QTH in EN91. Hope to work a lot of the Grid Chasers on my journey!*/ /**/ /**//**/ /**/ /*Frank, please try to get this on Starcom AMSAT tonight if possible so*/ /**/ /*folks will know I'll be available. Good Luck Everyone! */73 ALL FRM STARCOM DIV of the GGG K4FEG /The Commander GGHQ: EM55aj84ta ...no grid left behind... / ___ Sent via AMSAT-BB@amsat.org. Opinions expressed are those of the author. Not an AMSAT-NA member? Join now to support the amateur satellite program! Subscription settings: http://amsat.org/mailman/listinfo/amsat-bb
[amsat-bb] 50+ Years Of Space Exploration
http://edudemic.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/08/50-years-exploration-huge.jpg 73s Bernhard VA6BMJ@ DO33FL ___ Sent via AMSAT-BB@amsat.org. Opinions expressed are those of the author. Not an AMSAT-NA member? Join now to support the amateur satellite program! Subscription settings: http://amsat.org/mailman/listinfo/amsat-bb
[amsat-bb] Re: Phase 3
This I can say, for a fact, is not true. PROFESSIONALS did the fueling and safing as was required by contractual arrangements ahead of time. Eye witness testimony given to me says there was an argument about what to do about the RBF plug. Extenuating circumstances, a nearly perfect storm of them, including a not really clear coloration and several other factors caused the decision to be taken not to remove it. But one thing is absolutely clear. AMSAT personal were NOT responsible for fueling and safing. One or more participated but in red hand mode as in, if you touch, your hand will be slapped until it is red. http://n4hy.smugmug.com/AMSAT/AO40-Phase-3D/010-Final-Assembly/2109994_HNF8Hn#!i=109042686k=dShmr5K It was NOT as clear as you make it out as you can see and it was most decidedly not firey red and clear as to what to do. Where things are clear, they were and are marked clearly: http://ukamsat.files.wordpress.com/2013/02/ao-40.jpg The deal is, AO-40 flew. It gave quite a long period of interesting operation. It did not attain all of its goals and was an unbelievable complex achievement from the birth of the concept: http://n4hy.smugmug.com/AMSAT/AO40-Phase-3D/001-Marburg0590/2107966_HX26gC#!i=108935294k=ssKW2Fblb=1s=A until its death, it was and remains AMSAT (all versions and hyphens) greatest achievement. On Sat, Sep 21, 2013 at 10:19 PM, R Oler orbit...@hotmail.com wrote: The people installing them and safing them and all the other things were mostly not rocket scientist that is why somewhere on AO-40 there is a remove before flight what we call in the business flag flying RGO Sent from my iPad On Sep 22, 2013, at 1:55 AM, Angus McLeod amcl...@caribsurf.com wrote: As far as I know, the kick-motors used on the Phase-3 birds were NOT cardboard tubes packed with homemade gunpowder. They were commercial grade motors obtained from the commercial aerospace industry. If I am wrong about this, and someone can jump in with facts, I'd be glad to hear. On 09/21/2013 05:48 AM, Gordon JC Pearce wrote: On Fri, Sep 20, 2013 at 11:23:29PM +0600, R Oler wrote: While anything is possible I will be very surprised (pleasntly) if there is another amateur radio satellite with a liquid propulsion system that is managed by any amateur group that gets a ride into any sort of HEO transfer orbit.Ion engines might be different but after AO-40 and its propulsion issues the days of amateurs playing with rocket engines on commercial flights I suspect is over. This is something I've often wondered about. Oh hi, commercial rocket company, can we stick our homebrewed rocket into your billion dollar vehicle? When people with more oil than weapons stuff some mix of chemicals into a tube and crimp the end shut it's called an Improvised Explosive Device. We're supposed to somehow convince someone to let us tack our semitested bomb onto their flight? I doubt they're going to go for it... ___ Sent via AMSAT-BB@amsat.org. Opinions expressed are those of the author. Not an AMSAT-NA member? Join now to support the amateur satellite program! Subscription settings: http://amsat.org/mailman/listinfo/amsat-bb ___ Sent via AMSAT-BB@amsat.org. Opinions expressed are those of the author. Not an AMSAT-NA member? Join now to support the amateur satellite program! Subscription settings: http://amsat.org/mailman/listinfo/amsat-bb -- Bob McGwier Owner and Technical Director, Allied Communication, LLC Professor Virginia Tech Senior Member IEEE, Facebook: N4HYBob, ARS: N4HY Faculty Advisor Virginia Tech Amateur Radio Assn. (K4KDJ) ___ Sent via AMSAT-BB@amsat.org. Opinions expressed are those of the author. Not an AMSAT-NA member? Join now to support the amateur satellite program! Subscription settings: http://amsat.org/mailman/listinfo/amsat-bb
[amsat-bb] Re: SatPC32 Registration
Carl, According to the records, you ordered it late Thursday evening. As you know, we have a tiny (1) office staff, and the program registration process is done manually rather than automagically. It sometimes take a few days to process, depending on many issues. This is mentioned on the web site. Mondays are particularly brutal. The registration will be along shortly. 73s, Alan WA4SCA AMSAT Store Stock Boy -Original Message- From: amsat-bb-boun...@amsat.org [mailto:amsat-bb-boun...@amsat.org] On Behalf Of carl creamer Sent: Monday, September 23, 2013 1:05 PM To: amsat-bb@amsat.org Subject: [amsat-bb] SatPC32 Registration I need some advice on how to solve this. I downloaded and installed SatPC32 V.12.8b a few weeks ago and got it up and working as it should.It is a cool program. I also ordered the Registration on paypal last week , but have yet to receive the registration information email. I sent an email and called the 1-888 number and so far no response. Any suggestion on how to resolve this would be greatly appreciated. Thanks Carl WQ6C ___ Sent via AMSAT-BB@amsat.org. Opinions expressed are those of the author. Not an AMSAT-NA member? Join now to support the amateur satellite program! Subscription settings: http://amsat.org/mailman/listinfo/amsat-bb ___ Sent via AMSAT-BB@amsat.org. Opinions expressed are those of the author. Not an AMSAT-NA member? Join now to support the amateur satellite program! Subscription settings: http://amsat.org/mailman/listinfo/amsat-bb
[amsat-bb] Re: SatPC32 Registration
To All - The date on the PayPal form I downloaded today was Saturday, Sept 21. I sent the password to Carl around 30 minutes ago. One day turn around for a 1 person office is pretty good! On Mon, Sep 23, 2013 at 4:20 PM, Alan wa4...@gmail.com wrote: Carl, According to the records, you ordered it late Thursday evening. As you know, we have a tiny (1) office staff, and the program registration process is done manually rather than automagically. It sometimes take a few days to process, depending on many issues. This is mentioned on the web site. Mondays are particularly brutal. The registration will be along shortly. 73s, Alan WA4SCA AMSAT Store Stock Boy -Original Message- From: amsat-bb-boun...@amsat.org [mailto:amsat-bb-boun...@amsat.org] On Behalf Of carl creamer Sent: Monday, September 23, 2013 1:05 PM To: amsat-bb@amsat.org Subject: [amsat-bb] SatPC32 Registration I need some advice on how to solve this. I downloaded and installed SatPC32 V.12.8b a few weeks ago and got it up and working as it should.It is a cool program. I also ordered the Registration on paypal last week , but have yet to receive the registration information email. I sent an email and called the 1-888 number and so far no response. Any suggestion on how to resolve this would be greatly appreciated. Thanks Carl WQ6C ___ Sent via AMSAT-BB@amsat.org. Opinions expressed are those of the author. Not an AMSAT-NA member? Join now to support the amateur satellite program! Subscription settings: http://amsat.org/mailman/listinfo/amsat-bb -- 73- Martha ___ Sent via AMSAT-BB@amsat.org. Opinions expressed are those of the author. Not an AMSAT-NA member? Join now to support the amateur satellite program! Subscription settings: http://amsat.org/mailman/listinfo/amsat-bb
[amsat-bb] Another Delay For Cygnus
http://www.spaceflightnow.com/antares/cots1/130922delay/#.Uj8Tl9IwkQM http://www.parabolicarc.com/2013/09/23/cygnus-rendezvous-postponed-crew-arrrival/ http://www.americaspace.com/?p=42942 73s Bernhard VA6BMJ @ DO33FL ___ Sent via AMSAT-BB@amsat.org. Opinions expressed are those of the author. Not an AMSAT-NA member? Join now to support the amateur satellite program! Subscription settings: http://amsat.org/mailman/listinfo/amsat-bb
[amsat-bb] Fw: Delfi C3 Close Approach Notification
FYI 73's WB2OQQ Sir/Ma'am, The United States Joint Space Operations Center (JSpOC) has identified a predicted conjunction between Delfi C3 (SCC# 32789) and SCC# 38013. Primary Object: Delfi C3 (SCC# 32789) Secondary Object: SCC# 38013 Time of Closest Approach: 26 SEP 2013 02:05 UTC Overall miss distance: 796 meters Radial (dU) miss distance: -177 meters In-Track (dV) miss distance: 760 meters Cross-track (dW) miss distance: -158 meters Primary Radial Error (U): 24 meters Primary In-track Error (V): 1443 meters Primary Cross-track Error (W): 7 meters Secondary Radial Error (U): 11 meters Secondary In-track Error (V): 703 meters Secondary Cross-track Error (W): 5 meters Very Respectfully, JSpOC Orbital Protection Team Joint Space Operations Center NO WARRANTIES: The United States provides the enclosed Space Situational Awareness (SSA) services or information as is and makes no warranty, either express or implied, as to the condition or suitability of the information and services, nor its fitness for a particular purpose. IMMUNITY: The United States, any agencies and instrumentalities thereof, and any individuals, firms, corporations, and other persons acting for the United States, shall be immune from any suit in any court for any cause of action arising from the provision or receipt of SSA services or information, whether or not provided in accordance with 10 USC 2274, or any related action or omission. ___ Sent via AMSAT-BB@amsat.org. Opinions expressed are those of the author. Not an AMSAT-NA member? Join now to support the amateur satellite program! Subscription settings: http://amsat.org/mailman/listinfo/amsat-bb
[amsat-bb] SatPC32 Registration
I need some advice on how to solve this. I downloaded and installed SatPC32 V.12.8b a few weeks ago and got it up and working as it should.It is a cool program. I also ordered the Registration on paypal last week , but have yet to receive the registration information email. I sent an email and called the 1-888 number and so far no response. Any suggestion on how to resolve this would be greatly appreciated. Thanks Carl WQ6C ___ Sent via AMSAT-BB@amsat.org. Opinions expressed are those of the author. Not an AMSAT-NA member? Join now to support the amateur satellite program! Subscription settings: http://amsat.org/mailman/listinfo/amsat-bb
[amsat-bb] Story About Buran
http://arstechnica.com/science/2013/09/the-life-and-death-of-buran-the-ussr-shuttle-built-on-faulty-assumptions/ 73s Bernhard VA6BMJ @ DO33FL ___ Sent via AMSAT-BB@amsat.org. Opinions expressed are those of the author. Not an AMSAT-NA member? Join now to support the amateur satellite program! Subscription settings: http://amsat.org/mailman/listinfo/amsat-bb
[amsat-bb] Re: Phase 3
I recently obtained a copy of the 1990 edition of Martin Davidoff's Satellite Experimenters' Handbook and as I was browsing through the book, I came across a passage on page 4-9 about the difficulties with UO-11, that's very relevant to the ongoing debate about the lack of Phase 3 satellites: If there's a message here, it's that taking part in the amateur satellite program is not for the faint-hearted. Setbacks and barriers will always be part of the picture. And, the most rewarding successes will probably come from employing ingenuity and tenacity to overcome the 'impossible' hurdles. 73, Paul Stoetzer, N8HM Washington, DC (FM18lv) On Sun, Sep 22, 2013 at 7:17 PM, mlengrues...@aol.com wrote: Hi Dan, OSCAR-10 (P3-B) used the same 400N engine as OSCAR-13 (P3-C) and OSCAR-40 (P3-D). For P3-E we have a 200N motor from EADS Astrium, the same one which is used on the European ATV... I was AMSAT P3-A (planned to be OSCAR-9) which used a solid propellant apogee kick-motor. It's under the water near the cost of french Guiana.. RIP You can find an very good article here: http://www.ka9q.net/AMSAT-Tech-Journal-2.pdf See page 8..15 Rest assured, the PFA and propulsion system was qualified according to highest commercial standards by commercial companies. Thus in no way there would be any risk to the launcher or other payloads. This also includes several levels of safety borders in the hardware design and in the software. The launch agencies have there own specialized personal to review all the details...Without that, nobody would have launched any of the P3 satellites !!! What happened to AO-40 later on after orbit injection and after activating the systems is a completely different matter and did not present any risk to the launcher at any time! Michael R. Lengruesser, DD5ER AMSAT-DL e.V. -- International Satellites for Communication, Science and Education -- mlengrues...@amsat-dl.org http://www.amsat-dl.org In einer eMail vom 22.09.2013 21:07:08 Westeuropäische Sommerzeit schreibt n8...@usa.net: The apogee motors for OSCAR-10,and OSCAR-13 were solid propellant 400 Newton trust motors donated to AMSAT-DL by the Messerschmitt Aerospace Company in Germany. Only Phase 3A had a solid fuel motor. AO-10 and AO-13 had liquid fuel bi-propellent motors the same as AO-40. No matter how well designed they are, they still have the potential to blow up the entire launch stack if something goes wrong. Since Dick Daniels is no longer with us, the knowledge has been lost and we will not be launching any more of these in the future. Dan Schultz N8FGV ___ Sent via AMSAT-BB@amsat.org. Opinions expressed are those of the author. Not an AMSAT-NA member? Join now to support the amateur satellite program! Subscription settings: http://amsat.org/mailman/listinfo/amsat-bb ___ Sent via AMSAT-BB@amsat.org. Opinions expressed are those of the author. Not an AMSAT-NA member? Join now to support the amateur satellite program! Subscription settings: http://amsat.org/mailman/listinfo/amsat-bb ___ Sent via AMSAT-BB@amsat.org. Opinions expressed are those of the author. Not an AMSAT-NA member? Join now to support the amateur satellite program! Subscription settings: http://amsat.org/mailman/listinfo/amsat-bb
[amsat-bb] Re: Kick motors on Oscars: How does attitude control work?
Found this intersting web page: http://www.isispace.nl/cms/index.php/projects/nks Bryce KBL1QC On Mon, Sep 23, 2013 at 12:46 PM, Burns Fisher bu...@fisher.cc wrote: Very interesting stuff. Thanks to everyone who responded. Using a model rocket engine has occurred to me :-) I noticed that the smaller ones (A,B) tend to peak at 10s of Newtons (presumably to get the model rocket going fast enough to be stable after it leaves the launch rod) and then settles down to sub-10 Newtons for the rest of the burn (a second or two). So it is quite a whack over a short period for a small bird. I did not look up the higher power size. It would be interesting and not too difficult to do the math to see what kind of a perigee raise would happen if someone fired one of these on a 3U cubesat of modest mass in GTO while it was at apogee. Don, there is enough interesting stuff to keep me watching the list. There is also a lot of complaining. We'd love to have you rejoin AMSAT. Fox-1, the upcoming launch, IS an FM bird, but I hope you noticed that the last AMSAT bird, ARRISat-1 was indeed a linear. We need to continue to learn and experiment. Burns, W2BFJ On Sun, Sep 22, 2013 at 5:49 PM, Daniel Schultz n8...@usa.net wrote: I just want to ask a question: If you have a motor of a few hundred Newtons, how to you keep the attitude stable during the burn? For that matter, how do you get the attitude correct for the start of the burn? Simple question, simple answer: You use the magnetotorquers to point the spin axis in the right direction, check and check again to make sure you got that right, then use the magnetotorquers again to spin up the satellite at a high angular rate (maybe 20 RPM). The angular momentum of the spinning satellite keeps it stable while the motor is firing. The motor thrust must of course be well aligned with the spin axis, but if the thrust vector is not perfect, the spinning satellite tends to even out the small deviation. One of the recent Cubesats carried high power model rocket engines to try an experimental orbit adjustment. They forgot to spin the satellite and the Cubesat tumbled wildly as a result of the motor burn. Some of these groups are really lacking in basic physics knowledge (and we are not talking about wet behind the ears students in that case.) Dan Schultz N8FGV ___ Sent via AMSAT-BB@amsat.org. Opinions expressed are those of the author. Not an AMSAT-NA member? Join now to support the amateur satellite program! Subscription settings: http://amsat.org/mailman/listinfo/amsat-bb -- Message: 7 Date: Sun, 22 Sep 2013 22:22:11 -0400 From: Joe Fitzgerald jfitzger...@alum.wpi.edu To: AMSAT BB amsat-bb@amsat.org Subject: [amsat-bb] Re: Kick motors on Oscars: How does attitude control work? Message-ID: 523fa5d3.3020...@alum.wpi.edu Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1; format=flowed On 9/22/2013 4:19 PM, Burns Fisher wrote: I would not think that electromagnets operating against the earth's magnetic field would have enough power with such a large motor. The electromagnets had some oomph I seem to remember the engineering beacon moving in frequency slightly when they switched on ... I don't remember if it was because of a sag on the DC bus, or the magnetic field affecting the tuned circuits of the transmitter. But you bring up important points, if we are to do orbit adjustments, we need to do attitude determination and control in addition to getting a motor aboard. No easy feat in a 3U cubesat! -Joe KM1P -- Message: 8 Date: Mon, 23 Sep 2013 08:14:44 +0200 From: i8cvs domenico.i8...@tin.it To: Peter Guelzow peter.guel...@kourou.de, Amsat - BBs amsat-bb@amsat.org, Daniel Schultz n8...@usa.net Subject: [amsat-bb] Re: Kick motors on Oscars: How does attitude controlwork? Message-ID: 000901ceb824$34922710$0301a8c0@i8cvs Content-Type: text/plain; charset=iso-8859-1 Hi Peter,DB2OS If I well remember in addition with the Magnetorquing ,AO40 was equipped with a 3 axis X-Y-Z stabilization wheel/EPU acting as gyroscopes that never where used except one time I remember to have seen on the P3T TLM the wheels were tested rotating for a short time at a very low numbar of turns ... or I am wrong ? Why the 3 axis stabilization wheel/EPU whre never used on AO40 ? Thanks for your answere. 73 de i8CVS Domenico - Original Message - From: Peter Guelzow peter.guel...@kourou.de To: amsat-bb@amsat.org Sent: Sunday, September 22, 2013 11:21 PM Subject: [amsat-bb] Re: Kick motors on Oscars: How does attitude controlwork? Hi Burns, yes - all Phase 3 satellites use Magnetorquers to
[amsat-bb] Odd Question
For the longest time I have been wondering how a satellite is placed in orbit without hitting anything else? I have seen pictures of all the stuff circling the Earth and it just baffles me how anyone can get anything in orbit without hitting anything. Can anyone explain this? Mike/N8GBU ___ Sent via AMSAT-BB@amsat.org. Opinions expressed are those of the author. Not an AMSAT-NA member? Join now to support the amateur satellite program! Subscription settings: http://amsat.org/mailman/listinfo/amsat-bb
[amsat-bb] Re: Odd Question
Since the path that the launch vehicle will take is very well defined (unless something goes wrong!), and the paths of most objects that would intersect this path can be predicted, it becomes a juggling act to get a time when the launch vehicle will have a clear path, and your ground assets are available. Since it takes a certain amount of time to get the launch vehicle ready, you work backwards from when you know your path will be clear on your trajectory to determine when you start your countdown. The launch provider I work for has several people who do nothing but plan things like this, in coordination with USSTRATCOM, NASA, the FAA, the European Space Agency, the Russian Space Agency, and all the other other launch providers. In the 9 years I've been doing my part (Communications, Range, and Telemetry) we've only had one external hold, and that was caused by NASA having to move the ISS a bit because the ISS was going to have a close approach of some space junk. It's called a COLA (COllision Avoidance) hold, and if everybody does their planning properly, doesn't usually cause a problem. One of the things considered is the ascent speed of the launch vehicle, as it's going pretty fast during it's passage through various altitudes. HTH! 73, Jim KQ6EA On 09/24/2013 04:22 AM, MICHAEL wrote: For the longest time I have been wondering how a satellite is placed in orbit without hitting anything else? I have seen pictures of all the stuff circling the Earth and it just baffles me how anyone can get anything in orbit without hitting anything. Can anyone explain this? Mike/N8GBU ___ Sent via AMSAT-BB@amsat.org. Opinions expressed are those of the author. Not an AMSAT-NA member? Join now to support the amateur satellite program! Subscription settings: http://amsat.org/mailman/listinfo/amsat-bb ___ Sent via AMSAT-BB@amsat.org. Opinions expressed are those of the author. Not an AMSAT-NA member? Join now to support the amateur satellite program! Subscription settings: http://amsat.org/mailman/listinfo/amsat-bb
[amsat-bb] Re: Odd Question
This is actually a great question. I've even asked it myself to some coworkers (in the Guidance, Navigation, and Control department). When it comes down to it, the space above Earth where satellites orbit is actually vast. There's a heck of a lot more space than most images showing space debris will elude to. This is largely because most of those images showing space junk use dots to represent the pieces we know about. The problem is that given the scale of the Earth in these images, that tiny dot is actually MASSIVE compared to the realistic size of even a large satellite. The truth is that while there's a large amount debris, the chance of actually hitting anything is pretty small due to the sheer amount of space the debris is distributed in. The images showing space debris as dots or other icons are actually pretty poor representations of the space debris problem (they look cool though). A probability distribution or similar is what I would imagine as being more useful. Bryce KB1LQC On Mon, Sep 23, 2013 at 9:22 PM, MICHAEL mikef1...@live.com wrote: For the longest time I have been wondering how a satellite is placed in orbit without hitting anything else? I have seen pictures of all the stuff circling the Earth and it just baffles me how anyone can get anything in orbit without hitting anything. Can anyone explain this? Mike/N8GBU ___ Sent via AMSAT-BB@amsat.org. Opinions expressed are those of the author. Not an AMSAT-NA member? Join now to support the amateur satellite program! Subscription settings: http://amsat.org/mailman/listinfo/amsat-bb ___ Sent via AMSAT-BB@amsat.org. Opinions expressed are those of the author. Not an AMSAT-NA member? Join now to support the amateur satellite program! Subscription settings: http://amsat.org/mailman/listinfo/amsat-bb
[amsat-bb] Re: Odd Question
At 09:22 PM 9/23/2013, MICHAEL wrote: For the longest time I have been wondering how a satellite is placed in orbit without hitting anything else? I have seen pictures of all the stuff circling the Earth and it just baffles me how anyone can get anything in orbit without hitting anything. Can anyone explain this? Sure. Those pictures you've been looking at are not drawn to scale. The dots representing the satellites should be a lot smaller. If they were, you'd see there's a lot of space out there. ___ Sent via AMSAT-BB@amsat.org. Opinions expressed are those of the author. Not an AMSAT-NA member? Join now to support the amateur satellite program! Subscription settings: http://amsat.org/mailman/listinfo/amsat-bb
