(meteorobs) Artificial meteorites head back into space

David Entwistle david.entwistle at dial.pipex.com
Wed Jun 1 05:37:33 EDT 2005


Collated from a collection of announcements and websites. I hope this
isn't considered off-topic.

31 May 2005 
An unmanned Foton-M spacecraft carrying a mainly European payload was
put into orbit by a Russian Soyuz-U launcher today at 14:00 Central
European Time (18:00 local time) from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in
Kazakhstan. Following the launch and nine minutes of propelled flight,
the Foton-M2 spacecraft is now in low-earth orbit where it will remain
for 16 days before its re-entry module lands close to the Russian/Kazakh
border.

The European payload carried by Foton-M2 covers a scientific programme
consisting of 39 experiments in fluid physics, biology, material
science, meteoritics, radiation dosimetry and exobiology.

Of particular interest, the STONE-5 experiment considers artificial
meteorites of sedimentary origin and aims to study the physical,
chemical and biological modifications caused by atmospheric entry.

Three different types of rock, loaded with micro-organisms, are mounted
at the stagnation point in the heat shield (the hottest region during
re-entry) of the Foton-M2 re-entry capsule. During re-entry into the
atmosphere at the end of the two-week flight the three rocks will be
subjected to temperature and pressure loads comparable to those
experienced by meteorites.

You can read more here:

Foton M2 launch announcement from ESA'a web site.
http://www.esa.int/esaCP/SEMZDJ0DU8E_index_0.html

Details of the STONE experiment from ESA's Erasmus Experiment Archive
http://tinyurl.com/7m7c8

Esrange Satellite Operations
http://www.ssc.se/default.asp?groupid=2004621135048841

-- 
David Entwistle


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