(meteorobs) Expect some debris over the next few years...

[Matt Mundorf]

Does anyone know how fast these two satellites were orbiting at ?  It
makes me wonder if they just shattered into small pieces upon impact or
if there are large parts of them spread out now.


Thanks,
Matt

-----Original Message-----
From: meteorobs-bounces at meteorobs.org
[mailto:meteorobs-bounces at meteorobs.org] On Behalf Of Chris Peterson
Sent: Thursday, February 12, 2009 12:43 PM
To: Global Meteor Observing Forum
Subject: Re: (meteorobs) Expect some debris over the next few years...

Hi Marco-

While the moderate altitude means that debris will persist for decades,
it 
doesn't mean we can't expect decays. The STK analysis of the FENGYUN 
incident, if applied to this collision, would suggest that we can expect

around 10kg of material per year for the next decade or so, falling off 
somewhat after that. Presumably most of the debris is small, but 
sub-kilogram material reentering at low velocity (<8 km/s) is perfectly 
capable of producing nice fireballs. And the rate can be expected to 
increase somewhat as we approach solar max, and the effects of drag
become 
greater.

Chris

*****************************************
Chris L Peterson
Cloudbait Observatory
http://www.cloudbait.com


----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Marco Langbroek" <marco.langbroek at wanadoo.nl>
To: "Global Meteor Observing Forum" <meteorobs at meteorobs.org>
Sent: Wednesday, February 11, 2009 5:08 PM
Subject: Re: (meteorobs) Expect some debris over the next few years...


> As this happened at 788 km (490 mile) altitude, the debris will remain
in 
> orbit
> for a very long time. No decays to be expected from this collision 
> therefore.
>
> The collision was between Iridium 33 and Kosmos 2251 and happened at
16:56 
> UTC
> (11 Feb), near 98.156 E, 72.462 N, 788.58 km altitude.
>
> - Marco

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