(meteorobs) Texas fireball -- radar images

[Marco Langbroek]

Pat Branch schreef:
> Alright I agree that the Austin, Waco, Dallas event was one event and 
> was not satellite debris. But if it was a meteor greater than 1 meter 
> why didn't STRATCOM report it even earlier (like they did with the 
> one over Sudan)? The NEAR project is suppose to track and report on 
> any object that size that may strike earth. 

First, it is not USSTRATCOM's task to keep an eye on NEA's at all. Second: you 
are much overestimating the capability to detect small NEA's headed for earth. 
The Sudan bolide was the first and only so far ,where luck managed to do that. 
Usually objects this small remain undetected untill they actually hit.


> Also the satellite 
> collision could easily produce debris that would re-enter almost 
> anywhere or anytime (but maybe not in any direction). Take two car 
> sized objects smashing together at 11 km/s. Pieces could have easily 
> shot downward at 100 miles/hour which would have re-entered 5-6 hours 
> later.

Remember that the colliding objects were objects in orbit. Debris from them 
ejected downwards also has a velocity vector in an other direction, as it will 
incorporate the orbit movement vector of the original object. So it isn't that 
simple.

- Marco

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Dr Marco (asteroid 183294) Langbroek
Dutch Meteor Society (DMS)

e-mail: dms at marcolangbroek.nl
http://www.dmsweb.org
http://www.marcolangbroek.nl
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