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Re: (meteorobs) satellite baseball



Hi Steven

Back on August 1st., this year,   Bruce Dvorak of McDonnerll Douglas, (the
very day they became a part of Boeing) came to our clubroom and spoke about
space debris.    He is responsible for the tracking of space objects
(natural or manmade, useful or junk) that are in orbits close to Earth and
could create a hazard for orbiting spacecraft.   These objects can range
from large meteoroids travelling at 175,00 MPH relative speed to spent
rocket casings and paint chips travelling at about 40,000 MPH.   The large
objects are relatively easy to track and dodge with timely spacecraft
manouvers.   But the difficulty of tracking, and the sheer numbers of the
smaller stuff make this impractical;  so shielding with layered metal plates
of appropriate materials and thicknesses are used to protect the vehicle
from these hazards.   Mr Dvorak brought along samples from satellites and
vehicles that had been recovered from space to show the damage this space
debris can do.   I remember one piece of plate, made of high tensile
aluminum about 3/4 to 1 inch thick that had a pocket punched in it about one
inch diameter and about one inch deep, that protruded through the back side
to make a large hump.    It was a very interesting talk which I captured on
video tape for possible future use.

Yes space debris, down to the tiniest grain of sand and paint chip are a
problem to spacecraft.

I hope this helps to answer your question.

Ron Rennie

At 07:28 AM 11/6/97 +0000, you wrote:
>I was wondering, with all the satellites and God knows what else
>orbiting the Earth right now and especially with the recent collision of
>Mir, is there any documentation on the chances that a satellite could,
>or has been struck by a meteor?  
>
>It seems that there is a pretty good chance that this could happen,
>especially when you think about how many satellites are out there. 
>Isn't it like several hundred satellites, or some such number?
>
>Does it happen more often than we're led to believe?
>
>Steven Rimlinger
>
>