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(meteorobs) Meteor Storms Threaten Satellites



The article below was ent to me by a NAMN member. Thought it might be of
interest to the list.....

Mark Davis

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Meteor Storms Threaten Satellites

.c The Associated Press

 By JANE E. ALLEN

MANHATTAN BEACH, Calif. (AP) - In November, the Earth's atmosphere will be hit
with the most severe meteor shower in 33 years, a bombardment of debris that
could damage or destroy some of the nearly 500 satellites that provide
worldwide communications, navigation and weather-watching.

The debris consists only of particles - some thinner than a hair and most no
larger than a grain of sand - but they are hurtling through space so fast that
they can have the destructive power of a .22-caliber bullet.

As a result, about 200 commercial and military satellite operators, insurers
and scientists began brainstorming here Monday about what they can do to
prepare, such as turn off spacecraft or turn them away from the stream of
particles. The two-day gathering is called the Leonid Meteoroid Storm and
Satellite Threat Conference.

"The consequences are still virtually unknown. There has not been a meteor
storm since the onset of the modern space age. Nobody planned for it," said
Peter Brown, a physics and astronomy graduate student at the University of
Western Ontario who advises satellite operators.

The particles, known as meteoroids, are vastly smaller than the asteroids that
could one day slam into Earth, and none are expected to come anywhere near the
surface of the planet when they strike this November and again in November
1999.

But before the particles burn up in Earth's atmosphere, they could poke holes
in solar panels, pit lenses, blast reflective coating off mirrors, short out
electronics with a burst of electromagnetic energy, even reprogram computers,
said Edward Tagliaferri, a consultant to the Aerospace Corp., a nonprofit
organization.

In 1993, for example, a meteor struck the European Space Agency's Olympus
satellite and destroyed its directional control, rendering it useless.

"What if you get unlucky?" Delbert Smith, a Washington lawyer who represents
international networks and satellite operators, asked at the conference.
"Who's going to explain to the major corporations your satellites aren't
there anymore?"

While only a couple of satellites might get disabled - and some cost as much
as $500 million - all of them will suffer surface damage, said David Lynch, a
scientist with the Aerospace Corp.

Military satellites are better shielded because most are built to withstand
nuclear assault. But unlike commercial spacecraft that can be turned off
temporarily, military satellites "can't afford to be off the air,"
Tagliaferri said.

The Hubble Space Telescope - which suffered minor surface damage in the 1993
shower - will move to protect itself against Leonid damage by turning away
from the stream of particles, an option being considered by many satellite
owners.

First reported by Chinese astronomers back in 902, the Leonid meteoroid storms
- so-named because they are found in front of the constellation Leo - become
intense every 33 years. They occur when Earth passes through a trail of dust
left behind by the comet Tempel-Tuttle.

Scientists aren't sure when the heaviest showers will occur - Nov. 17, 1998,
or Nov. 18, 1999.

The spectacular showers will be visible this year across the Western Pacific
and Eastern Asia; the 1999 showers will be visible in the Middle East, Eastern
Europe and Central Asia. Storms last 90 minutes to two hours.

Back in 1966, when fewer than 100 satellites circled the Earth, the comet
produced peak showers of 144,000 meteors each hour and no major damage. This
year, with more than five times the number of circling spacecraft, some
experts think the rate could be 5,000 to 100,000 an hour.

But astronomer Donald Yeomans of NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena
put the rate as low as 500 to 2,000 particles per hour. And Brown agreed that
the rate won't be as high as it was in 1966.

AP-NY-04-27-98 1825EDT

 Copyright 1997 The Associated Press.

<-- end -->


Mark Davis, MeteorObs@charlestondot net
Mt. Pleasant, South Carolina, USA
Coordinator, North American Meteor Network
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