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(meteorobs) Re: Iridium Flares



From: Steve Harrison <ko0u@os.com>
Date: Wed, 10 Jun 1998 02:13:40 +0100
Subject: Re: (meteorobs) Re: Iridium flares

>Among many other pearls of "wisdom", Lew imparted:
>
>>far better for us if they can be constructed just as easily of components
>>which are less reflective (or show smaller reflective areas to the ground)
>>than those in current designs.
>
>The reason satellites are made of highly reflective materials is so they
>reflect the sunlight and not gather heat, sort of like a car baking in the
>hot sun. I imagine there *are* some coating materials which would reduce
>the glare and imagine that so far, there has been little reason to use them.
>
>But remember that the Iridium "flare" is the reflection from the solar
>panels, which cannot be covered so easily as with some kind of paint.

Steve and All on list

If this is true that the flare is the reflection from the solar
panels, then I have a question: 
Is the reflection from the glass covering the panels?
If I am right then any solar cell is covered by glass, which is only
to protect it against the elements (e.g. rain).  Is this covering
really necessary up there in space where there is no rain?  In any
case the glass reflects a lot of the energy which could have been 
used by the satellite. 

Regards
Anton


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