[meteorite-list] OT: Probable launch debris recovered from South Carolina

[Matson, Robert D.]

Darren posted:

> Washed up on a South Carolina beach (I'm in SC)

> http://www.wmbfnews.com/Global/story.asp?S=12534303

> The next trick would have been driving around 250 miles home
> with that strapped to the roof...

Worth a pretty penny to space debris collectors, to be sure.

However, the conjecture at the end of the article can be easily
dismissed:

"According to the BBC, an Ariane 5 rocket launched from French Guiana
in northern South America just three days ago. No word yet on if the
debris came from that rocket."

It really doesn't take a rocket scientist to rule this out. Sure,
the Ariane 5 launch was May 21 and the debris washed ashore on
May 22. However, this was an eastern launch out of Kourou since
they were going to geosynchronous orbit. Kind of hard to get a
booster section from equatorial waters to the beaches of South
Carolina in 24 hours. This had to have come from an older launch --
*assuming* it's space launch debris.

The most recent Kourou launch prior to last Friday was Helios IIB
on an Ariane 5GS on December 18th. Unlike the May 24th launch, this
is a possible candidate for two reasons: (1) it allows sufficient
time for SRB debris to drift to the U.S. East Coast, and (2) the
Helios launch went into sunsynchronous (polar) orbit, which means
it launched north out of French Guiana. Unlike the solids on the
U.S. Space Shuttle, the Ariane 5 SRB's are not reusable and are
usually allowed to sink to the bottom of the ocean. Occasionally
they will be fitted with parachutes and recovered for diagnostic
purposes. (I don't happen to know if they attempted this on the
Helios IIB launch or not.)  --Rob