[meteorite-list] Falling Satellite ROSAT Hurtling Toward Earth
Kelly Beatty
jkellybeatty at comcast.net
Thu Oct 20 08:58:37 EDT 2011
Jim and list...
the everyday media have overlooked an important aspect of the Rosat-reentry
story, namely, that the entire telescope assembly (1.6 metric tons of carbon
fiber and Zerodur ceramic glass) is predicted to land intact. think "Mini
Cooper" falling from the sky" and you get the general idea. it took a lot of
digging and coaxing with German and ESA officials, but they've confirmed this
reality to me, as related here:
http://www.skyandtelescope.com/news/132109883.html
of course, it remains the case that the chance of it striking a populated area
is very, very, very small.
clear skies,
Kelly
****************
J. Kelly Beatty
Senior Contributing Editor
SKY & TELESCOPE
617-416-9991
SkyandTelescope.com
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