[meteorite-list] Airborne Researchers Catch up with Falling Space Debris (WT1190F)

[Ron Baalke]

http://spaceflightnow.com/2015/11/16/airborne-researchers-catch-up-with-falling-space-debris/

Airborne researchers catch up with falling space debris
by Stephen Clark
Spaceflight Now
November 16, 2015

Stationed aboard a Gulfstream business jet over the Indian Ocean, an international 
team of scientists observed a mysterious fragment of space junk falling 
through Earth's atmosphere Friday years after it was discarded on a deep 
space mission.

Astronomers saw the re-entry, which was predicted after the object's rediscovery 
in early October, as a prime research opportunity to study the behavior 
of objects plunging to Earth at high speed, even faster than typical chunks 
of space junk coming back from low Earth orbit.

Named WT1190F, the object was about 1-2 meters (3-6 feet) across with 
low density, leading experts to conclude it was likely a rocket or spacecraft 
fragment from an Apollo lunar mission or a more recent deep space launch. 
It was found in a highly elliptical orbit around Earth taking it twice 
as far as the moon during each circuit of the planet.

After tracking the object twice in 2013, astronomers with the University 
of Arizona's Catalina Sky Survey detected it again in October and found 
it on a trajectory to re-enter Earth's atmosphere over the Indian Ocean 
just south of Sri Lanka.

Chartered by the International Astronomical Center and the United Arab 
Emirates Space Agency, the Gulfstream 450 flight hosted scientists from 
the IAC, the UAE Space Agency,  NASA's Ames Research Center, the SETI 
Institute, the Clay Center Observatory in Massachusetts, Embry-Riddle 
Aeronautical University, and two researchers from the University of Stuttgart 
in Germany sponsored by the European Space Agency.

The aircraft had to be positioned in clear skies above a blanket of clouds 
that blocked ground-based observers from viewing the event.

"Much of our flight to the area saw haze above our flight altitude at 
45,000 feet, but our navigator, pilot and first officer found a small 
clearing and managed to put the aircraft there at the right time," scientists 
from the SETI Institute wrote on their website. "We had a perfect view 
of the WT1190F reentry, which was bright by naked eye. We have incredible 
imaging data and also succeeded in doing quality spectroscopy at blue 
and red wavelengths, which is a first for us in daytime conditions."

Scientists say the example of WT1190F, which was discovered to be heading 
toward Earth a month in advance, is a model for potential asteroid impacts 
in the future, where incoming objects could be found with weeks of warning.

"This event was therefore good to practice some of the procedures that 
NASA's Near-Earth Object Observations Program would follow if a small 
asteroid were on a collision course with Earth," NASA wrote in an update 
on its website. "Those procedures include detecting and tracking of the 
object, characterizing its physical parameters, calculating its trajectory 
with high precision modeling, and delivering accurate predictions to scientists 
who would like to observe the entry through Earth's atmosphere."