tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15164221.post7949690158661132289..comments2023-10-31T11:21:23.531+01:00Comments on SatTrackCam Leiden (b)log: Small unusual artificial object WT1190F will impact in a few hours [UPDATED with imagery of actual impact]SatTrackCam Leidenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08711764306071043709noreply@blogger.comBlogger4125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15164221.post-82171898012148509642015-11-13T09:18:31.149+01:002015-11-13T09:18:31.149+01:00Kathryn: yes, the images in my post show an approx...Kathryn: yes, the images in my post show an approximately 1-2 meter large object, at that moment at a distance of about 178000 km (about half the earth-moon distance). As unbelievable as it sounds, it is truth!<br />You assume anything out there must be a rocket stage. But there are also adapter rings, payload fairings, and various other pieces of hardware. For example, a lunar ascend module from Apollo 10 that is only 4 meters in diameter is still out there somewhere (but probably has left the earth-moon system and is on an orbit around the sun, at too far a distance to be seen). There was some speculation whether WT1190F actually is that Apollo 10 Lunar ascend module (there is some leeway in the size estimate for WT1190F). <br />We track several pieces of space junk at this distance: for example, two rocket boosters from the Chinese Chang'e 2 and 3 Lunar missions. See my earlier post here: <br />http://sattrackcam.blogspot.nl/2015/07/rapid-tumbling-of-change-2-rb-2010-050b.html<br />Tracking these objects is not easy, certainly if they are as small as WT1190F was. They are faint and WT1190F needed a big research-grade telescope to image it. They move (due to repeated close Lunar encounters and the influence of solar radiation pressure) in chaotic orbits that cannot be predicted too long in advance.SatTrackCam Leidenhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08711764306071043709noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15164221.post-21902293143270378692015-11-13T07:50:13.179+01:002015-11-13T07:50:13.179+01:00So, we've been tracking a 1-2 meter object for...So, we've been tracking a 1-2 meter object for a couple of years and the animation above is showing movement of a 1-2 meter object in space? What rocket stage is only 1-2 meters long? I smell baloney or am I wrong?Anonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14557969846693989430noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15164221.post-69134969209897221202015-11-13T02:29:44.359+01:002015-11-13T02:29:44.359+01:00Good question M,
My guess would be no for sever...Good question M,<br /> My guess would be no for several reasons. First, Apollo 13 was originally the first manned Moon mission to be in a "no return" trajectory. One of the first things they had to do was to get back on a "free return" course. That guaranteed that they would get back to Earth, either alive or dead, if you get my drift. (In other words,no one wanted a spacecraft out there that had three dead people aboard.) An interesting article I read recently was about someone calculating what would have happened to the spacecraft if this didn't work. It turns out that Apollo 13 would have hit the Earth's atmosphere a short few, weird orbits (I think two) after they had perished. Wow, thank the heavens (pun intended)that didn't happen, huh? Now, I suppose it could be argued that the explosion might have put the debris in this type of orbit, but I think it's unlikely just due to the many, many Moon missions there have been, manned and especially unmanned. But that's part of the problem. Nobody really sits down and plots out all the different orbits of all of this cis-lunar "stuff." Actually my first thought was one of those panels that opened like a four petal flower during transposition and docking just after leaving Earth orbit. There are 36 of those out there somewhere. But maybe that it a little unlikely too because of those S IV-B third stages that didn't crash into the Moon (Apollos 8, 10, 11, and 12), they are all in solar orbits similar to the Earth's. The panels might all be in that kind of orbit as well. I hope this helps.Anonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15879130398676281350noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15164221.post-62730835517556861522015-11-12T22:41:43.053+01:002015-11-12T22:41:43.053+01:00Could it be a panel or other part that was blown o...Could it be a panel or other part that was blown off when the oxygen tank of the Apollo 13 Command Module exploded?Anonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17537811034184012631noreply@blogger.com