talon@blake.acs.washington.edu (Steve Hamblin) (02/14/89)
A few months back, I heard that the LDEF (Long Duration Exposure
Facility) was going to re-enter the atmosphere due to a rapidly
decaying orbit.
Has this taken place yet?
- Steve Hamblin
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There are two major products that come out of Berkeley: LSD and UNIX. We don't
believe this to be a coincidence. || - Jeremy S. Anderson
talon@blake.acs.washington.edu
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henry@utzoo.uucp (Henry Spencer) (02/15/89)
In article <872@blake.acs.washington.edu> talon@blake.acs.washington.edu (Steve Hamblin) writes: >A few months back, I heard that the LDEF (Long Duration Exposure >Facility) was going to re-enter the atmosphere due to a rapidly >decaying orbit. Has this taken place yet? No. But if they don't retrieve it within a year or so, it might. -- The Earth is our mother; | Henry Spencer at U of Toronto Zoology our nine months are up. | uunet!attcan!utzoo!henry henry@zoo.toronto.edu
kenny@m.cs.uiuc.edu (02/15/89)
>A few months back, I heard that the LDEF (Long Duration Exposure >Facility) was going to re-enter the atmosphere due to a rapidly >decaying orbit. >Has this taken place yet? No. LDEF retrieval is manifested for STS-32 this November. STS-32 vital data: launch: 89-11-13 vehicle: Columbia inclination: 28.5 degrees alt: 190 nautical miles duration: 5 days [Plans to extend to 10] primary mission: SYNCOM IV-05 communications satellite deployment primary mission: LDEF-1 revisit secondary mission: IMAX filming, flight 02 Crew: Capt. Daniel Brandenstein, USN, commander Lt. Cmdr. James Wetherbee, USN, pilot Dr. Bonnie Dunbar, mission specialist Mr. David Low, mission specialist Ms. Marsha Ivins, mission specialist Brandenstein has previously flown as pilot of STS-8 (8/30/83), and as commander os STS-18 (51-G) (6/17/85). Dunbar has been to space aboard STS-22 (10/30/85). The three remaining crew members are making their first spaceflights. Orbital elements and motion of the LDEF are (as of 5 February, 3 AM EST) follow. Note that in the nine months between now and its retrieval, LDEF's orbit will have decayed from its current altitude of 236 nautical miles to 190. Two-line elements for LDEF 1 14898U 89 36.36470616 0.00022738 50860-3 0 7451 2 14898 28.5100 19.2599 0002164 203.0911 157.0735 15.42035305271020 Object: LDEF NORAD catalog number: 14898 Element set: 745 Epoch revolution: 27102 Epoch time: 89036.36470616 (Sun Feb 5 08:45:10 UTC) Inclination: 28.5100 degrees RA of node: 19.2599 degrees Eccentricity: 0.0002164 Argument of periapsis: 203.0911 degrees Mean anomaly: 157.0735 degrees Mean motion: 15.42035305 revs / day Mean motion acceleration: 0.00022738 * 2 revs / day**2 B* drag term: 5.0860e-04 Derived figures: Semimajor axis: 6816.07 km. Perifocal radius: 6814.59 km. Apogee height: 439.395 km. Perigee height: 436.445 km. Mean longitude at the epoch: 0.3390 degrees. Magnitudes of short-period perturbations of the second harmonic: Radius vector magnitude: +/-0.37 km. True anomaly: +/-0.0299 degrees. RA of node: +/-0.0358 degrees. Inclination: +/-0.0171 degrees. Secular perturbations of the second harmonic: Argument of perigee: 11.2915 degrees/day RA of node: -6.9365 degrees/day Mean anomaly: included in published mean motion. Long-period perturbation of the third harmonic: X=-1.031e-03, Y=-5.237e-04 Source: NASA Goddard via TS Kelso's `Celestial RCP/M' NOTE: Apogee and perigee heights are referred to a mean equatorial radius of 6378.145 km, and not to the local radius of the geoid. All derived quantities are calculated using the NORAD SGP model of Hilton and Kuhlman. Kevin Kenny UUCP: {uunet,pur-ee,convex}!uiucdcs!kenny Illini Space Development Society ARPA Internet or CSNet: kenny@CS.UIUC.EDU P.O. Box 2255, Station A Champaign, Illinois, 61820 Voice: (217) 333-5821
mears@hpindda.HP.COM (David B. Mears) (02/17/89)
Here's a request for speculation. When we finally get the LDEF back (assuming we are successful), there seem to me to be at least two possibilities of what we will find. I'm curious what other people think. It seems to me like we will either find that 1) Many (most? all?) of the experiments have been ruined by the longer than planned exposure and that we end up not gaining very much at all from the experiment. OR 2) we discover some strange and completely unexpected results that turn out to be very important to the scientific community. This is what I tend to call the `Penicillin Syndrome'. Personally, I hope that result 2) above is what happens, but that maybe more wishful thinking on my part than anything else. What do you think? David B. Mears Hewlett-Packard Cupertino CA hplabs!hpda!mears
sealion@blake.acs.washington.edu (sealion) (05/13/89)
With the current backlog in payloads for the shuttle system, are there plans to recover the Long Duration Exposure Facility? Thanks. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ "There are two major products that come out of Berkeley: LSD and UNIX. We don't believe this to be a coincidence." || - Jeremy S. Anderson 12/15/88 #include <disclaimer.h> sealion@blake.acs.washington.edu ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
henry@utzoo.uucp (Henry Spencer) (05/14/89)
In article <2020@blake.acs.washington.edu> sealion@blake.acs.washington.edu (sealion) writes: >With the current backlog in payloads for the shuttle system, are >there plans to recover the Long Duration Exposure Facility? Yes. NASA is terrified of the public-relations impact of another Skylab, and considers it quite urgent that LDEF not be allowed to reenter. -- Mars in 1980s: USSR, 2 tries, | Henry Spencer at U of Toronto Zoology 2 failures; USA, 0 tries. | uunet!attcan!utzoo!henry henry@zoo.toronto.edu
cdaf@iuvax.cs.indiana.edu (Charles Daffinger) (05/14/89)
In article <1989May13.202819.23389@utzoo.uucp> henry@utzoo.uucp (Henry Spencer) writes: >Yes. NASA is terrified of the public-relations impact of another Skylab, >and considers it quite urgent that LDEF not be allowed to reenter. Just a silly question... How much different is the orbit of LDEF to that which the shuttle took to launch Magellan? Would it have been possible to retrieve LDEF on the shuttle after it launched Magellan? -charles -- Charles Daffinger >Take me to the river, Drop me in the water< (812) 339-7354 cdaf@iuvax.cs.indiana.edu {pur-ee,rutgers,pyramid,ames}!iuvax!cdaf Home of the Whitewater mailing list: whitewater-request@iuvax.cs.indiana.edu
spl@mcnc.org (Steve Lamont) (05/14/89)
In article <1989May13.202819.23389@utzoo.uucp> henry@utzoo.uucp (Henry Spencer) writes: >In article <2020@blake.acs.washington.edu> sealion@blake.acs.washington.edu (sealion) writes: >>are there plans to recover the Long Duration Exposure Facility? > >Yes. NASA is terrified of the public-relations impact of another Skylab, ^^^^^^ Love your choice of words :-).
henry@utzoo.uucp (Henry Spencer) (05/15/89)
In article <20714@iuvax.cs.indiana.edu> cdaf@iuvax.cs.indiana.edu (Charles Daffinger) writes: >Just a silly question... How much different is the orbit of LDEF to that >which the shuttle took to launch Magellan? Would it have been possible >to retrieve LDEF on the shuttle after it launched Magellan? I doubt it. Magellan had to go into a very specific orbit; it would be remarkable luck if it were similar to LDEF's. Also, I suspect the IUS cradle needed to carry Magellan up probably obstructs the payload bay enough to interfere with retrieving LDEF (which fills most of the bay). -- Subversion, n: a superset | Henry Spencer at U of Toronto Zoology of a subset. --J.J. Horning | uunet!attcan!utzoo!henry henry@zoo.toronto.edu