trough@ihuxa.UUCP (Chris Scussel) (02/06/84)
Whew! I'm glad Westar finally showed up! I was afraid that someone's antisatellite weaponry was more advanced then we thought! :-)
wetcw@pyuxa.UUCP (T C Wheeler) (02/07/84)
Yeah, Westar was found, but it is of no use in its present orbit. And, now that the Indonesian sattelite has also been found in the wrong orbit, someone is going to catch hell. Who built these two chunks of space junk anyway? Could there be some programmers looking for new jobs? Or, was it a hardware problem? Could be some interesting accusations flying around for awhile. T C. Wheeler
richard@sequent.UUCP (02/08/84)
Any space experts out there care to inform us why it is that Westar is consigned to uselessness? I understand that it's current orbit makes it so, and that the remaining rockets aren't powerful enough to get it into a decent one. But wouldn't it be better to send a Tow-truck up in a few months and give it a bump start? That is one of the shuttle's purposes, is it not? And controllers said that Westar's current orbit (and, I assume, her sister's) are "safe" ones. The news said that they're in approx the same orbit as the shuttle! Why waste it? from the confused and bleeding fingertips of ...!sequent!richard