Phobos/Grunt the failed Russian Mars Probe will reenter Earth's atmosphere sometime in the next seven days. Space Debris Experts won't have a good bead on the when and where until the last twelve hours of it's orbital life. News will be maddeningly slow to trickle in for the next six days or so...and Russia's holdover secrecy makes following Phobos/Grunt news even more cryptic.
When the orbital decay signals the satellite watchers that the end is but a few orbits away, events will speed up, and then news will seem even slower.
The latest predictions now say Phobos/Grunt will reenter January 15th at 1400 UTC +/- 18 hours.
Here's the online resources I deploy during reentry events. These served me well during both UARS and ROSAT reentries.
Twitter has evolved from a chronicle of Celebrity Banality, to the best Breaking News Service out there...provided you follow the accounts of parties close to the story, and waive off the Kutchers, Kardashians and Moores.
During the August 2011 Virginia Earthquake, the tweets about the temblor arrived in Washington DC before the ground wave that cracked the Washington Monument! The Epicenter was roughly 80 miles from DC!
My Phobos/Grunt Twitter Must Follow List:
@PhG_Reentry are the same people who brought us @UARS_Reentry and @ROSAT_Reentry Flat out, the MVP of Reentry Tweeters, and essential when reentry time nears.
@RussianSpaceWeb Russian Spaceflight News from Russia (in English)
@SPACEFLIGHT101 is the most prolific "Background Story" Twitter account to follow.
@universetoday is the comprehensive spaceflight, astronomy, and space history Twitter feed.
@SpaceflightNow nuts and bolts of all things spaceflight
Twitter will keep you up to date on Phobos/Grunt Reentry events, and many links to valuable resources appear in tweets.
Searching #PhobosGrunt will give you all tweets with the #PhobosGrunt hashtag, and it should be fast and furious as the end nears.
Real Time Tracking Websites:
Real Time Satellite Tracking shows Phobos/Grunt's location on Google Maps. The closer to reentry, the more compelling this gets, especially as tweets about live observations follow the satellite's orbital progress!
Heavens-Above will give you observation times to see Phobos/Grunt (or any other satellite you choose) pass over your location. It only takes a minute to configure your location and bookmark this site, and you'll get countless hours of skywatching fun in return.
Heavens-Above not only covers satellite passes, but Sun, Moon, and planet data, meteor showers and comets are displayed for your location. I have bookmarked three locations...Home, Work, and the Ancestral Digs. I've got the heavens covered!
Spaceflight 101 has a good reentry page.
The Center for Orbital and Reentry Debris Studies maintains a Reentry News Page.
I just found CelesTrak.com with all the numbers...let's give it a look...
Tomorrow
We'll look at the Phobos/Grunt story from the beginning, and link the latest Reentry News...
Stay tuned!
Showing posts with label ROSAT. Show all posts
Showing posts with label ROSAT. Show all posts
Wednesday, January 11, 2012
Saturday, November 19, 2011
The Same Satellite Story, Only Different
So Russia's errant Phobos/Grunt Mars Probe atop it's do-nothing Zenit2SB41 rocket is predicted to reenter Earth's atmosphere in the next week or so. Following on the heels of ROSAT and UARS, this monthly Space Junk Fall should be "Old Hat" by now...well, Phobos/Grunt is a little different.
UARS and ROSAT were "old" satellites, dead and used up that orbited for a decade after their service lives ended before succumbing to the tug of Earth's gravity and burning through the upper reaches of the atmosphere to fall into an ocean...no Hard Hats required.
The Phobos/Grunt/Zenit package is brand spankin' new...but faulty. It launched from Baikonur Cosmodrome flawlessly on it's first stage, and inserted the spacecraft into a preliminary orbit. Two autonomous firings of the main propulsion rocket were supposed to send the whole shebang off to Mars, but something went wrong...no blast off, no phone home, no answer when hailed from Mission Control...uh oh...
Russian controllers have been trying to regain contact and control since they knew they had the problem...bad luck then...sorry 'bout that...
This reentry won't be a simple as UARS and ROSAT reentries...this package is still loaded with 8 tons of highly toxic hydrazine fuel and nitrogen tetroxide oxidizer.
Though I never thought to look for a Legal Treatise on Reentering Space Junk Liability, this time I found exactly that when searching the web for some Phobos/Grunt intel. It's an interesting read that I highly recommend. As much as I prefer to remain naive about legal stuff that doesn't concern me personally, I'm glad someone's doing the heavy lifting on this question. Here's the story from Space Safety Magazine.
The article cites a similar reentry in 2008. America's National Reconnaissance Office launched a secret satellite named USA-193 on December 14, 2006. Similar to the Phobos/Grunt event, the satellite was boosted into a stable orbit where contact was lost within hours. After much head scratching and behind the scenes diplomacy, when the reentry became inevitable in 2008, President Bush approved a shoot-down plan to destroy the satellite and it's hydrazine-filled fuel tank.
Wikipedia has a pretty good entry on the whole USA-193 saga. Amateur Satellite Watchers predicted the reentry window, and a missile launched from a NAVY Ticonderoga Class guided missile cruiser destroyed the USA-193 about 133 nautical miles over the Pacific Ocean.
Of course controversy followed...Russia was upset, suggesting the exercise was a test of the U.S. missile defense program. The satellite's destruction was only the third on record. China successfully tested it's Anti-Satellite Weapon in 2007, knocking out a defunct Chinese WeatherSat in Polar Orbit, and the US shot down P78-1 an American Solar Observing Satellite to test the ASM-135 ASAT Anti-Satellite Missile in 1985.
We've got just about one week to dispatch Phobos/Grunt. I'm pretty sure somebody will destroy the thing. It's loaded with 8 tons of the hydrazine/nitrogen tetroxide propellants. USA-193 carried 880 pounds.
CorduroyPlanet is on Phobos/GruntWatch. I'll post news as I find it until the bird is down.
UARS and ROSAT were "old" satellites, dead and used up that orbited for a decade after their service lives ended before succumbing to the tug of Earth's gravity and burning through the upper reaches of the atmosphere to fall into an ocean...no Hard Hats required.
The Phobos/Grunt/Zenit package is brand spankin' new...but faulty. It launched from Baikonur Cosmodrome flawlessly on it's first stage, and inserted the spacecraft into a preliminary orbit. Two autonomous firings of the main propulsion rocket were supposed to send the whole shebang off to Mars, but something went wrong...no blast off, no phone home, no answer when hailed from Mission Control...uh oh...
Russian controllers have been trying to regain contact and control since they knew they had the problem...bad luck then...sorry 'bout that...
This reentry won't be a simple as UARS and ROSAT reentries...this package is still loaded with 8 tons of highly toxic hydrazine fuel and nitrogen tetroxide oxidizer.
Though I never thought to look for a Legal Treatise on Reentering Space Junk Liability, this time I found exactly that when searching the web for some Phobos/Grunt intel. It's an interesting read that I highly recommend. As much as I prefer to remain naive about legal stuff that doesn't concern me personally, I'm glad someone's doing the heavy lifting on this question. Here's the story from Space Safety Magazine.
The article cites a similar reentry in 2008. America's National Reconnaissance Office launched a secret satellite named USA-193 on December 14, 2006. Similar to the Phobos/Grunt event, the satellite was boosted into a stable orbit where contact was lost within hours. After much head scratching and behind the scenes diplomacy, when the reentry became inevitable in 2008, President Bush approved a shoot-down plan to destroy the satellite and it's hydrazine-filled fuel tank.
Wikipedia has a pretty good entry on the whole USA-193 saga. Amateur Satellite Watchers predicted the reentry window, and a missile launched from a NAVY Ticonderoga Class guided missile cruiser destroyed the USA-193 about 133 nautical miles over the Pacific Ocean.
Of course controversy followed...Russia was upset, suggesting the exercise was a test of the U.S. missile defense program. The satellite's destruction was only the third on record. China successfully tested it's Anti-Satellite Weapon in 2007, knocking out a defunct Chinese WeatherSat in Polar Orbit, and the US shot down P78-1 an American Solar Observing Satellite to test the ASM-135 ASAT Anti-Satellite Missile in 1985.
We've got just about one week to dispatch Phobos/Grunt. I'm pretty sure somebody will destroy the thing. It's loaded with 8 tons of the hydrazine/nitrogen tetroxide propellants. USA-193 carried 880 pounds.
CorduroyPlanet is on Phobos/GruntWatch. I'll post news as I find it until the bird is down.
Hard Hat Time Again?
Wednesday I wrote about watching the Soyuz spacecraft launch from Baikonur Cosmodrome in the former Soviet Union satellite state, Kazakhstan. I marveled on the bravery of the cosmonauts and the American astronaut in light of the November 8 launch failure of the Phobos/Grunt Mars Probe's Zenit-2SB41 rocket which launched from the same Baikonur Cosmodrome...and that blizzard!
Today, I found a new Twitter account, @PhG_Reentry that's tweeting the orbital status of the Phobos/Grunt/Zenit-2SB41 package, which is predicted to fall out of orbit in the next week or so.
Here on the West Coast of California we're having a hard time getting our "Rainy Season" started. World-wide, it seems like it's raining space junk!
More to follow...I'm sure!
Today, I found a new Twitter account, @PhG_Reentry that's tweeting the orbital status of the Phobos/Grunt/Zenit-2SB41 package, which is predicted to fall out of orbit in the next week or so.
Here on the West Coast of California we're having a hard time getting our "Rainy Season" started. World-wide, it seems like it's raining space junk!
More to follow...I'm sure!
Saturday, October 29, 2011
Lost In Spaces
My zeal for knowledge of ROSAT's final resting places is becoming tempered as time passes. @ROSAT_Reentry is still tweeting about three more hunks of Space Junk that are reentering in the next few days!
OK, in the past hour @ROSAT_Reentry says two of the three have now reentered. These are Rocket Boosters, not dense or heavy satellites, so very little debris if any should make it back to Earth's surface.
Since Tuesday, I've been keeping an eye on Boreal's webcam because they announced that snowmaking would begin and a day or so later, that they would open Friday.
Regular readers know I was skeptical...based on my frequent viewing of the webcam images. Thursday evening, and again Friday morning, Sacramento's Local News Broadcasts featured video or LIVE remotes from Boreal touting the 3PM Friday opening. Boreal will turn one lift until 8PM.
I expect to see LIVE Remotes from Sacramento and Reno TV Stations tonight.
A funny thing happened after lunch today...Boreal moved their webcam a little to the east revealing their Nugget Double Chair. I definitely felt like I fell for their head fake.
The webcam view until today was of the top-to-bottom snowmaking line with top-to-bottom flood lighting, leading me to think they would open their mid length Castle Peak Quad Chair. I figured given the short hours of snowmaking temps, that they wouldn't have their top-to-bottom Accelerator Quad Chair in time for this weekend... OK, reel me in now...
I looked in at 3PM and a crowd was forming, by 4PM it was a big crowd for a small patch of snow! I looked at the nearest PWS, the Central Sierra Snowlab. The Snowlab is on the other side of the ridge from Boreal. Boreal's on the North side the Snowlab is on the South side in Soda Springs. Boreal will be cooler than the Lab most days because they're up in the Donner Pass Gap. The Lab was 54°F at 4PM. Boreal was probably 4°F-5°F cooler...still warm for a ski hill.
Boreal needs a good night of snowmaking temps to make enough snow to build the maze area for the Castle Peak Quad.
There's ski resorts opening this weekend from coast to coast, and Winter Storm Warnings are up for much of the Northeast...I'll update those after Game 7 of the World Series...Play Ball!
There's nothing like World Series Game Seven! Congratulations St Louis!
Today my twitter stream came alive with news of Ski Resorts around the country opening this weekend...
Sunday River in Maine opens Saturday.
Killington and Mount Snow in Vermont Saturday
Wolf Creek in Colorado Saturday
Colorado's Loveland and Arapahoe Basin are already turning some lifts.
OK, in the past hour @ROSAT_Reentry says two of the three have now reentered. These are Rocket Boosters, not dense or heavy satellites, so very little debris if any should make it back to Earth's surface.
Since Tuesday, I've been keeping an eye on Boreal's webcam because they announced that snowmaking would begin and a day or so later, that they would open Friday.
Regular readers know I was skeptical...based on my frequent viewing of the webcam images. Thursday evening, and again Friday morning, Sacramento's Local News Broadcasts featured video or LIVE remotes from Boreal touting the 3PM Friday opening. Boreal will turn one lift until 8PM.
I expect to see LIVE Remotes from Sacramento and Reno TV Stations tonight.
A funny thing happened after lunch today...Boreal moved their webcam a little to the east revealing their Nugget Double Chair. I definitely felt like I fell for their head fake.
The webcam view until today was of the top-to-bottom snowmaking line with top-to-bottom flood lighting, leading me to think they would open their mid length Castle Peak Quad Chair. I figured given the short hours of snowmaking temps, that they wouldn't have their top-to-bottom Accelerator Quad Chair in time for this weekend... OK, reel me in now...
I looked in at 3PM and a crowd was forming, by 4PM it was a big crowd for a small patch of snow! I looked at the nearest PWS, the Central Sierra Snowlab. The Snowlab is on the other side of the ridge from Boreal. Boreal's on the North side the Snowlab is on the South side in Soda Springs. Boreal will be cooler than the Lab most days because they're up in the Donner Pass Gap. The Lab was 54°F at 4PM. Boreal was probably 4°F-5°F cooler...still warm for a ski hill.
 |
| That's a crowd! |
There's ski resorts opening this weekend from coast to coast, and Winter Storm Warnings are up for much of the Northeast...I'll update those after Game 7 of the World Series...Play Ball!
There's nothing like World Series Game Seven! Congratulations St Louis!
Today my twitter stream came alive with news of Ski Resorts around the country opening this weekend...
Sunday River in Maine opens Saturday.
Killington and Mount Snow in Vermont Saturday
Wolf Creek in Colorado Saturday
Colorado's Loveland and Arapahoe Basin are already turning some lifts.
Monday, October 24, 2011
ROSAT The Waiting Continues
NewScientist weighs in on ROSAT's deorbit. Satellite watchers are fairly certain that the German X-Ray Telescope splashed down in daylight into the Indian Ocean or Andaman Sea.
The article reminded me that USSTRATCOM didn't confirm UARS impact location for 4-5 days after the fact.
So, unless some debris found it's way to land, we'll have to wait until later in the week to hear anything definitive.
The article reminded me that USSTRATCOM didn't confirm UARS impact location for 4-5 days after the fact.
Sunday, October 23, 2011
ROSAT Has Reentered
Space scientists have an idea where ROSAT plunged into the atmosphere. By the look of the Ground Track, I'd say it's 50/50 that it landed in the Indian Ocean.
More when I get more.
 |
| About 80% of the ground track is over the Indian Ocean |
Saturday, October 22, 2011
ROSAT Saturday 3PM PDT Update
@ROSAT_Reentry says: "Latest data shows an advance in ROSAT re-entry time - it could be SOON!"
Real Time Tracking Here
Some observers claim that most of the telescope assembly will survive reentry and could weigh close to the whole 1.6 tons!
When to look Here from your location.
Reentry likely between 3PM and 6PM PDT
Yikes! Where's my Hard Hat?
Real Time Tracking Here
Some observers claim that most of the telescope assembly will survive reentry and could weigh close to the whole 1.6 tons!
When to look Here from your location.
Reentry likely between 3PM and 6PM PDT
Yikes! Where's my Hard Hat?
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