Re: First Iridium and now this

From: Spike Jones (spike66@ibm.net)
Date: Sat Mar 25 2000 - 23:59:26 MST


> In a message dated 3/25/00 7:47:28, John Clard wrote:
>
> >According to NASA's figures, in a uncontrolled re-entry
> >there is one chance in a thousand the debris will hit somebody
> CurtAdams@aol.com wrote:
> That's a ridiculously high probability. Human bodies don't cover 1/1000 of
> the earth. Maybe they mean 1:1000 of hitting a structure?

The way I interpreted NASAs comment is there must be a slight possibility
of landing in a crowd. The 1:1000 is the mathematical expectation
of one in a million chance of smashing a thousand proles is the
same as 1:1000? I agree tho, 1:1000 sounds pessimistic. Oh
well, we will build them another one. {8-]

> Seems like a clean solution to the problem would be to put a "killer
> satellite" in orbit.

Before you go too far down this road, do the calculations on how
much delta vee it takes to deorbit a satellite. Then calc how much
delta vee it takes to change orbit planes (its a lot). spike



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