Tiangong-1 Re-entry

[SuperFastJellyfish]

Visuals!

[MaxwellsDemon]

6 minutes ago, SuperFastJellyfish said:

Visuals!

Oh, I like that image!      Is there a bigger version?

Edited March 30, 2018 by MaxwellsDemon

[SuperFastJellyfish]

This is the link to the bigger version.  It doesn't seem to be working anymore though.  According to this site, a guy on Reddit named Heaney555 made it if you want to seek him out. 

Edited March 30, 2018 by SuperFastJellyfish

[MaxwellsDemon]

Phooey.   I was trying to do this myself by hand not long ago, but this image is much better than what I could do!

[K^2]

This is what Google Image Search is for. Here is a large version.

[MaxwellsDemon]

Excellent!

[wumpus]

On 3/30/2018 at 10:10 AM, SuperFastJellyfish said:

Visuals!

The B-52 also launched the Pegasus (although Orbital currently uses a L1011) into orbit.

I'm not sure it is accurate to draw the shuttle fuel tank as a "launcher" without the orbiter and the engines that burned said fuel/oxidizer.

Skylab was 75 tons, the Salyuts were 18 tons, Mir was 130 tons.  You would never guess from those images.

[kerbiloid]

http://www.chartgeek.com/space-probes-chart/

http://www.chartgeek.com/spaceship-size-comparison-chart/

 

[LordFerret]

China space lab may fall to Earth later: European Space Agency

"... the agency said calmer space weather was now expected ..."

First it was 'climate change', and now, we'll have 'space change'.

[YNM]

Don't tell me they were all rickrolling.

[Delay]

@YNM They would never let you down.

[Scotius]

12 hours ago, LordFerret said:

China space lab may fall to Earth later: European Space Agency

"... the agency said calmer space weather was now expected ..."

First it was 'climate change', and now, we'll have 'space change'.

11 years long Sun activity cycle *shrugs*. When Sun is active, more energy is pumped into Earth's atmosphere, swelling it a bit. Satellites in low orbits suffer from increased drag. Early "Echo" satellites (which were essentially baloons in space) deorbited much earlier than they should because of that, leading to the discovery of the phenomenon.

[YNM]

12 hours ago, LordFerret said:

... And now, we'll have 'space change'.

... Every 22 years.

[kerbiloid]

Can we believe if it will fall on 1 April?

[cubinator]

1 minute ago, kerbiloid said:

Can we believe if it will fall on 1 April?

Right now it's looking more like early 2 April, so we're probably fine.

[kerbiloid]

1 minute ago, cubinator said:

Right now it's looking more like early 2 April, so we're probably fine.

Wrong hemisphere. It's still April, 1.

[YNM]

8 minutes ago, kerbiloid said:

Wrong hemisphere. It's still April, 1.

I'm going April 2 in 2h45m.

[LordFerret]

3 hours ago, Scotius said:

11 years

 

2 hours ago, YNM said:

... Every 22 years.

 

And then there's all those other cycles. We know nothing. We just think we do.

[YNM]

3 minutes ago, LordFerret said:

And then there's all those other cycles. We know nothing. We just think we do.

The "correct" one is 22 years - the polarity reverses every 11 years (so north becomes south and vice versa). But the spikes are closer to 11 years.

Edited April 1, 2018 by YNM

[PakledHostage]

15 hours ago, YNM said:

I'm going April 2 in 2h45m.

The Aerospace Corporation website's latest prediction is for 00:10 UTC on April 2nd, plus/minus 2.5 hours. If it comes down at the predicted time, it will be re-entering over the southern Pacific:

 

[snip]

Edited April 2, 2018 by Vanamonde

[YNM]

10 minutes ago, PakledHostage said:

... If it comes down at the predicted time, it will be re-entering over the southern Pacific. ...

Still 9h10m again, have no worries.

 

I wouldn't be too surprised if it falls on April 2.

Edited April 1, 2018 by YNM

[DerekL1963]

4 hours ago, Scotius said:

11 years long Sun activity cycle *shrugs*. When Sun is active, more energy is pumped into Earth's atmosphere, swelling it a bit. Satellites in low orbits suffer from increased drag. Early "Echo" satellites (which were essentially baloons in space) deorbited much earlier than they should because of that, leading to the discovery of the phenomenon.

On top of the 11 years cycle, there's daily weather too, just like the annual cycle and daily weather we're accustomed to.  That's part of what makes predicting uncontrolled re-entries so difficult.

[DAL59]

2 hours ago, YNM said:

polarity reverses

[kerbiloid]

If reverse the polarity, you can burn the device.

[Ultimate Steve]

 About 6 +- 2 hours to go.