Hi Frits, Ted and List, Frits Westra asked: >> I'd be pleased if someone could point me to information (precise time >> and re-entry area) of the re-entry of a Gorizont/Proton rocket body >> on November 5, 1990. It was observed across northwestern Europe. >> I'm also curious about reports of the duration of the observations. Ted Molczan answered : >The object was 1990-094C / 20925, a part of Gorizont 21's Proton launch vehicle. >It is a cylindrical casing dropped from the tail part of the 4th stage (Block DM >- type), about 10 m 45 s after launch (time varies slightly from one launch to >another). It is 4.00 m long and 3.70 m in diameter; mass is 700 kg. > . . . There is a very big probability that the NORAD misidentified the two low orbit objects : parts B and C. One of them is the third stage of the Proton (6.5m x 4.2m dia. 4185 kg empty), the other is the piece between 3rd and 4th stages (empty cylinder + truncated cone, I don't find the cut and data anymore...) One object decayed November 4, after 20 hours in orbit. The other gave the spectacular reentry over western Europe, the 5th around 18:00 UTC after 51 hours in orbit. What happened for other similar launches, and the consideration of the surface to mass ratio lead to think that the first to decay was the junction piece. The good entries in the Satelite Situation Report should be : 1990-094B 20924 CIS 88.2 min 51.7 deg 193 km 178 km SL-12 PLAT Launched (11/03/1990) Decayed [11/04/1990] And the next one, the rocket body : 1990-094C 20925 CIS 87.4 min 51.7 deg 148 km 147 km SL-12 R/B(1) Launched (11/03/1990) Decayed [11/05/1990] The spectacular rocket reentry over France with quite good weather conditions gave many hundreds of reports to the medias and the state police force (Gendarmerie), next transmitted to the UFO dedicated service in the CNES (then called SEPRA, recently renamed GEIPAN). A part of these observations cannot be related to the reentry. As Ted pointed out, the most accurate observation with timing and position was done by Daniel Karcher, belonging to Pierre Neirinck network of observers. His data allowed me to draw an approximate map of the reentry (position/altitude versus time) that I would be pleased to send to the interested persons. (please, ask in private to tmarais@wanadoo.fr) Thierry Marais ------------------------------------------------------------------------- Subscribe/Unsubscribe info, Frequently Asked Questions, SeeSat-L archive: http://www.satobs.org/seesat/seesatindex.html
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