Post by Dub on Jan 28, 2024 12:56:44 GMT -5
I’m always looking for a broader perspective on news and one of the sources I often read is DW (Deutsche Welle), a respected international source based in Germany. I like it because it helps me understand what’s going on outside the US and often provides a different perspective than US sources.
One of the articles I read today was about Iran’s successful launch of a rocket putting three different satellites into “low earth orbit” at 450km/280mi. (LINK) That seemed pretty low to me and I realized I had only a vague understanding of the orbits of man-made satellites.
A Web search led me to NASA’s Catalog of Earth Satellite Orbits which I found quite fascinating. It answered my question and I learned a great many things I hadn’t thought much about. One thing I learned is that, as of 2009, there were more than 18,000 man-made objects orbiting the earth. So many that a great deal of time and money is spent trying to avoid collisions, a danger that is sometimes realized. “As of May 2009, Earth Observing satellites had been moved three separate times to avoid orbital debris.”
I still don’t know what skulduggery the Iranians are up to, if any, but I thought all of this was interesting enough to share. YMMV
One of the articles I read today was about Iran’s successful launch of a rocket putting three different satellites into “low earth orbit” at 450km/280mi. (LINK) That seemed pretty low to me and I realized I had only a vague understanding of the orbits of man-made satellites.
A Web search led me to NASA’s Catalog of Earth Satellite Orbits which I found quite fascinating. It answered my question and I learned a great many things I hadn’t thought much about. One thing I learned is that, as of 2009, there were more than 18,000 man-made objects orbiting the earth. So many that a great deal of time and money is spent trying to avoid collisions, a danger that is sometimes realized. “As of May 2009, Earth Observing satellites had been moved three separate times to avoid orbital debris.”
Thousands of manmade objects—95 % of them “space junk”— occupy low Earth orbit. Each black dot in this image shows either a functioning satellite, an inactive satellite, or a piece of debris. Although the space near Earth looks crowded, each dot is much larger than the satellite or debris it represents, and collisions are extremely rare. (NASA illustration courtesy Orbital Debris Program Office.)
Orbiting objects are concentrated in low Earth orbit (nearly obscuring the Earth’s surface in this illustration) and geostationary orbit (revealed by the ring of satellites along the outer edges). (NASA illustration courtesy Orbital Debris Program Office.)
I still don’t know what skulduggery the Iranians are up to, if any, but I thought all of this was interesting enough to share. YMMV
