Curious story in AFP yesterday:
Full story here – Click the image above for a large view of the object.
Me thinks it is from either of these spacecraft:
The Vostok had a whole ring of spherical tanks, and maybe and old piece of space junk from one of the old service modules finally came home.
Only the main sphere is kept in re-entry, everything else is discarded.
Though given the trajectory when the service package is jettisoned, and because Vostok flight was in the early 1960’s, it seems doubtful such objects would remain in orbit, though possible if they “skipped” off the atmosphere after jettison.
Another candidate is the Soyuz, still in use today:
Under the shroud of the instrumentation support module there are a number of spherical tanks, as seen in this diagram:
Hi Anthony,
The tank is from a Salyut 7 – Kosmos 1686 spacecraft. It is made of titanium and was used to store helium.
See: http://www.bimsociety.org/gallery/Salyut%207%20-%20Kosmos%201686%20Helium%20Tank/dirindex.html
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Looks right:
Roy Spencer thinks it is a hydrazine tank:
http://www.drroyspencer.com/2011/12/spaceballs/
Probably a standard interchangeable tank used on many spacecraft. Russians tend to reuse a lot of technology.
thank you for a good laugh. There were some very funny responses. Someone beat me to the Santa joke, but I will come up with one anyway:
It looks like Santa’s sleigh has deteriorated because of global warming, per David Suzuki who told little children that the north pole was melting!!
If that things made out of almost pure titanium its worth its weight in gold… or titanium as its going for a alot per ounce nowadays.
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Nah, I’ve bought a lot of titanium lately and it’s not 1/10 the price of gold. The aerospace industry usually uses Ti6Al4V alloy. That’s a standard storage sphere (probably hydrazine) used by everybody. That crater size looks too big for that sphere though. Next time I’m at my desk at work I can calculate the terminal velocity, if anybody on here is interested.
Anthony.
Christmas present sent to the tip jar in appreciation of all the good work.
All the very best to you and yours from me and mine.
REPLY: Thanks !
Today’s price for scrap weldable titanium, five or six bucks per pound, a veritable
Namibian treasure trove, otherwise not so much
So – some of the space junk is coming back at us. This may only be the beginning. I wonder which apocalyptic groups are going to come forward and warn us about the “sky is falling.”
If I did it right, and assuming the sphere was empty and it landed at sea level, the terminal velocity is about 2400 cm/sec or 80 ft/sec. Given that, I’m surprised a the size of the hole.
Of course, as noted if the tank had contents the weight and therefore the terminal velocity would be greater.
Wis. Public Radio during the overnight does BBC programing overnight.
News report today said, “that a piece of Russian space debris, crashed through a roof in Siberia on Cosmonaut St..???
Now is that wild or what? Cosomonaut St.. ding dong ..
Here’s the article.
Russian satellite hits Siberia’s ‘Cosmonaut Street’
December 24, 2011 by Stuart Williams
The Meridian communications satellite failed to reach orbit Friday due to a failure with its Soyuz rocket, raising new concerns over the Russian space programme which has now lost over half a dozen satellites in the last year.
Its fragments crashed into the Novosibirsk region of central Siberia and were found in the Ordynsk district around 100 kilometres (60 miles) south of the regional capital Novosibirsk.
“A sphere was found, around 50 centimetres (20 inches) in diameter, which crashed into the roof of a house in the village of Vagaitsevo” in the Ordynsk district, an official in the local security services told the Interfax news agency.
In an extraordinary irony, the official said that the house was located on Cosmonaut Street, named after the heroic spacemen of the Soviet and Russian space programme.
There were no reports of casualties ..
http://www.physorg.com/news/2011-12-russian-satellite-siberia-cosmonaut-street.html
It’s Higgs Bosun!
It’s Her’s Bosom
http://thatcostumegirl.com/gallery/d/12370-1/coconut_bra.jpg
Recycle your SpaceBalls.
Her’s Bosom Spaceball:
That’s a covering for certain fundamental particulars…
Forgive my plethora of postings.
I have a cold and I’d rather be out shopping.
Happy Christmas to all ! And to all a good flight !
Thanks Anthony.
Lubos Motl on Russian satellite fragment hitting a house at Cosmonaut Street.
http://motls.blogspot.com/2011/12/satellite-fragment-hits-house-on.html#more
A lot has been said and many speculations have been made about the risk of space debris hitting populated area’s. All scientist agreed the odds were incredibly small. Most of the debris would burn up into our atmosphere and those parts surviving the heat would fall into the ocean.
So what exactly is the chance of a Russian satellite fragment hitting a house at Cosmonaut Street on Christmas eve?
Well, from today this chance is 100%.
DON’T YOU LOVE IT?
The Russian space debris insurance pays if it comes through your roof?
Whats really brilliant about this is that as the photographs zoom in you lose all sense of scale and you could think some of them are of a planets surface.
Just like an episode of ‘UFO’, but sadly without Gabrielle Drake.
A metal sphere fell from space? Uh, guys. I know exactly what it is.
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0305396/
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Crocodile_Hunter:_Collision_Course
Don’t let any crocodiles get near it.
People who remember the movie http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Gods_Must_Be_Crazy might be amused.
Unless they are near the point of impact. 😉
OK Here’s the Real McCoy ! , its mine & its FOR SALE ;
http://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.2075939822217.2100333.1356623282&type=3
U.S.A $8,000,000.00 for the wreckage of the HN-3 missile that KNOCKED DOWN the first satellite in space in 2007, fired by the Chinese military.
Look at all those Electronic components that Satellite security *researchers want to get their hands on for their countries national security.
Cash Sale ; email ; samuraisword21@gmail.com
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