Space ghosts
Few have heard of "space junk" and the multitude of dead satellites flying around our planet. But are they dead?
On May 15, 1958, the third Soviet artificial satellite of the Earth was launched into orbit, the first real satellite, as we now present them - if the first and second satellites were not controlled by flight, then optical equipment was installed on the third satellite, which allowed an automatic system for measuring the trajectory of motion and a multichannel telemetric system that transmitted data from scientific equipment. The satellite conducted a large amount of scientific research until the batteries were exhausted on June 3, 1958. The very same satellite flew until April 6, 1960. But he was not completely dead. As an experiment, solar batteries were placed on the surface of the satellite, feeding the transmitter-beacon for almost two years. The results of observations of the lighthouse were processed for several more years after the satellite had gone out of orbit.
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Not all satellites go out of orbit so quickly, some will continue to rotate around the planet for several millennia. For some, a “disposal” procedure was envisaged after the expiration of the service life - a descent from orbit, but for various technical reasons it was not always possible to do this, for example, due to a premature failure.
Although the service life of the buffer batteries has long expired, under some conditions, solar energy is enough to turn on the dead satellite transmitter.
One of the oldest satellites still continuing to broadcast is the navigation satellite OPS 6582 (TRANSIT 5B-5), launched in the distant 1964.
Almost the same old LES-1 ( Lincoln Experimental Satellite 1 ) has continued to fly and broadcast since 1965.
The frequencies of other ghosts and more information can be found here .
TLE for the Orbitron program can be downloaded here .
Happy Halloween!
On May 15, 1958, the third Soviet artificial satellite of the Earth was launched into orbit, the first real satellite, as we now present them - if the first and second satellites were not controlled by flight, then optical equipment was installed on the third satellite, which allowed an automatic system for measuring the trajectory of motion and a multichannel telemetric system that transmitted data from scientific equipment. The satellite conducted a large amount of scientific research until the batteries were exhausted on June 3, 1958. The very same satellite flew until April 6, 1960. But he was not completely dead. As an experiment, solar batteries were placed on the surface of the satellite, feeding the transmitter-beacon for almost two years. The results of observations of the lighthouse were processed for several more years after the satellite had gone out of orbit.
')
Not all satellites go out of orbit so quickly, some will continue to rotate around the planet for several millennia. For some, a “disposal” procedure was envisaged after the expiration of the service life - a descent from orbit, but for various technical reasons it was not always possible to do this, for example, due to a premature failure.
Although the service life of the buffer batteries has long expired, under some conditions, solar energy is enough to turn on the dead satellite transmitter.
One of the oldest satellites still continuing to broadcast is the navigation satellite OPS 6582 (TRANSIT 5B-5), launched in the distant 1964.
Almost the same old LES-1 ( Lincoln Experimental Satellite 1 ) has continued to fly and broadcast since 1965.
The frequencies of other ghosts and more information can be found here .
TLE for the Orbitron program can be downloaded here .
Happy Halloween!
Source: https://habr.com/ru/post/362477/
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