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From: daemon@decwrl.UUCP
Newsgroups: net.space
Subject: Retrieving Westar/Palapa
Message-ID: <5539@decwrl.UUCP>
Date: Thu, 9-Feb-84 10:09:21 EST
Article-I.D.: decwrl.5539
Posted: Thu Feb  9 10:09:21 1984
Date-Received: Sat, 11-Feb-84 05:58:54 EST
Sender: daemon@decwrl.UUCP
Organization: DEC Western Research Lab, Los Altos, CA
Lines: 27

From: dvinci::fisher  (Burns Fisher, MRO3-1/E13, 231-4108)

One thing I haven't seen mentioned here in the discussions about having
a shuttle flight pick up the errant satellites...they are spinning!  From
the looks of it on the news it must be in the 10s of RPMs.  Since the
things are spun up on a turntable in the shuttle bay, and since they are
intended to remain spinning for their entire useful life, I assume they
would not have roll control jets to "despin" them.  That would back it very
difficult to grab them at all, say nothing of grabbing them without smashing
the solar cells, antennae, etc which are around the outside.

What I did wonder about, though, is whether it would be practical at the end
of the mission to do a rendezvous with one of them and take pictures to help
the failure review boards.  Does the orbiter have enough OMS fuel to make
even a fast pass without matching orbits?

Burns


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