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From: sohail@terak.UUCP
Newsgroups: net.space
Subject: re: # of satellites
Message-ID: <134@terak.UUCP>
Date: Thu, 9-Aug-84 18:51:19 EDT
Article-I.D.: terak.134
Posted: Thu Aug  9 18:51:19 1984
Date-Received: Mon, 13-Aug-84 00:42:44 EDT
Organization: Terak Corp, Scottsdale, Az
Lines: 20


According to Desmond King-Hele's book "Observing Earth Satellites",
there are roughly 5000 (five thousand) significant man-made objects
in earth orbit. Watching these objects cross the sky every moonless night
an hour after sunset is one of my favorite pastimes. The Ruskies were kind
enough to send up a booster 6-8 meters in length , with every 'Cosmos' 
satellite. These boosters, painted white, usually go into orbit with 
the payload for 2 weeks to 20 years. In contrast, most of the United
States launches were very tidy about putting thier booster trash in
ballistic arcs or very shortlived orbits. (Maybe someone from NASA could
enlighten us on the validity of my last sentence)
The pretty white, tumbling, spent boosters make much better backyard 
targets then the small black silicon covered functional 
devices that are gyro-stabilized.

		I remain
			Cliff Cordes

		...hao!noao!terak!cliff