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NASA's HETE Coming Down

Posted by michael on from the falling-down-on-new-jersey dept.

terrymr writes "NASA expects the High Energy Transient Experiment spacecraft which failed to successfully detach from the third stage of its launch rocket in 1996 to fall to earth within the next few days. While most of the spacecraft will likely burn up in the upper atmosphere there is a good chance that the spacecraft's batteries (weighing 33lbs each) may reach the ground intact. Current predictions put re-entry at 4:41 EDT Sunday April 7 (+/- two days)."

4 of 96 comments (clear)

  1. They�ve got minute-exact time, but +/- 2 days? by uncl_bob · · Score: 2, Interesting

    Hmm..anyone care to explain that?

  2. Used to study gamma ray bursts. by garrick_rorapaugh · · Score: 2, Interesting

    The HETE-1 was supposed to look for gamma ray bursts. If you haven't heard about these events, they are believed to emanate from explosions so powerful that they produce more energy in a matter of seconds than the sun will emit in its entire 10 billion years of life.

    The cool thing is that astronomers have almost no idea what could be causing these enormous bursts.

    Check out http://www.sciam.com/0797issue/0797fishman.html for more information.

    1. Re:Used to study gamma ray bursts. by Rolo+Tomasi · · Score: 2, Interesting
      ... astronomers have almost no idea what could be causing these enormous bursts.
      Actually, they have. Scientists from Leicester University analyzed the spectral fingerprint of a GRB and they found that it had come from a Supernova explosion. There's an article in the current issue of Nature. The interesting part is that the GRB occured 10 to 100 hours after the Supernova explosion.
      --
      Did you know you can fertilize your lawn with used motor oil?
  3. Plutonium, HETE and Nuclear Links by securitas · · Score: 2, Interesting


    'Stainless steel batteries? ' I think not. More likely that they are plutonium or some other nuclear material, and the reason that no predictions are being made about where they will land is because NASA doesn't want to start a panic. As I understand it they are designed to burn up on re-entry to avoid ground level contamination (that says nothing of atmospheric contamination along the flight path). If they survive all the way to the ground and they are radiological....

    Space Nuclear Power Systems

    Space Nuclear Power System Accidents

    Bulletin of Atomic Scientists: How many nuclear devices are there in space?

    Link to CNN story.