Starshine 3 is Toast

DeAshcroft writes "The Project Starshine page has the announcement that Starshine 3 reentered the atmosphere at 0540 hours UTC, Jan 21. They are asking anyone who saw the reentry to send their observations (and pictures). Starshine 3 carried 1500 mirrors, polished by students at 1000 schools in 30 countries, and came down about two years ahead of schedule because the sun has been making trouble. Starshine 4 and 5 are waiting for space on a shuttle (ahem), mid-2004 at the earliest."

Comments

We should support this kind of project

[lindsayt]

This is a very cool project, as it allows normal people to use classical measurement techniques to determine essential characteristics of the atmosphere and orbit, use readily-available equipment and (relatively) simple math. It makes science real for a whole group of people who might be bored by purely theoretical studies. I hope NASA , the ESA, or some other launch group can find time/space to hurl the next one up for them.