Posted on 10/19/2018 12:10:35 PM PDT by ETL
California residents were stunned to watch a fireball of space junk shoot across the sky and fall onto a nearby ranch last week. Videos of the bizarre sight quickly spread across social media with many wondering what the debris was and where exactly it came from.
The owner of the ranch near Hanford spotted the big chunk of metal in his walnut orchard on Oct. 13 and alerted local authorities. ..."
After nearly a week of searching for clues, officials finally got an answer.
The Vandenberg Air Force Base told Kings County Sheriff's deputies the object was most likely a fuel tank that detached from a communications satellite owned by Iridium, a satellite communications company. The company confirmed to officials the object was, in fact, from one of their satellites that launched into space in the late 1990s and slowly re-entered Earth's atmosphere, the sheriff's office said in a statement to Fox News.
"The purpose of this particular tank was to store fuel used to change the orbit of the satellite in space," the Kings County Sheriff's Office said.
Iridium said the tank needs to be examined before they can officially confirm it belongs to the decades-old satellite.
We need to see it. We may never be 100 percent certain," spokesman Jordan Hassin told the Fresno Bee, adding it has several satellites in low-Earth orbit.
(Excerpt) Read more at foxnews.com ...
That is from a Klingon Bird of Prey.
Sounds like the Air Force needs to pay damages and ground rent, and entry fees for it... (grin)
Several? SEVERAL!
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Iridium_satellite_constellation
They have launched 160. 72 are in active service.
"The constellation consists of 66 active satellites in orbit, required for global coverage, and additional spare satellites to serve in case of failure.[3] Satellites are in low Earth orbit at a height of approximately 485 mi (781 km) and inclination of 86.4°. Orbital velocity of the satellites is approximately 17,000 mph (27,000 km/h)."
Send more Chuck Berry
I know my sister is still in the shower getting it off
Anyone see that “The Blob” remake? ...
Looks more like an attempt by EXTs trying to say “Your Bullet Train Bites the Big One”.
My wife gets irritated at me as I’m always asking her to either buy or make more Takuan....love the stuff.
Well, I think the most common monopropellant nowadays is hydrazine instead of hydrogen peroxide, and that is a lot more toxic.
Put it on Ebay. If the cops took it, then one of them will be putting it on Ebay.
It’s a giant robot egg that hatched.
They will be finding bits of Columbia for the next 100 years. No way all the little bits were found due to the huge area that it covered.
*ping*
Nah, it's fine. C-stoff and bourbon with a splash of ginger and dash of clove. Delish!
We should coat the wall between us and Mexico with that stuff - on the Mexican side.
I’ll have to carve it into a knife and weave the soap pads into a hat.
True. But I wonder if anyone other than NASA/US Gov. has
any parts and kept them and kept that fact quiet? Perhaps
in order to sell the part(s) later privately? Would
that even be legal?
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