Atmospheric Neutral Density Experiment (ANDE)
Here are some NASA screen shots showing today's deployment of the tiny spherical satellites.
A third small satellite was deployed from Discovery’s payload bay today at 12:23 Central. The Atmospheric Neutral Density Experiment (ANDE)..."consists of two spherical microsatellites that will measure the density and composition of the low-Earth orbit atmosphere while being tracked from the ground. The data will be used to better predict the movement of objects in orbit. The other two satellites were deployed Wednesday night."
NASA Shuttle page
Labels: NASA, Science, Space Shuttle, STS-116
posted by VPCheney @ 12:39 PM
2 comments
2 Comments:
I'm all for scientific discovery and all, but I wonder how long it will be before all the bits of metal we have circling the earth are going to become a danger to astronauts. A loose bolt here, a shard of metal there, all going at 20,000 MPH and heading right for your head.
Cool pics though.
and,
Merry Christmas!
Discovery is now back in Florida, home for the holidays.
All that stuff is already a hazard that calls for constant alertness.
The ANDE micro-sats will help with the prediction of where and how fast all of those parts and space litter are going.
Perhaps we will need a clean up operation somewhere down the line for low earth orbit debris. Most of it will eventually burn up as their orbit decays, but until then it sits out there as a lurking hazard to vehicles and crews.
Merry Christmas!
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