- Hi Jeff,
-
- Russia launched the Coronas-F Tsyklon 3 into a high inclination
orbit from the Plesetsk Cosmodrome:
-
- Orbit parameters:
-
- circular orbit with ~500 km altitude; revolution period
~95 min.; inclination ~82.5.
-
- However, becuase the Russian launch site is on the other
side of the dateline - 12 hours ahead of east coast time, a launch at 9
am Russian local time would come over the east coast at about 10 pm east
coast time.
-
- It appears highly likely that what crashed was the booster
body for the rocket. At ~82.5 inclination, the rocket would head nearly
due north over the pole and the rocket body would fall in an equally high
inclination angle directly over the U.S. east coast.
-
- This should be VERY easy to verify by getting the orbital
parameters for the Tsyklon 3 satellite for its intial launch stage and
overlaying that on a map of the globe with the timing for the launch.
-
- This is also strongly supported by the green fireballs
over the apst few years in teh Pacific Northwest.
-
- The green fireballs that periodically show up over the
Pacific Northwest are actually the DM block upper stages of Proton rockets
launched out of Baikonaur. These third stages re-enter over the continental
U.S. As the re-entering rocket body is observed by many in a near head
on approach AND beauce of the many tanks and irregular geometry as the
rocket bruns up, the rocket body debris often appears to make pretty wild
motions.
-
- This is very much like what a baseball batter sees when
a professional pitcher throws a curve ball.
-
- The only web page that gives any reasonable information
about such launches in advance is the JPL calendar at: http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/calendar/
-
- The Russian launches are routinely delayed by months
and occasionally advanced by a day or two.
-
- The Proton rocket launches have been very rare in the
past year. Before that they were common. Coincidentally, the green fireballs
ALWAYS appeared the evening BEFORE the actual launch dates (time zone shift).
They ceased appearing when the Russians were forced to stop launching
the heavier Proton boosters.
-
- Also, the Proton K's don't seem to cause these fireballs.
That is probably due to the lack of the DM block upper stage.
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