The orbit is straight, it's the earth that is rolling in its daily wobble. The earth is tilted at approximately 23 degrees from the plane of the ecliptic, and it wobbles. Look at orbits going back to our very first satellites and space capsules, they all had that "sine wave" look to them. The earth's spin is not stable like a spinning top. If I remember my Astronomy 101, I think it's call "precession".... the way the earth wobbles as it spins.
It's decending, and will be slowed down a huge chunk by the atmosphere. But by the time it's close to the ground (think 1-10km) it could still be going around 800-1500 km/h. Still extremely dangerous ⚡⚡
It's estimated that the Tungusta event was caused by a meteor traveling at over 54,000 km/h and was about 65 meters in diameter. So much more mass than the Chinese object, and at much greater speed as it hit the atmosphere, caused that kind of damage in Tungusta. I wouldn't worry too much about this piece of space junk.
But, that event had the asteroid coming in a 40,000MPH.. It exploded before it could hit and the shockwave was more ferocious than the more recent event in Russia..
whoa... the thing weights 18 metric tons, and it's moving at over 28k km/h
I'm no physicist, but I feel something like that could level a few blocks...
Also what's up with that orbit? it's like a sine wave almost...
The orbit is straight, it's the earth that is rolling in its daily wobble. The earth is tilted at approximately 23 degrees from the plane of the ecliptic, and it wobbles. Look at orbits going back to our very first satellites and space capsules, they all had that "sine wave" look to them. The earth's spin is not stable like a spinning top. If I remember my Astronomy 101, I think it's call "precession".... the way the earth wobbles as it spins.
Ohhh, of course, I feel like an idiot now...
Thanks for clearing that up.
Not at all, everyone of us brings different skill sets to GA... carry on, anon.
Precession of the equinoxes
It's decending, and will be slowed down a huge chunk by the atmosphere. But by the time it's close to the ground (think 1-10km) it could still be going around 800-1500 km/h. Still extremely dangerous ⚡⚡
Think of the Tunguska event which leveled 800 square miles of trees.
It's estimated that the Tungusta event was caused by a meteor traveling at over 54,000 km/h and was about 65 meters in diameter. So much more mass than the Chinese object, and at much greater speed as it hit the atmosphere, caused that kind of damage in Tungusta. I wouldn't worry too much about this piece of space junk.
But, that event had the asteroid coming in a 40,000MPH.. It exploded before it could hit and the shockwave was more ferocious than the more recent event in Russia..
no def not that exetreme
holy crap...
It could level an entire city, a large one at that. Saying that the object doesn't break up on re-entry.
Rods from god