UARS satellite: New images of tumbling spacecraft

legault.perso.sfr.fr

20 points·seewhat··9 comments

I can't decide if this is a dumb question or not, but why does something like the ISS always face the surface of the Earth in the same direction? For example:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=7...

I know the reason the moon is always facing the same face toward us is because it has locked its own rotational rate to match it orbital rate due to "tidal like" forces acting back on the moon.

So, maybe I just answered my own question, I guess they purposefully added a rotational component to the ISS so that it is always facing the surface as it orbits? Why do that instead of staying fixed according to the stars? Maybe that is too disorienting for the astronauts.

Control Moment Gyroscopes:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Control_moment_gyroscope#Intern...

Its done on purpose. For example, high-gain communications antennas need to remain pointed at Earth, else they don't do much good.

Is there a page somewhere where I can see when it will be visible in certain regions of the world?

http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/uars/index.html

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-hRsgdyFQjM

6.5 tons of equipment burning into the atmosphere should be visible at the naked eye even in daylight.

http://heavens-above.com/ has satellite listings, too...

(Maybe not so reliable for a falling satellite I guess, though).

Good realtime overlay onto Google maps:

http://www.n2yo.com/satellite/?s=21701

(a bit slow to load - I guess it could be popular right now)

aliens

The sky is falling.

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