April 05, 2002

Partial Launch Vehicle and Spacecraft to Re-Enter Earth's Atmosphere

The upper stage of a Pegasus launch vehicle with NASA's first High Energy Transient Experiment (HETE-1) and the Argentine SAC-B spacecraft still attached is predicted to re-enter the Earth's atmosphere at approximately 7 a.m. EDT Sunday, April 7. This prediction is uncertain to within plus or minus two days.

The total weight of the upper stage and combined spacecraft is 535 kilograms (1,177 pounds). Initial analysis indicates that only four small stainless-steel batteries, weighing a total of 15 kilograms (33 pounds) will survive re-entry.

"The re-entry is uncontrolled, and due to potential solar flux variations, time and location predictions will not be reliable until only a few hours before the re-entry event," said Scott Hull, Spacecraft Engineering Lead for Space Systems Mission Operations at Goddard.

The U.S. Space Command will track HETE-1/SAC-B and the launch-vehicle third stage until re-entry. NASA will monitor the orbital parameters based on Space Command data and will supply updates and technical information as needed.

For the complete article on the HETE/SAC-B re-entry, go to: http://www.gsfc.nasa.gov/topstory
/20020401hetereenter.html

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