Old Spacesuits are Potential Satellites 154
SpaceAdmiral writes "In order to determine if old spacesuits can be effective satellites, the crew on the International Space Station will be throwing one overboard on February 3rd. The SuitSat will transmit information about its condition and, if you happen to have a ham radio or a police scanner, you can tune in when it passes your city! You can use NASA's J-Pass utility to determine when it will pass above you."
Re:Is this wise? (Score:3, Insightful)
Re:Is this wise? (Score:4, Insightful)
The only time when it would be "space junk" would be between the time when its batteries fail (after a "few days") and when it re-enters ("few months"). Given its size and known orbit, I don't think that's exactly going to be a daunting task to track and avoid.
Radios (Score:3, Insightful)
They're dirt cheap -- you can get first and second-generation frequency-synthesized ones (so they don't require crystals, in other words) for next to nothing if you look around at flea markets, estate sales, etc. And even on eBay they're not terribly expensive.
Or you could go the route they suggest in the article, which is contact a local amateur radio club -- I am positive that you'd find someone who would be willing to help you tune into it.
It's not like there are a whole lot of alternatives to radio when you want to listen to something in space
Re:Yeah, good thing to do (Score:2, Insightful)
It's a non-issue.
Re:Space, The Final Landfill (Score:3, Insightful)