This is the biggest meteor shower since satellites have been orbiting the earth. It could be trouble, or just a good show................
techweb.com
Satellite Operators Brace For Meteor Shower
(10/05/98 2:26 p.m. ET)
By Andrew Craig, TechWeb
Satellite operators are bracing their equipment for a massive meteor shower next month, but opinion is divided over whether to expect a communications catastrophe or just a gigantic fireworks display.
When the Leonids meteor shower occurs on Nov. 17 and Nov. 18 this year, it will appear as a spectacular visual show for observers on earth. For the several hundred satellites providing telecommunications, broadcasting, and other signals, however, the fast-moving sand-sized particles could cause damage and disruption, said experts in the satellite industry.
Leonids is a meteor shower that trails the Temple-Tuttle comet as it passes the earth every year. The comet is on a 33-year cycle and will be closer to the earth this year than it has been since 1965.
The majority of the particles in the shower are smaller than a grain of sand, but will be traveling at more than 200 times the speed of sound. The particles will vaporize material on impact. This could devastate the electronics on board one of the 800 satellites now orbiting earth.
The impact of a satellite outage was felt in May, when almost all pagers in the United States went out of action after a technical problem with the PanAmSat Galaxy IV communications satellite.
Satellite operators are taking precautions to limit the likelihood of their satellites being damaged by the shower. San Jose, Calif.-based satellite operator Globalstar said it will be taking precautions to make sure it is less vulnerable to damage from the shower.
Globalstar will not be adjusting its solar arrays -- the panels projecting from a satellite -- during the shower, said Globalstar spokeswoman Jeanette Clonan. Globalstar has eight low-earth-orbiting satellites for its satellite-communications system to be launched next year, but the risk is greater to geostationary satellites, of which it has seven, said Clonan. Between five and 10 satellites are likely to be affected by the shower. Some services, such as pager services could be knocked out, according to satellite-software company AGI. "While we are not talking about meteoroids the size of Texas coming at the Earth, there is a reason to be alarmed," said AGI president Paul Graziani.
"Literally thousands of rocks and debris will be hurling past our satellites, and even a piece of sand going more than 226 times the speed of sound has the potential to do major damage," said Graziani.
But some say the shower may be little more than a visual spectacular. "Satellites get hit all the time, so presumably they are built to withstand the impact," said Chris Tout, an academic at the Institute of Astronomy, at Cambridge University, England.
The intensity of a shower like Leonids does increase the likelihood of a satellite getting hit, said Tout, "but I'm sure we're not going to have a communications catastrophe," he said.
|
