RE: [amsat-bb] Farewell SO-43 -- SK tonight

["Tom Clark, W3IWI" <w3iwi@xxxxxxxx>]

G3RWL asked

> Maybe I'm missing something here ... but WHY is it coming down so soon.
I'd
> expect it to stay up for another ten years or so. Possible reasons could
be
> human intervention; elliptical orbit; extremely low mass, but none of
these
> seem to apply in this case. After all, Bob's PC-sat ain't coming home yet
> (or is it ?)

It was released at ~4-500 km orbit by the Athena. PCSAT went to ~800 km.
PCSAT is good for another decade or more.

Another story of the final orbit, as well as some other info on Starshine,
is found at http://azinet.com/starshine/

Tom


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