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Prospero still in orbit

camlinhall · 2011-09-06 12:37:49

The British satellite Prospero is still in low Earth orbit after 40 years. They're going to try and communicate with it to celebrate its anniversary. With no orbital boosting shouldn't it have been dragged in by the atmosphere by now? Periapsis is 531 Km, though, which is relatively high for low-Earth orbit? They called it…

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06-09-2011 1:37pm

#1
camlinhall

Registered Users Posts: 67 ✭✭

Join Date: May 2011

Posts: 59
The British satellite Prospero is still in low Earth orbit after 40 years. They're going to try and communicate with it to celebrate its anniversary. With no orbital boosting shouldn't it have been dragged in by the atmosphere by now? Periapsis is 531 Km, though, which is relatively high for low-Earth orbit?

They called it Prospero at the last minute in 1971. It had just been decided that it would be the last British domestic satellite project. The Tempest (featuring Prospero) was Shakespeare's final self-penned play.

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