Blast from the past

[DngrMse]

I never expected to hear, or see from this thing again, (see pic).

This, boys 'n girls, is the oxidizer tank from T402, launched in 1994. Here's a brief blurb on the launch, and subsequent failure:

AT&T Skynet Satellite Services' Telstar 402 was launched by an Ariane
42L on Sep 9 into a 224 x 35717 km orbit inclined 6.9 degrees. This
was the 30th Ariane 4 launch, and the 28th successful one. The payload
was a Martin Marietta Astro Space Series 7000 satellite, the second
to be launched. It carried 24 C-band and 16 Ku-band transponders,
and a pair of UK Royal Ordnance bipropellant Leros liquid apogee engines.
A few minutes after Telstar 402 separated from the Ariane H10+ third stage,
controllers commanded the spacecraft tanks to be pressurized. Telemetry
indicates that an explosion occurred at this point and all contact with
the satellite was lost.

http://www.planet4589.org/space/jsr/back/news.210

(The 'series 7000' name comes from the wet launch weight of the satellite, which was approximately 7000 pounds)

Now, 12 years later, it finally came down. This piece was likely the only bit to survive re-entry, as it's made from titanium. This piece landed in a farmers field in Brazil somewhere, and the manufacturers data plate was still on it, which made possible the positive id.

(news story, and additional photo from Brazil)

http://noticias.terra.com.br/brasil/...-EI306,00.html

[Gibson]

INCOMING!!!!