One small step toward deliveries from space
A student-built satellite experiment shattered records by deploying the longest space tether ever flown in space, but the missing return capsule remains a mystery to unravel months later.
On Sept. 25, hundreds of students worldwide watched remotely as a Russian-built Foton-M3 spacecraft began unwinding a 19.7-mile-long (31.7 km) super-strong space tether no thicker than a string. The experiment's small Fotino capsule dropped from it toward Earth, preparing to release at the right moment for re-entry into the atmosphere.
The goal was to demonstrate a "space mail" system of delivering packages to Earth using just a tether.
No comments:
Post a Comment