Relay-Version: version B 2.10 5/3/83; site utzoo.UUCP Posting-Version: version B 2.10.1 (Tek) 9/26/83; site orca.UUCP Path: utzoo!watmath!clyde!floyd!harpo!seismo!hao!hplabs!tektronix!orca!brucec From: brucec@orca.UUCP (Bruce Cohen) Newsgroups: net.space Subject: Re: space station killing Message-ID: <709@orca.UUCP> Date: Sun, 25-Mar-84 00:39:22 EST Article-I.D.: orca.709 Posted: Sun Mar 25 00:39:22 1984 Date-Received: Tue, 20-Mar-84 01:13:02 EST References: <152@hocse.UUCP>, <3392@lanl-a.UUCP> <3646@utzoo.UUCP> Organization: Tektronix, Wilsonville OR Lines: 17 ------------- Thank you, Kieran Carroll, for setting the record straight about how easy it is to kill a space station. I was going to make the same points, and you have saved my fingers some work. One point I would like to add is that the simplest satellite killer of all, good against space stations too, is a few kilos of BBs, put into a nearly identical orbit to the target, but with the opposite rotational sense. Total impact velocity nearly twice orbital velocity (>15 KPS total for LEO) means a lot of kinetic energy. So it costs a little more deltaV to get it into orbit because you have the Earth's rotation bucking instead of aiding you. You can still carry a lot of BBs on something the size of a Thor-Delta. Bruce Cohen UUCP: ...!tektronix!orca!brucec CSNET: orca!brucec@tektronix ARPA: orca!brucec.tektronix@rand-relay