[meteorite-list] Soyuz Capsule Flown "Heat Shield"

From: Nicholas Gessler <gessler_at_meteoritecentral.com>
Date: Tue Nov 9 15:18:48 2004
Message-ID: <6.0.0.22.2.20041109121424.054799f0_at_mail.ucla.edu>

Hi,

I have several of these. The ablation and flow lines are interesting,
especially in the plugs, and well worth having for comparative
purposes. However, the flow lines are in a resin coating of the plug
(which is very light weight), not in metal. Re-entry speeds of artificial
satellites are much lower than those of meteorites so we shouldn't expect
the massive ablation that the latter experience.

I am told that the Chinese simply use wood as a re-entry shield. Would be
fun to get ahold of some of this. But how would we know it is authentic?

Cheers,
Nick

At 11:58 AM 11/9/2004, MARK BOSTICK wrote:
>Hello list,
>
>Possibly of interest to some is these photographs of a "heat shield" from
>a flown Soyuz spacecraft capsule. I was hoping it would compare more with
>the heat shield shaped meteorites I have. However, this item is pretty
>much just a scorched piece of heat resistant metal attached to a wood
>block and fiberglass put on the inside side. If you are interested you can
>view photographs of the disc shaped item at the following link:
>
>http://www.meteoritearticles.com/Soyuz.html
>
>The other day I brought the Rubicon 1 rocket home from the dock. Without
>its engines and stripped it still weighs over 300 pounds. This large
>object fell out of the sky last August into the Pacific ocean....shortly
>after takeoff. Not a meteorite of course, but it was a big piece of metal
>that fell from the sky. I learned a valuable lesson we should all
>memorize the day I brought space capsule and nose cone home. Space
>rockets do not fit through doorways. Sorry, no "recovery" photographs as
>it was raining last week when I moved the item to where it is now. I will
>try to take some photographs of the wreckage later. The nose cone pieces
>are each about the size of me.
>
>Clear Skies,
>Wichita, Kansas
>Mark Bostick
>www.meteoritearticles.com
>
>
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Received on Tue 09 Nov 2004 03:18:43 PM PST