What satellite did the Varda capsule fly past during its return last week?
Click for video cued to this point.
Regular reader Rex Ridenoure emailed me today to note that there appears to be another satellite relatively nearby and visible in the video posted in yesterday’s quick links, taken from inside Varda’s capsule during its return to Earth.
The image to the right is a screen capture taken at 7:56 of the video. At that point the object is visible from 7:50 to 8:01 to the west and below. You can clearly see it moving from left to right (east to west). The two solar panels can also be discerned on either side of the satellite’s main body.
It later reappears for only two seconds in the lower right of the view window at 9:18, then is visible again at 10:30 to 10:33, now beginning to pass below but considerably to the north (?).
If anyone has the resources to identify this satellite, as well as its exact distance during this close approach, please comment below. It raises an interesting question on whether its existence was considered when the re-entry time was decided.
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Click for video cued to this point.
Regular reader Rex Ridenoure emailed me today to note that there appears to be another satellite relatively nearby and visible in the video posted in yesterday’s quick links, taken from inside Varda’s capsule during its return to Earth.
The image to the right is a screen capture taken at 7:56 of the video. At that point the object is visible from 7:50 to 8:01 to the west and below. You can clearly see it moving from left to right (east to west). The two solar panels can also be discerned on either side of the satellite’s main body.
It later reappears for only two seconds in the lower right of the view window at 9:18, then is visible again at 10:30 to 10:33, now beginning to pass below but considerably to the north (?).
If anyone has the resources to identify this satellite, as well as its exact distance during this close approach, please comment below. It raises an interesting question on whether its existence was considered when the re-entry time was decided.
Readers!
My annual February birthday fund-raising drive for Behind the Black is now over. Thank you to everyone who donated or subscribed. While not a record-setter, the donations were more than sufficient and slightly above average.
As I have said many times before, I can’t express what it means to me to get such support, especially as no one is required to pay anything to read my work. Thank you all again!
For those readers who like my work here at Behind the Black and haven't contributed so far, please consider donating or subscribing. My analysis of space, politics, and culture, taken from the perspective of an historian, is almost always on the money and ahead of the game. For example, in 2020 I correctly predicted that the COVID panic was unnecessary, that the virus was apparently simply a variation of the flu, that masks were not simply pointless but if worn incorrectly were a health threat, that the lockdowns were a disaster and did nothing to stop the spread of COVID. Every one of those 2020 conclusions has turned out right.
Your help allows me to do this kind of intelligent analysis. I take no advertising or sponsors, so my reporting isn't influenced by donations by established space or drug companies. Instead, I rely entirely on donations and subscriptions from my readers, which gives me the freedom to write what I think, unencumbered by outside influences.
You can support me either by giving a one-time contribution or a regular subscription. There are four ways of doing so:
1. Zelle: This is the only internet method that charges no fees. All you have to do is use the Zelle link at your internet bank and give my name and email address (zimmerman at nasw dot org). What you donate is what I get.
2. Patreon: Go to my website there and pick one of five monthly subscription amounts, or by making a one-time donation.
3. A Paypal Donation or subscription:
4. Donate by check, payable to Robert Zimmerman and mailed to
Behind The Black
c/o Robert Zimmerman
P.O.Box 1262
Cortaro, AZ 85652
You can also support me by buying one of my books, as noted in the boxes interspersed throughout the webpage or shown in the menu above.
The object in the video bears a superficial resemblance to the Varda W-series carrier platform as portrayed on the Varda website. The low relative velocity makes it quite likely that the two objects share a common orbit, as they would from after ejection of the reentry capsule, until it began to respond to reentry heating, which would promptly separate the two and destroy the carrier.
Several YouTube commenters say that it was the Photon module, which would have detached from the Varda craft before reentry. An unrelated satellite would probably have been within camera range for only a very short time.
That’s the Photon spacecraft that deployed the capsule. Built by Rocket Lab.
One of the comments on the video pointed this out.
All: If this is Proton, explain please why it appears to be below the Varda capsule. My guess would be the following:
1. Proton does the de-orbit burn for Varda.
2. The two craft separate.
3. Proton does a second de-orbit burn to bring it down in the ocean.
The result is that Proton is behind Varda, but dropping faster so that ends up below and going past.
That is a pure guess on my part. Anyone more educated in these matters wish to chime in?
At the time where that other object is visible, the Varda capsule is already experiencing obvious atmospheric effects, you can see that the tumble isn’t regular and constant as it would be in vacuum. So whatever the other object is, it’s also re-entering. Which is just confirmation that it must be the service module, because while the odds of a close pass against some other random satellite are astronomical, the odds of a close pass against some other random satellite that happens to be re-entering at the same place and time…
The service module is presumably less aerodynamic than the capsule, and with all the fuel expended, might also have less mass. So at the first real intersection with atmosphere, it’s going to slow down more and end up on a steeper trajectory. The difference won’t be huge, but easily enough to explain why the service module appears below and behind the capsule.