4 ms·
That's probably impossible to do. Slight variations in atmospheric densities even in the last days/weeks leading up to the final reentry can change the final re
by rtkwe 9y ago
That's probably impossible to do. Slight variations in atmospheric densities even in the last days/weeks leading up to the final reentry can change the final reentry time by 1/6th or more of an orbit. Wired did an article about a small simplistic model check it out. So managing a 'controlled' reentry from 2+ years out is just too complex to be done now, maybe ever it depends on a lot of different variables.
https://www.wired.com/story/you-can-model-chinas-tiangong-1-space-station-crash/ https://www.wired.com/story/you-can-model-chinas-tiangong-1-...
- rtkwe 9y agoFor further example: as of right now ESA still gives a 4 hour window for the reentry which is a really wide swath of the Earth that it could fall onto. https://twitter.com/esa/status/980492830081679361 https://twitter.com/esa/status/980492830081679361