🚀 go-pugleaf

In article <C05Cr9.991@zoo.toronto.edu> henry@zoo.toronto.edu (Henry Spencer) writes:
>In article <1992Dec31.204838.14165@twisto.eng.hou.compaq.com> mccreary@sword.eng.hou.compaq.com (Ed McCreary) writes:
>>... After it's mission is finished, MO will be raised to a high
>>enough orbit to prevent it's re-entry for X thousand years.
>
>This may be a little academic, since as I recall, as of its shutdown in
>1972, Mariner 9's estimated orbital lifetime was only half a century.

True, I should have checked my numbers.

The quarantine requirements state that the probability of impact
before Jan. 1, 2009 must be less than 0.0001.  The probability
of impact between Jan. 1, 2009 and Jan. 1, 2039 must be less than
0.05.  As a result, MO will be raised to a Sun-synchronous orbit
with an altitude of about 370 km after it's mission is complete.
--
Ed McCreary                                               ,__o
mccreary@sword.eng.hou.compaq.com                       _-\_<,
"If it were not for laughter, there would be no Tao."  (*)/'(*)