Track the Nasa "Tool Bag"

[Forrestandjen07]

not sure how it is being tracked

but here you go

http://www.n2yo.com/?s=33442

[xtop]

almost 5 miles a second. sheesh! do they expect it to enter the atmosphere and burn up anytime soon?

[Forrestandjen07]

Originally Posted by xtop

almost 5 miles a second. sheesh! do they expect it to enter the atmosphere and burn up anytime soon?

Dont know if it is any time soon, but thats what it is suppsoed to do

[quexos]

Only way to track it is if there was a GPS tracker in the bag, I don't see why put one on, but assuming there is one and that site is genuine, why is the bag moving on a curbed line ? (The red line is the trajectory of the bag right ?) I would not suppose it has propelling engines to allow it to change course ?
Something's not right here.

[groovyone]

Originally Posted by quexos

Only way to track it is if there was a GPS tracker in the bag, I don't see why put one on, but assuming there is one and that site is genuine, why is the bag moving on a curbed line ? (The red line is the trajectory of the bag right ?) I would not suppose it has propelling engines to allow it to change course ?
Something's not right here.

They track tons of debris, literally. Things the size of a quarter can be followed on the ground without it having GPS. It is a bag, no engines, but since it was at the ISS (International Space Station) altitude is orbit will degrade over time. The ISS actually has the same orbital decay issue but they use the thrusters to correct altitude at regular intevals.

I'll see if I can find the site showing the ISS orbital path. Not sure what you mean by 'curbed line', but the site is accurate. If you mean what I think you mean it is because you are looking at a flat representaion of a spherical Earth.

[jkwest]

wow....that is quite something...

[Deadset]

Great! that is something else...