
Vietnam: Officials probe mysterious 'space balls' - Perados
http://www.bbc.com/news/blogs-news-from-elsewhere-35242079
======
sandworm101
Found it. Mystery over. What's the fine for littering in Vietnam?

[http://www.aerospace.org/cords/reentry-
predictions/upcoming-...](http://www.aerospace.org/cords/reentry-
predictions/upcoming-reentries-2-2/2015-074c/)

Launch on dec 11.

[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NrQLacne89s](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NrQLacne89s)

Mission profile and payload. Elektro-L No. 2 weather-forecasting satellite.

[http://www.russianspaceweb.com/elektro-l2.html](http://www.russianspaceweb.com/elektro-l2.html)

Edit: I think I was wrong about this being a blok-d upper. I think what came
down over vietnam was the second stage of the rocket. This:
[http://www.russianspaceweb.com/zenit_stage2.html](http://www.russianspaceweb.com/zenit_stage2.html)

Really BBC, do some digging before using the phrase "Space Balls" in a
headline. It took like 40 minutes of googling to find everything about this
debris.

~~~
stefap2
Three minutes later, the protective payload fairing was jettisoned, unveiling
the spacecraft and the Fregat-SB upper stage.[1]

The stage is made up of six overlapping spherical sections, only four of which
serve as propellant tanks. Two remaining spheres are actually instrument
sections, one containing unpressurized avionics, which can function in vacuum
of space and another, pressurized, section holding a flight control computer,
which requires a temperature-controlled environment.

At least four spherical gas tanks with a diameter of 375 millimeters and a
capacity of 23 liters are carried onboard Fregat. [2]

[1] [http://www.alternative-
learning.org/nl/wordpress/?p=4082](http://www.alternative-
learning.org/nl/wordpress/?p=4082) [2]
[http://www.russianspaceweb.com/fregat.html](http://www.russianspaceweb.com/fregat.html)

~~~
sandworm101
I'm not sure either of us is correct. It did use a fregat upper stage, but
that isn't what came down over vietnam. The fregat took the sat out to gto and
wouldn't have come down so quickly.

Aerospace.org is calling it a "SL-23 Rocket Body". I think it was the second
stage that actually came down after a few days in the intital/parking orbit.
Fregat would be a third stage.

[http://www.russianspaceweb.com/zenit_stage2.html](http://www.russianspaceweb.com/zenit_stage2.html)

------
tedd4u
Pro tip: if you stumble upon space wreckage, don't run right up to it and
start touching it with bare hands like the guy in the photograph. Get some
gloves at least! Re-entry probably does a reasonable job cleaning off
hydrazine or other dangerous fuels/reactants but I wouldn't bet my life on it.

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mikeyouse
Ask Steve Jurvetson.. He's always playing "ID the random space stuff" on his
Flickr. Here's a few similar ones;

[https://www.flickr.com/photos/jurvetson/16116906896/](https://www.flickr.com/photos/jurvetson/16116906896/)

[https://www.flickr.com/photos/jurvetson/15951547108/](https://www.flickr.com/photos/jurvetson/15951547108/)

He's got a cool feed.

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__abc
Wait, so we have to register our micro-drones, but there's no serial or
identification # for this giant piece of metal

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dawkins
In Spain they found a few similar "space balls" in November:

[http://www.iflscience.com/space/third-mysterious-orb-
space-j...](http://www.iflscience.com/space/third-mysterious-orb-space-junk-
found-spain)

------
sandworm101
Compressed air? What in modern rocketry uses compressed air? Helium sure, co2
maybe, but not air.

Assuming these things are empty, 45kg seems very heavy for a rocket part.

~~~
dawnbreez
Oxygen in liquid form is often a key component of rocket fuel, but that's not
the same as "compressed air". Perhaps it's part of a human-carrying vehicle,
maybe a chunk of what was meant to be a space station.

~~~
sandworm101
If they had been filled with liquid 02 they would not have survived reentry.
If the didn't burn up, they would hand landed like bombs. If it was rocket
fuel, say hydrazine (these are too small for the kerosene used on lower
stages) this would be a public health issue. Helium would be my bet for
spherical tanks. Perhaps this was from some of the "ghost" boosters that are
floating in low orbit such as from the SL-16 r/b launches in the 80s.

Has this come down in the north/south I would assume it was from a not-public
imaging sat or launch, but vietnam is near enough the equator that it could be
anything.

