
Project West Ford - mtviewdave
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Project_West_Ford
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VonGuard
Did we actually get 480,000,000 dipole antennae into space? This seems utterly
impossible.

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alister
If I'm calculating right, _all_ of the dipole antennas could have been packed
into a box the size of an old-fashioned toaster (a 15cm or 6-inch cube).

Calculation: Volume of cylinder (πr²h) x 480M antennas (assume half were of
each diameter) = 3.14x(0.00254/2)^2x1.78x240000000 +
3.14x(0.00178/2)^2x1.78x240000000 = 3225cm^3; cube root of 3225 is about 15cm
or 6 inches

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madaxe_again
Yup. Even smaller than an old fashioned, toaster, even - although this is
assuming perfect packing density, which wouldn't be the case, and would add
about 10% to the needed volume.

[https://www.wolframalpha.com/input/?i=the+volume+of+a+cylind...](https://www.wolframalpha.com/input/?i=the+volume+of+a+cylinder+of+diameter+25.4%CE%BCm+and+length+1.78cm+multiplied+by+480000000)

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autopov
Since _Mythbusters_ proved that finding a needle in a haystack isn't that
difficult, I propose that the term be changed to "finding a needle in the
ionosphere." [Not applicable to orbital debris trackers...]

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rincebrain
Given that the ones still up there are in large clumps, I feel this analogy is
flawed, much as I enjoy the mental image.

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autopov
Define large...

