LOST AND FOUND: XSS-11 SPYSAT
On Sept. 20, 2010, amateur satellite watcher Kevin Fetter was monitoring the traffic over his home in Brockville, Canada, when a bright flash attracted his attention. "It can be seen at the beginning of this video," says Fetter. "At first I had no idea what it was." A rough orbit calculated by Fetter with refinements added by sat-tracking expert Ted Molczan suggested an intriguing possibility: Could it be long-lost military satellite XSS-11? Indeed it was. Follow-up sightings by Alberto Rango (Sept. 29) and Russell Eberst (Sept. 30) confirmed the recovery, and on Oct. 3rd Fetter video recorded the XSS-11 again.
The washing-machine-sized spacecraft was launched by the US Air Force in April 2005 to demonstrate "autonomous rendezvous and proximity maneuvers." In other words, it would approach, investigate, and photograph other spacecraft in Earth orbit. The mission was controversial because it aimed to prove technologies that could potentially be used for anti-satellite weapons.
For some 18 months in 2005 and 2006, amateur satellite watchers kept track of the XSS-11 as it visited at least two other orbiting objects: the body of the Minotaur rocket that launched it and a military DMSP weather satellite. "XSS-11 soon completed its mission, and in December 2006, it was manoeuvred into a disposal orbit, i.e. one with a sufficiently low perigee to reduce the time to decay from centuries to decades," recalls Molczan. "The dimensions and inclination of the new orbit were made public, but without complete orbital elements, it would have been difficult to find. I expected that eventually, it would be spotted as an unknown object, which is what happened on 2010 Sep 20 UTC, when Kevin Fetter noticed something make a brief, bright flash on his monitor."
"Except for the ISS (International Space Station) toolbag (which an astronaut inadvertently let go during a spacewalk), this is the smallest satellite I have ever recorded," says Fetter. "I might not have found it except for that flash. At maximum, it was about 4th magnitude, visible to the naked eye in a good dark sky." Presumably, some flat surface on the XSS-11 is glinting in sunlight, attracting a degree of attention that belies the satellite's modest dimensions.
On Sept. 20, 2010, amateur satellite watcher Kevin Fetter was monitoring the traffic over his home in Brockville, Canada, when a bright flash attracted his attention. "It can be seen at the beginning of this video," says Fetter. "At first I had no idea what it was." A rough orbit calculated by Fetter with refinements added by sat-tracking expert Ted Molczan suggested an intriguing possibility: Could it be long-lost military satellite XSS-11? Indeed it was. Follow-up sightings by Alberto Rango (Sept. 29) and Russell Eberst (Sept. 30) confirmed the recovery, and on Oct. 3rd Fetter video recorded the XSS-11 again.
The washing-machine-sized spacecraft was launched by the US Air Force in April 2005 to demonstrate "autonomous rendezvous and proximity maneuvers." In other words, it would approach, investigate, and photograph other spacecraft in Earth orbit. The mission was controversial because it aimed to prove technologies that could potentially be used for anti-satellite weapons.
For some 18 months in 2005 and 2006, amateur satellite watchers kept track of the XSS-11 as it visited at least two other orbiting objects: the body of the Minotaur rocket that launched it and a military DMSP weather satellite. "XSS-11 soon completed its mission, and in December 2006, it was manoeuvred into a disposal orbit, i.e. one with a sufficiently low perigee to reduce the time to decay from centuries to decades," recalls Molczan. "The dimensions and inclination of the new orbit were made public, but without complete orbital elements, it would have been difficult to find. I expected that eventually, it would be spotted as an unknown object, which is what happened on 2010 Sep 20 UTC, when Kevin Fetter noticed something make a brief, bright flash on his monitor."
"Except for the ISS (International Space Station) toolbag (which an astronaut inadvertently let go during a spacewalk), this is the smallest satellite I have ever recorded," says Fetter. "I might not have found it except for that flash. At maximum, it was about 4th magnitude, visible to the naked eye in a good dark sky." Presumably, some flat surface on the XSS-11 is glinting in sunlight, attracting a degree of attention that belies the satellite's modest dimensions.