In article ,
says...


Paul wrote:

The item in the photo at the link below was found impacted on the
desert floor .... anyone seen anything like this before?

Please excuse the shadow - the photographer wasn't paying attention.


121KB

http://home.earthlink.net/~jpa_2/wreckage_sm.jpg


The three tubular things look like hydraulic or pneumatic cylinders.

My first thought was to wonder if this was found anywhere near
Columbia's groundtrack over CA. But while Columbia was shedding some
pieces as early as over California, my understanding is that it was only
shedding relatively small pieces of wing and tile at that point.
Nothing like this. Also, most of the stuff coming off the shuttle at
that point was going so fast that it was completely consumed during its
subsequent entry heating. This stuff looks like it wasn't seriously
burned, just crunched real good. (Looks like it might be a touch
charred around the edges, though.)

Could be a piece of a satellite... or of an airplane that suffered some
major mishap in the skies above the desert. And remember that the
southwest US deserts are used as the setting for a lot of air fighting
practice -- including the shooting down of drones, both to test missile
systems and to hone pilots' skills in the use of weapons systems. So,
that's another potential source.

I doubt there's anything sinister about it, though.

Doug