Debris found in Southern CA Desert - Anyone know what it might be?

On Mon, 24 May 2004 05:59:12 GMT, 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


I wonder if that smooth piece towards the bottom is the piece of
fairing on an afterburner that butts up against the skin of the
aircraft and the cylinders are the actuators for expanding and
contracting the nozzle on the afterburner.

In article ,
says...
How about some dimensions [...]? A picture may be worth a
thousand words, but a picture with dimensions and some words is worth
a lot more.

The shadow of the photographer is a pretty good hint. The crisp edges of
the shadow imply something close to life-size. So the image is roughly
six foot high. Image width is maybe nine feet.
--
Kevin Willoughby lid

Imagine that, a FROG ON-OFF switch, hardly the work
for test pilots. -- Mike Collins

"Kevin Willoughby" wrote in message
...

The shadow of the photographer is a pretty good hint. The crisp edges of
the shadow imply something close to life-size. So the image is roughly
six foot high. Image width is maybe nine feet.

Too big to drag for half an hour back to the car, then

Mary Shafer wrote:

Yeah, not exactly like, but it's pretty obviously aircraft debris. I
mean, it hasn't reentered the atmosphere, since there's no melting and
the paint is still there, so it's not part of a satellite or
spacecraft.


Not necessarily the case; recon satellite film return buckets jettison
their heatshield before landing to lessen the weight the recovery
parachutes have to bear.



For some reason, I keep thinking F-4. I don't know why, though.



RF-4s carried a parachute-dropable film-return pod mounted in the
underside of the nose.

How
about some dimensions and materials? A picture may be worth a
thousand words, but a picture with dimensions and some words is worth
a lot more.


I've been thinking about it at work...remote-controlled tail turret
assembly off of a bomber?

Pat

In article , Scott Ferrin wrote:

On Mon, 24 May 2004 05:59:12 GMT, 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


I wonder if that smooth piece towards the bottom is the piece of
fairing on an afterburner that butts up against the skin of the
aircraft and the cylinders are the actuators for expanding and
contracting the nozzle on the afterburner...

....and I wouldn't sweat the shadow, myself, Paul; do you realize how many
MER images we have of beautiful sweeping Martian landscapes and raw,
pitted lava rocks taken in early morning or late afternoon, where the
rover had the sun at her back and you can see the shadow of her "head" in
the picture?

--
"All over, people changing their votes,
along with their overcoats;
if Adolf Hitler flew in today,
they'd send a limousine anyway!" --the clash.
__________________________________________________ _________________
Mike Flugennock, flugennock at sinkers dot org
Mike Flugennock's Mikey'zine, dubya dubya dubya dot sinkers dot org

In article , Kevin Willoughby
wrote:

In article ,
says...
How about some dimensions [...]? A picture may be worth a
thousand words, but a picture with dimensions and some words is worth
a lot more.

The shadow of the photographer is a pretty good hint. The crisp edges of
the shadow imply something close to life-size. So the image is roughly
six foot high. Image width is maybe nine feet...

Hmm. I'm not so sure. Was Paul leaning over very far when he imaged this
debris? from the way the shadow is formed, I suspect he was standing up,
towards mid-day, when this was shot.

On a slightly-related subject, Opportunity seems to have spotted her old
backshell again in
http://marsrovers.jpl.nasa.gov/galle...B118R1_br2.jpg
....in the left third of the pan, at about ten o'clock from the low-gain mast.

And I'll bet there's _still_ some engineer at JPL who's wishing like hell
he could steer over there and get some nice clean close-ups of the effects
of atmospheric entry and the subsequent five months of weathering.

--
"All over, people changing their votes,
along with their overcoats;
if Adolf Hitler flew in today,
they'd send a limousine anyway!" --the clash.
__________________________________________________ _________________
Mike Flugennock, flugennock at sinkers dot org
Mike Flugennock's Mikey'zine, dubya dubya dubya dot sinkers dot org

In article ,
Pat Flannery writes:


Mary Shafer wrote:

Yeah, not exactly like, but it's pretty obviously aircraft debris. I
mean, it hasn't reentered the atmosphere, since there's no melting and
the paint is still there, so it's not part of a satellite or
spacecraft.


Not necessarily the case; recon satellite film return buckets jettison
their heatshield before landing to lessen the weight the recovery
parachutes have to bear.

Of course, we haven't been doing any return capsule stuff for nearly
30 years.


For some reason, I keep thinking F-4. I don't know why, though.

This may sound a bit odd - but I'm wondering if it isn't the lower
seat/motor structure of an ejection seat. Somebody mentioned
manifolds & nozzles before. Some rocket seats use a system where the
gas generators (motors) feed into a manifold woth a whole slew of
nozzles to give better stabilization on the way out/up, and also make
a thinner rocket, since height is more precious than width in an
airplane cockpit.

RF-4s carried a parachute-dropable film-return pod mounted in the
underside of the nose.

And abandoned it right off the bat. They found that the big time sink
in Photo Recon is Photo Interpretation. (Which takes place in comfy
air-conditioned rooms back at the Big Air Base, rather than some grimy
TOC in the middle of the Boonies. WHile troops in thefield like
timely information, the way to get it turns out not to be dropping
several thousand feet for delicate film into the lap of a Brigade S-2,
which then has to be gone over by magnifier & stereoscope to make head
or tail out of.

I've been thinking about it at work...remote-controlled tail turret
assembly off of a bomber?

I don't think so - it's too small, and not enough wires. Check out
Radio Research (Found through the Thomas Register) for what would be
involved.
Pat - I've already got dibs on the B-47 radar/turret combination.

--
Pete Stickney
A strong conviction that something must be done is the parent of many
bad measures. -- Daniel Webster

"Mike Flugennock" wrote in message
...
...and I wouldn't sweat the shadow, myself, Paul; do you realize how many
MER images we have of beautiful sweeping Martian landscapes and raw,
pitted lava rocks taken in early morning or late afternoon, where the
rover had the sun at her back and you can see the shadow of her "head" in
the picture?

Don't rub it in, mate. She's feeling down enough as it is

http://www.livejournal.com/users/opp...rrl/12041.html

In article ,
says...

"Mike Flugennock" wrote in message
...
...and I wouldn't sweat the shadow, myself, Paul; do you realize how many
MER images we have of beautiful sweeping Martian landscapes and raw,
pitted lava rocks taken in early morning or late afternoon, where the
rover had the sun at her back and you can see the shadow of her "head" in
the picture?

Don't rub it in, mate. She's feeling down enough as it is

http://www.livejournal.com/users/opp...rrl/12041.html

I'm getting a little worried about Spirit Girl, though -- she hasn't
posted to her livejournal in more than a month.

Doug

In article ,
says...

snip

On a slightly-related subject, Opportunity seems to have spotted her old
backshell again in
http://marsrovers.jpl.nasa.gov/galle...B118R1_br2.jpg
...in the left third of the pan, at about ten o'clock from the low-gain mast.

That's not the backshell -- that's the heatshield.

And I'll bet there's _still_ some engineer at JPL who's wishing like hell
he could steer over there and get some nice clean close-ups of the effects
of atmospheric entry and the subsequent five months of weathering.

Steve Squyres said as much during the last press conference -- he'd
REALLY like to see the effects of entry on the shield. And, like I've
been saying for some time, it's obvious that the heatshield's impact dug
a hole that's deeper than any other fresh hole at the landing site.
Squyres really wants a look into that hole, too. So, I'll betcha we get
to visit the heatshield before it's all over...

Doug