Shenzhou has landed

CCTV is reporting that the reentry capsule has landed. Helicopters are on
the way.

On Wed, 15 Oct 2003 18:37:09 -0400, Rick DeNatale wrote:

CCTV has since reported first that the reentry module was intact and now
that the Chinese president has telephoned Yang Liwei to congratulate him
on a successful mission.

Also more at http://www.spaceflightnow.com/shenzhou/status.html

Wonderful! Just 4.8 km away from the target area.

"Rick DeNatale" wrote in message
news
On Wed, 15 Oct 2003 18:37:09 -0400, Rick DeNatale wrote:

CCTV has since reported first that the reentry module was intact and now
that the Chinese president has telephoned Yang Liwei to congratulate him
on a successful mission.

Also more at http://www.spaceflightnow.com/shenzhou/status.html

Skynet wrote:

Wonderful! Just 4.8 km away from the target area.

This doesn't exactly make one terrified of their ICBM's, does it?

Pat

In message , Pat Flannery
writes


Skynet wrote:

Wonderful! Just 4.8 km away from the target area.

This doesn't exactly make one terrified of their ICBM's, does it?

Last I heard, ICBMs don't make 20-odd orbits, fire retro-rockets, and
land gently enough for an occupant to climb out.
--
"It is written in mathematical language"
Remove spam and invalid from address to reply.

Jonathan Silverlight wrote:


Last I heard, ICBMs don't make 20-odd orbits,

I thought it was 14 orbits.

fire retro-rockets, and land gently enough for an occupant to climb out.


No but it does give some idea of their guidance capabilities...and the
more I thought about that, the more it seems to point to the idea that
if they ever do get in a nuclear war with us, they are going to target
cities, and use whopping high yield warheads to make up for any
targeting errors- which given the low number of ICBMs they have is
somewhat encouraging; as any such attack would leave our ICBM force
largely intact, and result in China being turned into something
resembling a charcoal grill around half-an-hour later...so apparently
they intend to use their ICBM force largely as a deterrent against a
nuclear first strike on China; and not as a weapon for a first strike by
China itself.

Pat

In article ,
Pat Flannery wrote:
Wonderful! Just 4.8 km away from the target area.

This doesn't exactly make one terrified of their ICBM's, does it?

Depends on how much of that error was things like high-altitude winds
(which a high-ballistic-coefficient warhead RV is much less affected by).
--
MOST launched 1015 EDT 30 June, separated 1046, | Henry Spencer
first ground-station pass 1651, all nominal! |

Henry Spencer wrote:

Depends on how much of that error was things like high-altitude winds
(which a high-ballistic-coefficient warhead RV is much less affected by).


Does anyone know if Shenzhou used a Soyuz-style lifting reentry profile?
And what the average CEP of a Soyuz landing has proved to be?

Pat

Pat Flannery wrote in message
...
Skynet wrote:
Wonderful! Just 4.8 km away from the target area.

This doesn't exactly make one terrified of their ICBM's, does it?

If average wind aloft was 12 MPH and you were haning on a parachute
for 15 minutes you would drift 3 miles. So it could well be that
all of the error was due to drifting after the parachute opened.

They may well have measured the winds at some altitude(s), but
there would be about half an orbit from when they did their
reentry burn to when they actually reenter (so around 45 mins).
And they probably measured winds a bit ahead of time. I doubt very
much they measured at all altitudes. So the odds are the winds
are not exactly what they predicted. If you have a round parachute
you are going to get some drift.

ICBMs don't have parachutes.

-- Vince

Vincent Cate wrote:

ICBMs don't have parachutes.

-- Vince


.....and from what I was able to find on the web, the Chinese ones don't
have very good accuracy either- with a estimated Circular Error
Probability (CEP) of between 500-3500 meters in the case of the Dong Feng 5:
http://www.globalsecurity.org/wmd/world/china/df-5.htm
In contrast, our Minuteman III's have an CEP of under 300 meters; and
our Peacekeepers of under 100 meters for each of their 10 MIRV warheads;
some say as accurate as 50 meters:
http://www.geocities.com/CapeCanaver...acekeeper.html

Pat