Fakery in Orbit: THE I$$

[simonshack]

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To the tune of Zappa's "Dancing Fool"...

[simonshack]

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I SAW IT ! ISS IT A BIRD? ISS IT A PLANE?


Allright, folks. So after three successive alerts from NASA's "Spot the Station" e-mail service, last Tuesday I finally got to see the thing flying over my head - from horizon to horizon. I am now a firsthand eyewitness to what NASA calls the "ISS"!

The first two flyovers (Saturday and Sunday) were obscured by clouds. That sucks, because I was REALLY hoping to see it on Saturday, since the NASA message stated that the ISS would "appear from SSW ... and disappear at SSW !!!" I was excited last Saturday night: would I have witnessed the ISS performing a U-turn above me?



Anyways, here are the 2 flyovers I missed, due to overcast weather:

Time: Sat Apr 06 9:20 PM, Visible: 1 min, Max Height: 40 degrees, Appears: SSW, Disappears: SSW


Time: Sun Apr 07/10:06 PM, Visible: 1 min, Max Height: 44 degrees, Appears: WSW, Disappears: W

Here's the "ISS" flyover I was able to observe - on Tuesday:

Time: Tue Apr 09 8:25 PM, Visible: 6 min, Max Height: 59 degrees, Appears: SW, Disappears: ENE

So, on Tuesday night I went out (for the third time in a row) in the vineyards in front of my house. From there, I have an unimpeded, hillside-view of the entire skyline of Rome. Here follow my observations and comments about the airborne object I saw passing from SW to ENE (starting at 8:32 PM, seven minutes later than predicted by NASA). Funnily enough (but I do think that was entirely coincidental) a commercial airliner with the unmistakable flashing red/green/white lights passed above me at 8:25, on pretty much the same SW / ENE route that the "ISS" would cross, only minutes later. I am mentioning this only because this fortunate coincidence gave me some sort of visual notion/comparison as to the apparent speed and altitude of the airliner versus the "ISS".

My (naked eye) observations:

OBSERVATION N°1:
- The "ISS" appeared as a bright, white-yellowish dot of light. It remained constant throughout its flyover, from Southwest to East-North-East. I wish to stress that there was no flickering of this light of any sort: to express it in words, I can only describe it as a bright sphere moving across the sky - from horizon to horizon. Now, my first thought was: how can this be? Isn't the ISS supposed to be an elongated machine fitted with a row of thin solar panels? If what I am seeing is the sunlight reflecting off this spacecraft, would it remain crisp & constant - like some lit, spherical body - during its entire flyover?



OBSERVATION N°2:
- Its apparent speed, altitude and overall trajectory (ever since it appeared, low in my Southwest horizon and disappearing low in my North-East horizon)- was little or no different than the airliner which I saw flying over my head a few minutes earlier. Of course, this is only a highly subjective impression - conceivably explainable by sheer perspective/ optical illusion. However, we are told that the ISS orbits at an altitude of about 400km, over 40X the altitude of any commercial airliner. I do have a hard time reconciling this with my visual experience on Tuesday - with that commercial airliner shortly followed by that (brighter) dot of light which I saw flying over my skyline - in brief succession.

That's all for now. I would encourage anyone to subscribe to NASA's "Spot the Station" e-mail alert service, and check out the "ISS" for yourselves as it passes above your house.

[lux]

Thanks, Simon. I signed up.

[DeeJay]

Thank you, I've also signed up and will try to get a friend in the UAE to do so too.
DeeJay

[tak47]

i just found another mindblowing achievment by NASA. they are able to turn on earth's light with a switch located on the ISS. don't believe it?

check this out: (at 1:30 min)


full link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qpNUZzVC8NM

[hoi.polloi]

This supposedly turns up light sensitivity, but still no stars?

[simonshack]

This supposedly turns up light sensitivity, but still no stars?

Aha - but you see, stars can only be seen by night, Hoi - don't you know?


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ayNfFrswdc4

Of course, the ISS's solar panels rotate synchronously with the stars for maximum star-power efficiency.

[Starbucked]

SpaceX almost deserves its own thread.
I have a feeling these guys will be producing lots of quality content in the coming years.


full link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ujX6CuRELFE

[Starbucked]

Grasshopper 24-Story Hover Slam ( posted on March 11/ 13 )

"SpaceX's Grasshopper doubled its highest leap to date to rise 24 stories or 80.1 meters (262.8 feet), hovering for approximately 34 seconds and landing safely using closed loop thrust vector and throttle control.

Grasshopper consists of a Falcon 9 first stage and is 33.5 meters tall (110 feet). For perspective a 6 ft cowboy mannequin is on the rocket."

Aside from being an unbelievable looking video, notice how the exhaust and dust cloud spreads along the ground to the left and right of the launch area until it stops spreading at all, until the moment of landing.


full link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XnPXH3ow8SE

And the multi angle video.


full link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=orUjSkc2pG0

At 7 seconds notice all the debris flying off the concrete pad.
At 56 seconds notice debris flying. Wouldn't this concrete pad have been blasted clean at launch?

[icarusinbound]

Notice that in the 'multi-angle' stitched sequence, the brief shot within the final 10secs post-landing (where the 'cowboy' is again visible) looks like reused footage from the pre-launch. Note the gentle white smoke drift slowly from the nozzle...looks very similar to previous.

In 'hover', why doesn't the down-draught clear or move the pall cloud?

No time-code on the video?

Am I missing a wind vane, or other cross-wind visual indicator? Perhaps there is one somewhere- there should be, to aid the ground control.

Note the huge angular movements of the vectored thrust jet nozzle. Credible, or ''look mom!''?

At pads-hit-ground (again in the multi-angle), there's a repeat composition of hit, then flame-out. I'm detecting a timing differential- or is it within scope?

[pov603]

Love the 'sputnik' water tank in the background [to remind us of what has already allegedly made it into space?], and...oh...those birds flying across in the first vid...must be real then...

[arc300]

At 7 seconds notice all the debris flying off the concrete pad.
At 56 seconds notice debris flying. Wouldn't this concrete pad have been blasted clean at launch?

Also notice that, by the time both rockets reach maximum height, their landing gear appears to be red hot and smoking. If the video is real, it doesn't bode well for those who might wish to step out of something like a Lunar Lander in the vacuum of space where heat is not readily lost.

[lux]

SpaceX almost deserves its own thread.

It has a thread:
http://www.cluesforum.info/viewtopic.ph ... x#p2379376

... and the grasshopper video has been posted in it.

[Starbucked]

Thanks for pointing that out, Lux.
Of note, the December test was the "12 Story" test.
The latest test is the "24 Story", featuring a 6 foot space cowboy, riding along for perspective, so all of the dummies will know they are looking at a real big rocket, and not a toy.

[lux]

Ah, yes. I think the "24 story" video borrows some footage from the earlier one too (the fire hose bit).

For me, the exhaust flames being blown to one side by the wind make it obvious that the "rocket" is simply a blow torch being pulled up by a wire.