Yeap...it is generally either concrete or lead...and the concrete is favored..something in my memory says however the ones on TDRSS were lead. somewhere I probably have a picture of the ballast being attached to the "bird". Indeed I got a letter published in both AV Leak and Navy Times (as I recall) about the ballast...and "other" payloads. I also recall the IUS upper stage carried ballast as well....to bad it wasnt an Amateur radio transponder...lots of power on TDRSS 1.
Date: Wed, 14 Oct 2009 03:36:07 +0000 From: w6...@comcast.net To: orbit...@hotmail.com CC: amsat-bb@amsat.org Subject: Re: [amsat-bb] Good story on TDRSS 1 When I picked up these KLM's over in Lompoc, the fellow works at Vandenburg, and he told me that alot of the ballast is nothing but concrete !! Can you imagine all that concrete chunks out there and they know where the majority are....amazing. ----- Original Message ----- From: "Rocky Jones" <orbit...@hotmail.com> To: "Rocky Jones" <orbit...@hotmail.com> Cc: "Amsat BB" <amsat-bb@amsat.org> Sent: Tuesday, October 13, 2009 7:57:03 PM GMT -08:00 US/Canada Pacific Subject: [amsat-bb] Good story on TDRSS 1 http://spaceflightnow.com/news/n0910/13tdrs/ as I recall there were 50 some odd pounds of ballast launched with the bird...to bad it wasnt an amateur repeater. Robert WB5MZO _________________________________________________________________ Hotmail: Trusted email with Microsoft’s powerful SPAM protection. http://clk.atdmt.com/GBL/go/177141664/direct/01/ _______________________________________________ Sent via amsat...@amsat.org. Opinions expressed are those of the author. Not an AMSAT-NA member? Join now to support the amateur satellite program! Subscription settings: http://amsat.org/mailman/listinfo/amsat-bb _________________________________________________________________ Hotmail: Free, trusted and rich email service. http://clk.atdmt.com/GBL/go/171222984/direct/01/ _______________________________________________ Sent via amsat...@amsat.org. Opinions expressed are those of the author. Not an AMSAT-NA member? Join now to support the amateur satellite program! Subscription settings: http://amsat.org/mailman/listinfo/amsat-bb
