On Fri, Mar 17, 2017 at 1:52 PM, Ian Kelly <ian.g.ke...@gmail.com> wrote: > On Thu, Mar 16, 2017 at 7:56 PM, Dennis Lee Bieber > <wlfr...@ix.netcom.com> wrote: >> On Fri, 17 Mar 2017 10:03:04 +1300, Gregory Ewing >> <greg.ew...@canterbury.ac.nz> declaimed the following: >> >>>Chris Angelico wrote: >>>> I just asked my father, and he believes that a satellite DOES fly, on >>>> the basis that it is perpetually falling and forever missing the >>>> ground. >>> >>>Also, NASA people talk about "flying" the ISS, so it seems your >>>father is in good company. >> >> Most likely they are referring to using gyroscopes (reaction wheels), >> and maneuvering thrusters to maintain orientation relative to the sun, so >> the solar panels stay fully lit. > > The ISS orbit is low enough that they also have to do regular > (approximately monthly) boosts to counteract the gradual decay.
Maybe what the ISS does isn't flying - it's falling with style? ChrisA -- https://mail.python.org/mailman/listinfo/python-list
