Starshine 2-Real Life Space Experiment
Western & Upton
Elementary students polished mirrors to be placed on a satellite that was
launched into orbit from Space Shuttle Columbia 2000 on Dec. 15, 2001!
Starshine 2 is the second in a series of eleven student satellites to
be deployed from Space Shuttle orbiters.
This is a cooperative international volunteer student project for
measuring atmospheric density by observing the orbital decay of an optically
reflective satellite during a six-month mission. We will be able to measure the
angular position of that satellite by observing sunlight flashes from small
mirrors mounted on the surface of the satellite, as it passes across the starry
sky before sunrise and after sunset.
After it is launched, the Starshine NASA team wants us to
keep an eye on the Starshine web site at http://www.azinet.com/starshine for future instructions on how to track the
satellite and report our sightings after it is launched from Columbia 2000, so
we can compute its orbit on a daily basis and measure atmospheric density.
Learn more about Starshine 2 at the NASA Space Kids web site
at http://kids.msfc.nasa.gov/Sites/ExternSite.asp?url=http%3A%2F%2Fspacekids%2Ehq%2Enasa%2Egov%2F Click on Project Starshine, then scroll down
to Starshine 2 Last Update, and click again to view lots of pictures of the
satellite, the launch, and the scientists who worked on the project.