Re: Items of Interest

[Robert Bogdon]

All very good questions.  You're not able to determine from the content of the messages why they stopped, however based on the lack of information about the transmissions stopping, you could safely assume it was unexpected.  And you're correct, here's a quick post of data, and I'll get it added to the Wiki later today:

Ceti Alpha II

Atmospheric Pressure	0.85 / Standard
Marginal Atmosphere	Low Oxygen
Atmospheric Toxicity	None
Orbital Radius	0.35 AU
Orbital Period	94 days, 5 hours, 5 minutes, 14 seconds
Orbital Velocity	25.20 mps
Rotation Period	2 days, 7 hours, 59 minutes, 59 seconds
Blackbody Temperature	300K
Average Surface Temperature	288/288/288 K
Climate Type	Cool
Hydrographic Coverage	95%
Surface Gravity	0.94g
Diameter	10,649 mi
Mass	1.6951 Earth Masses
Density	0.70 Relative to Earth

There is virtually no axial tilt, resulting in more or less no seasonal variation in conditions.

BFR

Atmospheric Composition	Trace
Atmospheric Pressure	0.00 / Trace
Orbital Radius	346,087.86 miles
Orbital Period	8 days, 6 hours, 22 minutes, 21 seconds
Orbital Velocity	2.27 mps
Rotation Period	8 days, 6 hours, 22 minutes, 21 seconds
Blackbody Temperature	300 K
Average Surface Temperature	291 K
Hydrographic Coverage	0%
Surface Gravity	0.3g
Diameter	2,974 mi
Mass	0.0422 Earth Masses
Density	0.80 Relative to Earth

BFR is tidally locked to Ceti Alpha II, just like Earth's moon.  The same side always faces the planet.  While BFR is slightly smaller than Earth's moon, it is 4 times as massive.  The larger mass, combined with almost the same distance from Ceti Alpha II as Earth's moon from Earth, is likely to result in more severe tides than on Earth, with local coastline conditions also contributing to the actual tide levels.

The locator signal is coming from an object drifting slowly away from the L1 langrangian point in the Ceti Alpha II/BFR system, approximately 65,000 miles above BFR, or 285,000 miles from Ceti Alpha II.  Actual distance from the Bellerophon will vary as the ship orbits Ceti Alpha II, but 285,000 miles would be closest approach.  The drift would also indicate that the object is not actively maintaining it's location, as the L1 point is not completely stable.  The object itself is too small to view directly, however it is giving a return on radar, indicating a size somewhere between 10 feet and 100 feet across.

On Fri, Apr 30, 2010 at 8:22 AM, Orr, Michael J <mj...@indiana.edu> wrote:

Can we get any idea from reading the last messages we received from Earth about why the messages stopped?

 

I would think that we would have more astronomical information about Ceti Alpha II and BFR.  Axial tilt and rotation period would be particular items of interest.

 

Have we been able to discern orbital elements for the broadcast source?

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Robert Bogdon
Sr. Systems Engineer, DivX
http://www.blah.net