Word: meteored
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Dates: during 1950-1959
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...yesterday that the rocket of Sputnik I would fall around December 11. Whipple gave Sputnik II a comparable life-span, saying that it would last "more than two weeks and less than several months." Sputnik I, when it falls will not be particularly spectacular and will resemble a "good meteor," he said...
...shoot a modest rocket into its orbit, but moving in the opposite direction. The warhead would burst and fill the orbit with millions of small particles. Any one of these, hitting the satellite with twice its orbital speed (36,000 m.p.h.) would have the effect of a meteor, punching a hole and sending a blast of flame and shock into its interior...
...fired, the rods were folded back against the sphere, but swung outward on swivels when the satellite reached its orbit. The sphere is filled with nitrogen gas, presumably to help it get rid of the heat developed by the electrical equipment. If the satellite is punctured by a meteor, the gas pressure will fall at a rate that could tell the size of the meteor hole...
...meteor-tracking Super-Schmidt telescopic cameras in Canada have been alerted to watch for the satellite, but Whipple indicated that he did not feel that adequate photographs of the object could be taken until a special telescope in South Pasadena, Calif., was able to observe it. Such observation will not be possible for at least ten days...
Next spring the first major satellite to rise will carry instruments to study the sun's ultraviolet rays; the second will record the erosion of meteor particles the size of sand grains; the third, only 13 in. in diameter, will be made of plastic (instead of magnesium), will measure air density and the earth's magnetic field. Jobs for the other three satellites have not yet been picked...