SuitSat-1 still in orbit: Tossed into orbit three months ago from the International Space Station, SuitSat-1 continues to orbit Earth–although its batteries are long since dead,
Spaceweather.com reported this week that skywatcher Kevin Fetter videotaped SuitSat-1 as it passed over his Brockville, Ontario, Canada, home (the bright star in the movie is Vega) http://science.nasa.gov/spaceweather/swpod2006/27apr06/fetter.wmv
A spare Russian Orlan spacesuit equipped with a voice transmitter, slow-scan TV system, voice recordings and various sensors, SuitSat-1 was the brainchild of the Russian Amateur Radio on the International Space Station (ARISS) team.
From the outset, radio signals from the unusual satellite were very weak due to an undetermined problem. Even so, SuitSat-1 remained in operation for more than two weeks, easily outlasting initial predictions that it would only transmit for about one week.
The last confirmed reception of SuitSat-1’s voice audio was on February 18. Calling the project “tremendously successful,” ARISS International Chairman Frank Bauer, KA3HDO, says SuitSat-1 captured the imagination of people around the world, despite its much-lower-than-expected signal strength.
Eventually, SuitSat-1 will sink into Earth’s atmosphere and disintegrate in a flash of fire. Another surplus Orlan suit remains aboard the ISS, so SuitSat-2 could be in the
offing.