Off Topic — HabitableZone

Off Topic » in reply to Science does not usually require bravery; only intellegence.

re: In that case, I’ll rephrase the question.
Johannes — (archived)

Are you “intelligent enough” to tackle the problem of verifying the theory?
If you can prove the theory as being true or false, I would be very happy.

As for the other theory:

Perhaps some quotes from a NASA site is what you are after:

http://science.nasa.gov/newhome/headlines/ast09dec97_3.htm

Date: December 9, 1997
<quote>"To Chappell's surprise, the real find was around the north pole where RIMS measured gases flowing upward from the ionosphere into space as DE-1 arced to about 4.6 Earth radii above the pole (the orbit was 464 x 23,370 km [288 x 14,490 mi]).
"The more we measured it," he said, "the more we realized that this was a big source of material." RIMS measured ions of hydrogen, helium, oxygen, and nitrogen rising at different speeds and on different trajectories.
Apparently, the particles that slammed into the ionosphere to paint the aurora borealis also energized enough atoms to head spaceward. (The same is true of the south pole where DE-1 made similar observations.) The acceleration mechanism is not fully understood, though. Giles said that very low frequency (VLF) radio waves, emitted in the magnetosphere, may contribute energy."</quote>

As for falling satellites; I seem to remember hearing about the fact that some of the satellites that were sent into orbit back (I think) in the mid seventies DID fall back much sooner than predicted, If I find that information I’ll post it here.

In the mean time; this is all I can find about that phenomenon.

From this site: http://www.satobs.org/re-entry.html
<quote>Unfortunately the lifetime of a satellite is notoriously difficult to predict. As the orbit (specifically the perigee) lowers, atmospheric drag increases. This varies according to atmospheric conditions, the solar cycle, the mass and surface area of the satellite, to name a few factors. It retains all the chaos of weather forecasting with little of the certainty; only in the final hour or two of the satellite's life can useful predictions be made. Even then the craft may skip along the upper atmosphere, like a stone skimming across a pond, due to aerodynamic interactions. Thus re-entry predictions made a couple of months in advance will pinpoint a day of demise with an error of a week or so. The geographical location can not be predicted with certainty (though potential areas can be).
</quote>

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