Jonathan McDowell wrote: > Apologies for the incorrect subject on the previous email. > I wrote: > > The Israeli radar satellite Ofeq-10 was launched from Palmachim at > > 1915 UTC Apr 9 to a 600 km orbit presumably at around 142 degrees > > inclination - since Space-Track has classified Israeli military > > satellite TLEs, it's up to the hobbyist community to locate this one. > > Ted, any chance of guessed TLEs? > My own feeble attempt at an estimated TLE, based on launch at 1915 UTC > and perigee raise at first apogee around 2004 UTC is > > 1 39650U 14019A 14099.83611111 0.00000000 +00000-0 +00000-0 0 17 > 2 39650 141.8200 211.2300 0000000 307.4000 285.3000 14.89198295 9 I found a few news reports claiming a 600 km orbit with the inconsistent period of 99 min. My guess is that the only reliable information is 600 km, and that it is more likely to be the very rough apogee of a not too circular orbit, say 400 x 590 km. Consider that Tecsar 1's initial orbit was 406 X 583 km. Defense Update has this report, which says nothing about the orbit, but states launch time as 20:15 UTC: http://defense-update.com/20140409_israel-launches-ofeq-10-spy-satellite.html Assuming launch at 19:15 UTC, the orbit might look like this: Ofeq 10 guess 401 X 592 km 1 70000U 14099.92446554 .00000000 00000-0 00000-0 0 02 2 70000 141.7700 211.7900 0139000 47.0000 314.6161 15.24000000 07 I can imagine it even lower, perhaps something like this: Ofeq 10 guess 347 X 592 km 1 70000U 14099.92446553 .00000000 00000-0 00000-0 0 01 2 70000 141.7700 211.7900 0179000 47.0000 314.6161 15.33000000 01 If the launch was an hour later, then add 0.04166667 d to the epoch and 15.041 deg to the RAAN of the above TLEs. Ted Molczan _______________________________________________ Seesat-l mailing list http://mailman.satobs.org/mailman/listinfo/seesat-lReceived on Thu Apr 10 2014 - 08:47:43 UTC
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