RE: Ransom site elsets

jeff@satellite.eu.org
Fri, 12 Jun 98 15:15:54

Hi,

The majority of us (and I include myself) are casual observers and
are interested mainly in the potentially visible  satellites, such as 
those found in the molczan file. As mentioned earlier, the OIG visual.tle 
file is certainly not all inclusive. I don't believe that most TLE 
resources are in immediate jeopardy unless the Clark/Ransom resource 
dries up. And then there are work arounds that as a group effort if that 
resource dries up.

Others are interested in access to the full public database at OIG to 
help narrow down observed unid's. That resource-well certainly has the 
potential to disappear on a short notice if the only one resource remains 
to obtain the +8000 satellite elements.

For myself, I am trying to learn how to better utilize the Clark/Ransom 
resource and selectively extract the information I want.

Common names are helpful in certain circumstances when talking about 
primary payloads and much less helpful when talking about boosters and
debris. It would seem the satellite situation reports will remain to 
cross reference satellite catalog numbers and international IDs with a 
possible common name.

I suspect life for the visual satellite observer after June 30 will not 
be as easy (and the resources taken for granted) as it is now.

Jeff Hunt <jeff@satellite.eu.org>
http://www.satellite.eu.org/tletools.html

--- On Fri, 12 Jun 1998 10:50:40 -0400  Eric Vondra <evondra@usaor.net> 
wrote in part:

>I hope what you are all talking about is a method of
>producing a molczan-size file with common names that will
>also be useful to casual observers like myself.