Re: Decay request and GRANAT

Harro.Zimmer (Harro.Zimmer@t-online.de)
Wed, 2 Jun 1999 15:20:17 +0200

Björn Gimle discussed the possibility that a Belgian observation mentioned by 
Tristan Cools (May 30, around 02:01 UTC) could be the decay of 1989-096A  GRANAT.
My calculations based on the last released ELSET 99141.750... and the NORAD
MSGP4 - model shows the perigee pass on   May 29, 23:46 UTC (15.3°N,  53.3°E)
over the Gulf of Aden /Yemen / Saudi Arabia. I think this is too early to explain 
the Belgian observation (I haven't seen any details here).

The next perigee -tonight UTC -  is   June 3, 02:03 UTC  (14.7°N, 14.3°E) over 
Central Africa, maybe the final pass of GRANAT. 

But MPM shows a realistic possibility that GRANAT can survive the June 03 perigee 
and will be decay on     June 7, 04:23 UTC (17.8°N, 338.3°E)    over the African
Atlantic coast. 
  
Harro

Harro.Zimmer.t-online.de
Berlin, Germany