Re: Mars Pathfinder rocket decay watch

Alan Pickup (alan@wingar.demon.co.uk)
Fri, 28 Nov 1997 23:08:43 +0000

A further elset has at last been published by OIG for this object:
Mars Pthfndr r   5.9  2.4  0.0  5.6 d            175 x 138 km
1 24668U 96068B   97332.81996251  .33530724  29246-5  72218-3 0  7604
2 24668  36.2892  67.3745 0028508 260.0345  99.2512 16.43552177 48172

This is 20 seconds early against the "9759" evolution I posted earlier
this UK evening, though the indicated increase in the perigee height
appears unlikely unless the earlier elsets were in error.

Decay now looks likely shortly before UT midnight, possibly along the
southerly leg of its orbit between a southbound equator crossing in the
central Pacific (23.19 UTC), across southern S America (~23.45) and
towards the next northbound equator crossing near 0 deg longitude at
00.03. However, it may already be down having decayed on the preceding
rev.

Alan
-- 
 Alan Pickup | COSPAR site 2707:   55d53m48.7s N   3d11m51.2s W    156m asl
 Edinburgh   | Home:      alan@wingar.demon.co.uk       +44 (0)131 477 9144
 Scotland    | SatEvo satellite page: http://www.wingar.demon.co.uk/satevo/