Decay update: October 14

Alan Pickup (alan@wingar.demon.co.uk)
Tue, 14 Oct 1997 23:48:18 +0100

The latest OIG elset for the Molniya-M rocket is:
Molniya-M r                                      169 x 145 km
1 24961U 97054B   97287.38068909  .10506696  87259-5  30391-3 0   790
2 24961  62.7979 199.4948 0018415 142.0126 218.2448 16.43343321  3139
which shows it running 6.8 sec late against the SatEvo evolution I
posted yesterday. An elset at 97287.136 had shown it only 0.008 sec
late. A further elset or two may yet appear, but my interim conclusion
is that it decayed at about October 14.58 (13:55 UTC).

Decay of the Iridium Delta 2 rocket is now predicted for about October
15.55. The latest elset from OIG is:
Iridm Delta r    5.9  2.4  0.0  5.6 d            224 x 165 km
1 24908U 97043F   97287.55456019  .03961382 -14018-5  70520-3 0  1579
2 24908  82.6084 343.1326 0045228 143.3137 217.1166 16.29380028  8616
and my predicted elsets:
Iridm Delta r    5.9  2.4  0.0  5.6 d            206 x 159 km
1 24908U 97043F   97287.92255546  .06683878  26971-1  85489-3 0 91571
2 24908  82.6070 342.7068 0035943 141.7961 218.4592 16.33635137  8671
Iridm Delta r    5.9  2.4  0.0  5.6 d            195 x 156 km
1 24908U 97043F   97288.10616825  .08726749  51432-1  73199-3 0 91575
2 24908  82.6060 342.4933 0030263 141.0351 219.1831 16.36425908  8708
Iridm Delta r    5.9  2.4  0.0  5.6 d            180 x 150 km
1 24908U 97043F   97288.28941317  .13203665  13012+0  61247-3 0 91575
2 24908  82.6046 342.2791 0023249 140.2721 219.8984 16.40315510  8731
Iridm Delta r    5.9  2.4  0.0  5.6 d            165 x 143 km
1 24908U 97043F   97288.41128198  .21369183  38080+0  54092-3 0 91573
2 24908  82.6033 342.1359 0017056 139.7618 220.3645 16.44348716  8754
Iridm Delta r    5.9  2.4  0.0  5.6 d            133 x 125 km
1 24908U 97043F   97288.53271444  .98369616  98170+1  64503-3 0 91579
2 24908  82.6008 341.9920 0006477 139.2492 220.7992 16.53955272  8779

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
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