Could the X-37B have landed? Heavensat shows that after its last recorded observation its groundtrack took it close to Vandenberg AFB, Edwards AFB and the Cape. Some months ago Henry Hillbrath, a retired rocket engineer, told me that the X-37B's orbital lifetime would be limited to six months, assuming that it used hydrogen peroxide for its maneuvering engine. A return now would be consistent with that estimate. --Bill Thompson ----- Original Message ---- > From: Ted Molczan <ssl3molcz@rogers.com> > To: SeeSat-L@satobs.org > Sent: Sat, October 9, 2010 8:47:08 AM > Subject: X-37B OTV 1-1 no-show confirmed; manoeuvre probable > > 10015A / 36514 was a no-show for Brad Young, on 2010 Oct 07, near 11:50 UTC, on >what he described > as, "a fair pass": > > http://satobs.org/seesat/Oct-2010/0064.html > > Culmination was 23 deg; predicted magnitude was 4; phase angle was reasonable. > > It was a no-show for me this morning, Oct 09, at 10:29:11 UTC, on a pass >similar to Brad's. > > These are my latest elements of the last known orbit. > > X-37B OTV 1-1 433 X 444 km > 1 36514U 10015A 10278.73792454 .00000561 00000-0 12188-4 0 04 > 2 36514 39.9880 62.1228 0007830 334.9144 25.1283 15.43395766 05 > Arc 20101001.77-1005.78 WRMS resid 0.025 totl 0.004 xtrk > > The last reported observation was by Greg Roberts, on Oct 05, near 18:48 UTC, >so the time of the > apparent manoeuvre can be narrowed to about a 1.7 day period, which should help >in planning a > search. Unfortunately, I have run out of analysis time for now, and an unlikely >to be available > until after 23 h UTC. > > Ted Molczan > > _______________________________________________ > Seesat-l mailing list > http://mailman.satobs.org/mailman/listinfo/seesat-l > _______________________________________________ Seesat-l mailing list http://mailman.satobs.org/mailman/listinfo/seesat-l
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