Re: Delta 2 R/B listed

From: Waldo Kitty (wkitty42@gmail.com)
Date: Sat Sep 07 2013 - 00:35:28 UTC

  • Next message: Leo Barhorst: "Re: Delta 2 R/B listed"

    On Fri, Sep 6, 2013 at 5:02 PM, <Frank@reednavigation.com> wrote:
    
    > There was a listing on heavens-above.com just now for my location for a
    > pass this evening of a "Delta 2 R/B" with an expected apparent magnitude of
    > -0.4. That seemed a little surprising. Looking at the "orbit" page for this
    > object, it appears to pass inside the Earth:
    > http://www.heavens-above.com/orbit.aspx?satid=35939
    >
    > I am guessing that this is defunct orbital element set for a decayed
    > object. Is that right? Is there a direct way to tell this from the TLE data?
    >
    
    
    space-track shows only three objects in the 2009-052 launch...
    
    35937 STSS Demo 1
    35938 STSS Demo 2
    35939 Delta 2 r/b
    
    according to dr jonathan's satcat, your delta 2 r/b object reentered 2010
    Feb 20 but there is a question about this...
    sat-track's satcat shows "No Elements" for all three items in this
    launch... possibly they were a secret mission??
    
    at this time, i cannot locate a TLE for this 35935 object in my archives...
    the TLE at heavens-above is the only one i can find... other places do not
    seem to have even an old one available... considering that heavens-above's
    tle shows an epoch of 2010 Feb 12 (a few days before the object apparently
    reentered) i would have to guess that that is a defunct TLE and most likely
    the only one available as "the last TLE" for that object...
    
    as for why that TLE is still available for display at HA, it would seem
    that possibly old TLEs are not removed unless the object is definitely no
    longer in orbit... since there is an apparent question about this, it would
    seem that HA it is still showing it... what criteria HA uses to remove old
    TLEs is something else... heavens-above would be the ones to truly answer
    those questions...
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