Re: Astra 1G rk decay

Alan Pickup (alan@wingar.demon.co.uk)
Fri, 5 Dec 1997 07:45:33 +0000

In message <19971205040836.AAA1418@ip010160000082.nbtel.net>, sbolton
<sbolton@nbnet.nb.ca> writes
>As I live in eastern Canada I am following this decay with interest.
>Allan Pickup's last post puzzles me a bit. Satspy 2.5 using his latest
>elements shows 25072 making a pass in my northern sky at 02:53 local (6:53
>UT). Is there no chance for decay that orbit? The sky is clear and I'll post
>at 0700 UT with the observation.

Yes, there are/were other passes on earlier orbits, but...

The latest elsets from OIG are:
Astra 1G Proton-K r                              146 x 120 km
1 25072U 97076B   97339.15604667  .20972267  49330+0  13235-3 0 90148
2 25072  51.5899  56.4290 0019981 280.5160  79.2589 16.52400384   363
Astra 1G Proton-K r                              128 x 113 km
1 25072U 97076B   97339.21645486  .55681634  54665+1  20658-3 0 90158
2 25072  51.5841  56.0667 0011438 248.9397 110.9380 16.57138357   379

These have it running 9.9 and 20.0 seconds early against the "9012"
evolution in my previous post.

I suspect that decay occurred on the final rev above, possibly
southbound over the equator at 05:55 UTC about 73 deg E (Indian Ocean,
to the S of India).

Alan
-- 
 Alan Pickup | COSPAR site 2707:   55d53m48.7s N   3d11m51.2s W    156m asl
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