Decay watch: Iridium 15 Delta 2 r

Alan Pickup (alan@wingar.demon.co.uk)
Tue, 24 Mar 1998 22:05:18 +0000

The Delta 2 which launched Iridiums 15,17-21 last July 9 is now within a
week of re-entry; my latest analysis predicts decay for March 30.5 but
the uncertainty is at least a day. Also, there is a tendency for the
predicted decay time to edge later as the atmosphere settles down from
its recently over-excited state.

The latest elset from OIG is:
Iridm 15 Delta r 5.9  2.4  0.0  5.6 d            277 x 206 km
1 24874U 97034F   98083.74215483  .01123859 -12768-5  84473-3 0  3105
2 24874  82.7012 281.1253 0053279 106.5613 254.1737 16.11942154 40251

Predictions for the next couple of days:
Iridm 15 Delta r 5.9  2.4  0.0  5.6 d            274 x 205 km
1 24874U 97034F   98084.05246688  .01161331  58469-3  84191-3 0 93109
2 24874  82.7009 280.7804 0051813 105.3136 255.2596 16.12608174 40306
Iridm 15 Delta r 5.9  2.4  0.0  5.6 d            269 x 204 km
1 24874U 97034F   98084.54871600  .01256291  69671-3  85001-3 0 93109
2 24874  82.7005 280.2281 0049377 103.3156 257.2355 16.13806523 40380
Iridm 15 Delta r 5.9  2.4  0.0  5.6 d            264 x 202 km
1 24874U 97034F   98085.04458144  .01370678  84930-3  85847-3 0 93108
2 24874  82.7000 279.6753 0046818 101.3156 259.2107 16.15107290 40469
Iridm 15 Delta r 5.9  2.4  0.0  5.6 d            258 x 200 km
1 24874U 97034F   98085.54002915  .01511401  10555-2  86728-3 0 93105
2 24874  82.6995 279.1217 0044112  99.3133 261.1858 16.16532657 40541
Iridm 15 Delta r 5.9  2.4  0.0  5.6 d            252 x 198 km
1 24874U 97034F   98086.03501730  .01689165  13580-2  87647-3 0 93104
2 24874  82.6989 278.5675 0041232  97.3086 263.1601 16.18113242 40624

Alan
-- 
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