Decay watch: 2002 March 14

From: Alan Pickup (alan@wingar.demon.co.uk)
Date: Thu Mar 14 2002 - 17:50:17 EST

  • Next message: Atul Sowani: "mmccants tles and sattrack."

    A summary of today's update to my Decay Watch page:
    
    _____________________________________________________________________
    Object: #19189 = 88- 44 A = Molniya 3-32
    
    Decay predictions:
    Source   Prediction made    Predicted decay at      Latitude Longitude
                    UTC                UTC                  deg      deg
    SpaceCom   Mar 14 07:18     Mar 15 07:34 +-15h       62.4 S    78.9 E
    SatEvo     Mar 14 21:50     Mar 15 07:55 +-4h        52.9 S   120.9 W
    
    Latest elset:
    Molniya 3-32                                     2439 x 78 km
    1 19189U 88044A   02073.84376886  .99999999  10634-4  15069-2 0   291
    2 19189  62.4490  97.7341 1545222 263.4853  79.1073 13.00947926 67199
    
    SatEvo prediction:
    Molniya 3-32                                     1771 x 82 km
    1 19189U 88044A   02074.06756744 2.32257594  15058+1  22465-2 0 90252
    2 19189  62.2856  97.0725 1156374 263.2722  83.4625 13.90631072 67227
    Molniya 3-32                                     930 x 78 km
    1 19189U 88044A   02074.27585963 4.61292551  98095+1  24230-2 0 90258
    2 19189  62.2330  96.3997 0619483 263.3324  89.5832 15.20657721 67254
    Molniya 3-32                                     452 x 73 km
    1 19189U 88044A   02074.34076432 9.99999999  50000+2  27071-2 0 90259
    2 19189  62.1999  96.1544 0285419 263.3551  93.3885 16.04307110 67269
    
    Note: My statement yesterday that the perigee was unlikely to be as low
    as the approx 58 km implied by the (then) latest elset produced the
    comment (criticism?) that "TLEs are double-averaged elements (averaged
    over one revolution and one rotation of the line of apsides). It might
    be that the actual perigee altitude is some kilometers higher". Since
    then, the corresponding (and admittedly simplistic) perigee height for
    published elsets has varied between 71 and 925 km. IMHO, such a 
    variation is not only unlikely but impossible.
    My latest analysis excludes the obviously erroneous elsets, and confirms
    that the decay has slipped. I suspect re-entry is most likely following
    perigee on the penultimate of my SatEvo-predicted orbits over the SE
    Pacific Ocean.
    _____________________________________________________________________
    Object: #23742 = 95- 69 B = Galaxy 3R Atlas 2A Centaur rocket
    
    Decay predictions:
    Source   Prediction made    Predicted decay at      Latitude Longitude
                    UTC                UTC                  deg      deg
    SpaceCom   Mar 14 00:45     Mar 16 00:32 +-1d        16.4 N   159.2 E
    SatEvo     Mar 14 22:35     Mar 16 03:43 +-20h       26.6 N   150.9 W
    
    Latest elset:
    Galaxy 3R Centaur r                              864 x 127 km
    1 23742U 95069B   02073.22787652  .15629977 -73059-5  83355-3 0  2905
    2 23742  26.5652 358.3173 0536321  43.2249 321.0405 15.23574011 95738
    
    SatEvo prediction: See Decay Watch page.
    (..ends)
    Galaxy 3R Centaur r                              281 x 110 km
    1 23742U 95069B   02075.07835239  .92506490  21996+1  92152-3 0 92905
    2 23742  26.5461 344.7800 0129694  65.9301 295.4215 16.29013624 96024
    Galaxy 3R Centaur r                              204 x 105 km
    1 23742U 95069B   02075.13925104 1.85117302  17099+2  10916-2 0 92903
    2 23742  26.5437 344.2863 0075488  66.7582 294.0349 16.44181789 96031
    
    
    Note: Fresh elsets are seriously overdue.
    _____________________________________________________________________
    
    
    Alan
    -- 
    Alan Pickup / COSPAR 2707:  55.8968N   3.1989W   +208m   (WGS84 datum)
    Edinburgh  / SatEvo & elsets:    http://www.wingar.demon.co.uk/satevo/
    Scotland  / Decay Watch: http://www.wingar.demon.co.uk/satevo/dkwatch/
              *
    
    -----------------------------------------------------------------
    Unsubscribe from SeeSat-L by sending a message with 'unsubscribe'
    in the SUBJECT to SeeSat-L-request@lists.satellite.eu.org
    http://www.satellite.eu.org/seesat/seesatindex.html
    



    This archive was generated by hypermail 2b29 : Thu Mar 14 2002 - 17:55:25 EST