Since Jan 28, Shijian 23 (55131/2023-002A) has been sitting near Tianlian 1-03 (38730/2012-040A) in GEO but getting ever closer. Today it got to within 50 km but the inclination difference, 0°.6 for Shijian against 2°.6 for Tianlian periodically carries it 1500 km away. My thinking is that Shijian will attach itself to Tianlian and top-up its propellant tanks. Alternatively, it might take over station keeping in a similar way to the two MEV/Intelsat missions. They are near 20° east, easily visible from Europe. Robert Christy _______________________________________________ Seesat-l mailing list http://mailman.satobs.org/mailman/listinfo/seesat-lReceived on Wed Mar 15 2023 - 18:15:18 UTC
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