Sorry, I quoted elements for object 601 instead of 6001. Unfortunately 6001 (the Saturn booster) isn't included in the elements archive on Jonathan's site. Dale -----Original Message----- From: Ken Ernandes [mailto:n2wwd@mindspring.com] Dale - The Keplerian elements listed could not be the Apollo 16 trans-lunar trajectory. For starters, you have a nearly 70-deg inclination angle (69.8619-deg) and represent a somewhat circular (ecc = 0.0483667), low-altitude orbit (n = 15.21267116 rev/day). Furthermore, the epoch of these elements is 23 June 1963 23:29:33.389 (63174.97885867). In order to have a trans-lunar trajectory with respect to the Earth (an implicit assumption for a TLE) the ecc would need to be greater than 1.0 and the mean motion would necessarily be negative (i.e., an hyperbolic trajectory). IMHO, your best bet would be to put in a special request to NASA for an Earth-Centered Inertial (ECI) position and velocity state vector (with epoch included) for the trajectory. This would be convertible to a Heliocentric trajectory. Considering there is the possibility of reviving Manned Moon and even Mars landing missions, NASA might just take the trouble to dig them out of the archives. 73, Ken N2WWD -----Original Message----- From: Nova-net-bounces@nlsa.com [mailto:Nova-net-bounces@nlsa.com]On Behalf Of Dale Ireland Sent: Tuesday, May 25, 2004 10:00 AM To: Nova List (Nova List) Cc: SeeSat-L Subject: [Nova-Net] Apollo TLE to Keplarian elements Hello I wanted to plot the position of the Apollo 16 Saturn IVB booster in trans-lunar trajectory (on the way to the Moon) in 1972. I obtained the two line elements, which I "believe" are the trans-lunar elements 1 00601U 63174.97885867 .00885526 27 2 00601 69.8619 172.9878 0483667 138.6852 225.0868 15.21267116 1270 Nova For Windows doesn't see these as valid elements. Probably because the satellite has escaped Earth orbit. How can I convert these two line elements into Sun centered Keplarian elements for use in other planetarium programs. Or is there a way to use them in NFW? Dale Ireland ------------------------------------------------------------------------- Subscribe/Unsubscribe info, Frequently Asked Questions, SeeSat-L archive: http://www.satobs.org/seesat/seesatindex.html
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