Decay of Mars Pathfinder rocket

Alan Pickup (alan@wingar.demon.co.uk)
Wed, 26 Nov 1997 19:35:23 +0000

Mars Pathfinder may have found the weather a little too chilly on the
surface of Mars, but the Delta 2 rocket that sent it on its way is about
to get rather warm. My current predictions show decay at about November
28.5 (+/- 0.3d) though its inclination of 36 degrees eliminates any
chance of observing it for many of us.

The latest elset from OIG is:
Mars Pthfndr r   5.9  2.4  0.0  5.6 d            367 x 144 km
1 24668U 96068B   97330.60155028  .05028793  23753-5  45637-3 0  7472
2 24668  36.3125  83.2245 0168394 217.5054 141.3872 16.06823618 47814

My SatEvo predicted evolution runs...
Mars Pthfndr r   5.9  2.4  0.0  5.6 d            339 x 143 km
1 24668U 96068B   97331.03573686  .06350855  80491-2  49422-3 0 97476
2 24668  36.3113  80.1721 0148440 221.7606 137.0969 16.12097009 47886
Mars Pthfndr r   5.9  2.4  0.0  5.6 d            322 x 142 km
1 24668U 96068B   97331.28319969  .07038491  10733-1  50066-3 0 97472
2 24668  36.3106  78.4218 0135762 224.2006 134.7068 16.15402314 47925
Mars Pthfndr r   5.9  2.4  0.0  5.6 d            302 x 142 km
1 24668U 96068B   97331.53013099  .07978829  15032-1  50580-3 0 97471
2 24668  36.3098  76.6665 0121803 226.6476 132.3311 16.19097162 47963
Mars Pthfndr r   5.9  2.4  0.0  5.6 d            280 x 141 km
1 24668U 96068B   97331.77646361  .09344029  23579-1  50844-3 0 97470
2 24668  36.3088  74.9056 0106061 229.1025 129.9740 16.23339046 48003
Mars Pthfndr r   5.9  2.4  0.0  5.6 d            254 x 139 km
1 24668U 96068B   97332.02209926  .11406700  32223-1  50172-3 0 97479
2 24668  36.3076  73.1380 0087593 231.5667 127.6436 16.28415422 48047
Mars Pthfndr r   5.9  2.4  0.0  5.6 d            221 x 137 km
1 24668U 96068B   97332.26688810  .16495175  13065+0  52916-3 0 97476
2 24668  36.3062  71.3623 0064093 234.0424 125.3614 16.34932851 48085
Mars Pthfndr r   5.9  2.4  0.0  5.6 d            182 x 132 km
1 24668U 96068B   97332.44969022  .35742731  86877+0  59755-3 0 97476
2 24668  36.3045  70.0226 0038026 235.9103 123.7283 16.43426419 48118
Mars Pthfndr r   5.9  2.4  0.0  5.6 d            156 x 125 km
1 24668U 96068B   97332.51035767  .73715209  41378+1  65801-3 0 97473
2 24668  36.3035  69.5732 0023712 236.5368 123.2364 16.49448084 48122

Alan
-- 
 Alan Pickup | COSPAR site 2707:   55d53m48.7s N   3d11m51.2s W    156m asl
 Edinburgh   | Home:      alan@wingar.demon.co.uk       +44 (0)131 477 9144
 Scotland    | SatEvo satellite page: http://www.wingar.demon.co.uk/satevo/