Elements derived from observation arc 2003 Nov 04 - 06 UTC: DMSP F16 0.0 0.0 0.0 6.2 v 1 28054U 03048A 03310.83790588 .00000100 00000-0 53297-4 0 03 2 28054 98.9237 344.4062 0007025 246.2110 113.8326 14.13384099 08 WRMS residuals = 0.018 deg Over the past couple of days, the solar flux has fallen back to its pre-solar flare levels, so I have shortened the arc and fixed the rate of decay at a lower value. In view of the short arc, I also fixed inclination and eccentricity to ensure a reasonable result. The slight decrease in mean motion since my previous elset is not indicative of orbital manoeuvring (DMSPs do not manoeuvre orbits after their apogee-kick burn). A constant-drag model like SGP4 does not handle arcs containing large variations in drag very well. Also, over short arcs, observational errors reduce the number of significant digits. Ted Molczan ----------------------------------------------------------------- To unsubscribe from SeeSat-L, send a message with 'unsubscribe' in the SUBJECT to SeeSat-L-request@satobs.org List archived at http://www.satobs.org/seesat/seesatindex.html
This archive was generated by hypermail 2b29 : Fri Nov 07 2003 - 12:16:24 EST