Decay watch: C 2350 Proton rocket

Alan Pickup (alan@wingar.demon.co.uk)
Thu, 30 Apr 1998 21:02:05 +0100

The latest elset on the decaying Proton from yesterday's Cosmos 2350
launch is:
C 2350 Proton r                                  183 x 175 km
1 25316U 98025B   98120.59280690  .02700743  12285-4  33990-3 0    83
2 25316  51.6191 287.7876 0005740 329.3197  30.7488 16.35168312   238
This shows it 30 seconds late against the "9005" evolution I posted
yesterday.

Decay is now predicted for May 2.2 +-0.3d.

Predicted elsets:

C 2350 Proton r                                  175 x 168 km
1 25316U 98025B   98121.02023901  .03549433  88097-2  33126-3 0 90082
2 25316  51.6184 285.3828 0004904 331.1159  28.8568 16.37836306   303
C 2350 Proton r                                  163 x 158 km
1 25316U 98025B   98121.50774757  .05545925  21207-1  30608-3 0 90082
2 25316  51.6171 282.6267 0003727 333.1747  26.8060 16.42139236   380
C 2350 Proton r                                  154 x 150 km
1 25316U 98025B   98121.75093627  .07846344  46606-1  22679-3 0 90089
2 25316  51.6162 281.2443 0002971 334.2073  25.7778 16.45321829   428
C 2350 Proton r                                  134 x 132 km
1 25316U 98025B   98122.05404809  .20523381  45894+0  15532-3 0 90085
2 25316  51.6141 279.5097 0001585 335.5033  24.4892 16.52557243   477
C 2350 Proton r                                  125 x 124 km
1 25316U 98025B   98122.11446401  .34992431  16417+1  16426-3 0 90080
2 25316  51.6133 279.1612 0001119 335.7637  24.2310 16.55734390   489

     ----------------------------------------------

The final elset for the related Platform was...
C 2350 Proton plat                               149 x 146 km
1 25317U 98025C   98119.85769686  .51435764  12610-4  10747-2 0    86
2 25317  51.6057 291.9277 0002115  37.1850 322.9954 16.46933299   101
...showing it 3 seconds late against SatEvo's prediction as it entered
what I think was its final orbit. Decay was most likely near the end of
that rev as it approached the next northbound equator crossing near 103
deg E at 22:02 UTC.

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/