Derek Breit, David Brierley, Russell Eberst, Greg Roberts, Peter Wakelin and Brad Young contributed observations used to determine one or more of the following element sets. USA 89 r 338 X 6729 km 1 22519U 92086C 09117.96481705 .00001852 00000-0 23373-3 0 02 2 22519 56.9015 96.1584 3223898 13.9341 353.2499 8.79718551 02 Arc 20090418.08-04271 WRMS resid 0.015 deg DSP F19 623 X 34721 km 1 25669U 99017A 09117.81630455 .00000085 00000-0 13000-2 0 06 2 25669 29.0562 63.2487 7089097 274.6657 14.7897 2.32822675 04 Arc 20090422.91-0428.01 WRMS resid 0.005 deg USA 200 1010 X 39344 km 1 32706U 08010A 09117.46027988 .00000000 00000-0 00000-0 0 02 2 32706 63.8213 348.9325 7217867 270.2335 15.1396 2.00608643 01 Arc 20090425.86-0427.91 WRMS resid 0.007 deg USA 202 35729 X 35889 km 1 33490U 09001A 09117.22032098 .00000000 00000-0 00000-0 0 06 2 33490 2.8778 339.4878 0019028 92.0137 267.7917 1.00195485 09 Arc 20090421.75-0427.99 WRMS resid 0.006 deg On Apr 27 UTC USA 202 passed through 44.6 E, drifting west 0.281 deg/d. If its destination is near 44 E, then I estimate that the manoeuvre to synchronize its mean motion with Earth's rotation would occur around Apr 28-30, near perigee, which is within a few minutes of 11:18 UTC. 05683A 306 X 31622 km 1 90040U 05683A 09116.52970490 .00000646 00000-0 38668-3 0 01 2 90040 27.9195 323.4297 7008375 26.6075 356.7158 2.60030081 09 Arc 20090420.91-0426.8 WRMS resid 0.003 deg The Baker-Nunn cameras at Olifantsfontein, South Africa (site 9002) and Woomera, Australia (site 9003), Moonwatch sites 129 (Dallas), 401 (Bloemfontein, South Africa), 601 (Adelaide, Australia), 805 (Santiago (Romero), Chile), and the non-Moonwatch site 3701 at San Juan, Argentina, contributed observations used to determine the following element set. SCORE 179 X 1400 km 1 00010U 58006A 58356.93087292 .01594321 00000-0 20390-2 0 01 2 00010 32.3020 206.7126 0851316 166.7055 195.7591 14.31714351 08 Arc 19581219.69-1222.98 WRMS resid 0.087 deg This is a preliminary result from my project to produce 2-line elements from accurate observations of early spacecraft. The cross-track residuals are 0.013 deg, and the orbit is in good agreement with non 2-line elements published at the time. I am testing some new methods on 58006A, before resuming work (some time this year) on Sputnik 1 rocket body. Project SCORE, launched in Dec 1958 was the first use of the Atlas rocket for an orbital mission, and it was the only time that most of the Atlas actually went into orbit. The object was huge and heavy for the time: about 25 m long, 3 m in diameter, and 3,960 kg, comparable to the rocket bodies of the Soviet Sputniks 1, 2 and 3, which had entered orbit previously, and made a huge impression on the world. Finally, the U.S. could claim rough parity. The actual payload was the first satellite communications relay experiment, which included repeated playback of a Christmas greeting recorded by President Eisenhower. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Project_SCORE What remains of Baker-Nunn site 9003 (Woomera), centred on the camera's WGS-84 coordinates: http://maps.google.com/?ie=UTF8&t=k&om=1&ll=-31.100583333,136.784305556&spn=0.002839,0.003616 Ted Molczan ------------------------------------------------------------------------- Subscribe/Unsubscribe info, Frequently Asked Questions, SeeSat-L archive: http://www.satobs.org/seesat/seesatindex.html
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