RE: Obs 29 Aug 2005 + unknown

From: Ted Molczan (seesat@rogers.com)
Date: Tue Aug 30 2005 - 18:44:52 EDT

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    Greg Roberts wrote:
    
    > Unknown:
    > ---------
    > 91040 05 241LEO 0433 P 20050829171912300 17 15 1136599-285041 39
    > 91040 05 241LEO 0433 P 20050829171913500 17 15 1137382-283451 39
    > 
    > Notes:
    > ------
    > (2) A faint satellite was briefly observed for which I cannot find a
    >     match in my elements database...
    
    Nice work Greg! This is the same UNID that you observed in late June, which I
    believe to be the rocket body of XSS-11:
    
    http://satobs.org/seesat/Jun-2005/0193.html
    
    Greg did not publish his three June positions in IOD format, so here they are,
    with the correct ID:
    
    28637 05 011B   0433 G 20050621172709200 56 15 0704030-245747 39  +100 05
    28637 05 011B   0433 G 20050621172710200 56 15 0704263-244701 39  +100 05
    28637 05 011B   0433 G 20050621172711100 56 15 0704516-243549 39  +100 05
    
    The following elset is in excellent agreement with Greg's positions of June 21
    and August 29:
    
    XSS-11 r         1.3  1.1  0.0  7.6 v
    1 28637U 05011B   05241.65828408  .00000180  00000-0  10000-3 0    02
    2 28637  98.8460 233.3823 0015000  90.1679 270.1211 14.11054773    02
    
    Rate of decay, eccentricity and argument of perigee are a guess. Due to the long
    arc, there is some ambiguity in the mean motion, so that too is a guess. A value
    of 14.096 rev/d yielded an equally good fit, and other similar values are
    possible. An additional accurate observation is required to resolve the
    ambiguity.
    
    The orbit always remains near the terminator, which makes it difficult to
    observe.
    
    Ted Molczan
    
    
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