Brad Young posted: >Regarding NOSS objects like NOSS 2-3, which is separating; what causes these >triplets / pairs to "break up"? The active pairs/triplets must be maintained with continual (very small) orbital adjustments. The NOSS 3 objects showed extensive manuevering after launch before the final orbit positioning was performed. At least one of the very old NOSS triplets was allowed to disperse somewhat and then was subsequently re-formed (many years ago). The objects out in front of the current NOSS 2-2 and NOSS 2-3 former triplets (now pairs) were deliberately moved out front with small maneuvers. One of these "out front" objects now shows large variations in brightness with a period of 2 or 3 minutes. My assumption is that the software has been changed so that the same information can be obtained with an offset pair of objects like the NOSS 3 pairs so that the NOSS 2 triplets can be converted into pairs. Thus one NOSS 2 object of each triplet is superfluous and could be moved "out front" and either decomissioned or retained as a spare. But this has not been done for the NOSS 2-1 triplet. Mike McCants ------------------------------------------------------------------------- Subscribe/Unsubscribe info, Frequently Asked Questions, SeeSat-L archive: http://www.satobs.org/seesat/seesatindex.html
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