I just searched my biggie element set file and could NOT find a 96053D piece in supersynch orbit. It appears that I either do not have the elements or it has not been catalogued yet. The later would be hard to explain. Thus the Proton DM rkt appears to still be missing. I Did check the Goddard database and found the two LEO RKTs missing (#24308 and 24309). Assume they have decayed. Object 24310 is a 26.7 deg inc, 13.27 rev/day object. No Iternational Designator provided. Ron Lee At 22:53 96/12/16 -0500, you wrote: >Background information - Inmarsat 3 F2 was launched on a Khrunichev Proton >rocket on September 6th. We now review previous messages to Seesat-L >I verified that the GE-4000 bus was modified so it did not include an >Apogee Kick Motor (a first for that satellite bus) and the Proton DM upper >stage was used to put the satellite in to a true geostationary ( MM = 1, e >= 0, i = 0) orbit. This is the normal Proton comsat launch profile, with >the DM stage performing the perigee and apogee burns and final inclination >removal. So the DM stage is now in a geosynchronous drift orbit. > >I would not expect to see any significant size medium eccentricity object >from this launch, but would expect to see an additional object in >geosynchronous orbit. > >It's *possible* that either the B or C object is the DM stage, captured on >NORAD radars early in its ascent, and presumably eventually will be >cataloged in geosynchronous drift orbit. > > >Philip Chien, KC4YER >Earth News - space writer and consultant >note new E-mail address - pchien@digital.net > > > >