Both payloads have manoeuvred to slightly lower orbits, and approximately matched their orbital periods. The timing and magnitude of the manoeuvres appears roughly the same as the first manoeuvres of the NOSS 3-2 pair. If they can be taken as a guide, then a manoeuvre to a mean motion near 13.406 rev/d may occur in the next day or two. When all manoeuvres have been completed, their mean motion will nearly match that of other operational NOSS, about 13.40464 rev/d. The Centaur rocket body's altitude has been decreasing at the same time that rate of spin has been increasing, which suggests a more or less continuous escape of propellant, despite the deliberate venting shortly after payload separation. The NOSS 3-2 Centaur's (03054B / 28096) altitude also was observed to change a couple of times in the days after launch, but not as dramatically. NOSS 3-3 (A) 0.0 0.0 0.0 4.0 v 1 28537U 05004A 05041.25490854 .00000011 00000-0 20000-4 0 02 2 28537 63.4420 144.7667 0107863 182.7037 177.3418 13.39825552 08 Arc 2005 Feb 09.15 - 10.27, WRMS residuals = 0.023 deg NOSS 3-3 r 0.0 0.0 0.0 4.7 v 1 28538U 05004B 05041.24052273 .00009738 00000-0 16363-1 0 00 2 28538 63.8363 145.3123 0124389 178.6600 181.4787 13.42687893 08 Arc 2005 Feb 05.19 - 10.26, WRMS residuals = 0.012 deg NOSS 3-3 (C) 0.0 0.0 0.0 4.0 v 1 28541U 05004C 05041.25519593 .00000011 00000-0 20000-4 0 09 2 28541 63.4499 144.7760 0109265 183.3488 176.6817 13.39819295 00 Arc 2005 Feb 10.20 - 10.27, WRMS residuals = 0.025 deg Description of 2-line elements: http://www.satobs.org/element.html Ted Molczan ------------------------------------------------------------------------- Subscribe/Unsubscribe info, Frequently Asked Questions, SeeSat-L archive: http://www.satobs.org/seesat/seesatindex.html
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