State vectors for MSG 1 (2002-040B), MSG 2 (2005-049B), METEOSAT 6 (1993-073B) and METEOSAT 7 (1997-049B) are available directly from flight dynamics of Eumetsat in the following way: http://www.eumetsat.int/Home/Main/Access_to_Data/Meteosat_Image_Services/Satellite_Status/index.htm Then go to the left-hand side of the page, "Orbital Parameters" (and there are also instructions to subscribe to the state vector distribution service - but you can access the data right away without subscribing). They are generally updated on Mondays. I took the most recent state vectors (epoch 25-FEB-08, 0 UTC) and checked them against Spacetrack TLEs. While MSG 1, METOSAT 6 and 7 agree quite well I found a whopping 1100 km difference for MSG 2 between the Eumetsat and the Spacetrack positions. Looking more closely the Spacetrack TLEs for MSG 2 seem to be stuck at epoch 30-JAN-08. MSG 2 has performed two NS maneuvers on 4-FEB-08 and 5-FEB-08. It looks like Spacetrack missed out on those maneuvers and has sort of lost track of MSG 2. Gerhard HOLTKAMP Darmstadt, Germany ------------------------------------------------------------------------- Subscribe/Unsubscribe info, Frequently Asked Questions, SeeSat-L archive: http://www.satobs.org/seesat/seesatindex.html
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