In a message dated 98-01-27 16:52:30 EST, you write: > Philip Chien [M1959.05.31/31.145//KC4YER@amsat.org] > It always amazes me how much the NRO tries to keep secret, and promptly > gives away. Through legitimate laws of physics - not speculation - I've > got absolute confirmation of the orbit for the payload - unless the NRO has > a waiver from Isaac Newton ... The orbital elements for NORAD 25018 are being updated by USSPACECOM. This was the r/b that put a payload into orbit that the NRO acknowledged was theirs. The inclination and an estimated altitude for the payload were easy to derive from that launch. [25018, as it turned out, is a fairly interesting flasher to observe as well] That alone would seem like a trend is towards less secrecy. It will be interesting to see if the elements from this r/b will be made public. Cheers. Don Gardner Homepage: http://members.aol.com/mir16609/ Mirror: http://www.geocities.com/capecanaveral/9787/ 76.8419 W, 39.1796 N, 34m ASL