USA 193 elements from observations

From: Ted Molczan (molczanseesat@rogers.com)
Date: Sun Jan 21 2007 - 12:38:25 EST

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    Greg Roberts has completed his recovery of USA 186, which he reported as missing
    on Jan 12. When last observed, by Tony Beresford, on 2007 Jan 09 at 13:20 UTC,
    the object's perigee had been within a few degrees of the equator, one of the
    circumstances in which this type of object is known to make some of its orbital
    maintenance manoeuvres.
    
    Greg observed the object on Jan 13, not far from one of two search orbits,
    making several precise observations over a short arc. Unfortunately, Greg was
    unable to observe again until last night, which necessitated another search.
    During a 150 min planar search, Greg observed the object on two consecutive
    passes, making several precise observations on both.
    
    Analysis of all of Greg's post-manoeuvre observations yields the following
    orbit:
    
    USA 186         15.0  4.0  0.0  5.3 v
    1 28888U 05042A   07020.81258065  .00012555  00000-0  11999-3 0    02
    2 28888  97.8661  84.8910 0539235 143.3381 220.6029 14.76600645    03
    Arc 2007 Jan 13.89 - 20.87, WRMS residuals = 0.011 deg
    
    The manoeuvre appears to have been made near the perigee passage of 2007 Jan 11
    at 15:03 UTC.
    
    The main results were, approximately, a 0.05 deg reduction in inclination, a 2
    deg increase in argument of perigee, and a 9 km increase in apogee - subject to
    confirmation through additional observation.
    
    Ted Molczan
    
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