Fw: Altair-2 moved.
C.M. vd Berg (cmvdberg@wxs.nl)
Wed, 21 Jul 1999 16:57:46 +0200
>
>
>> Please relay to John Locker.
>>
>>Hello John Locker! >>
About the move.
You wrote:
QUOTE
>>>With the all important supply launch to Mir due to lift within the hour
I
>>>thought I would check out comms via the Luch satellite at 16 west.....not
>a
>>>hint of carrier there , checking the latest elements Luch (Altair-2) cat
>>>no 23426 is now located at 37.5 degs west!
>>>
>>>Anyone any idea what is going on?
UNQUOTE
Yes, I do or at least suppose so:
One orbit of Luch (Altair-2) lasts 1436.833 minutes.
If this value would have remained 1436.091 minutes , this satellite would
still be standing over 16 dgs. The satellite is no longer under control and
the movement to the west , to 38 dgs west is natural. The bird will
wander further to the west.
In fact this is also the case with that other bird, Luch-1 Gelios. There
the value is 1436.166 minutes, so somewhat too quick! That is why this one
after the failure already moved from 77 dgs East to 76 East, so also in
westerly direction!
But I have still a question:
Until 13.08.1999 the luch-Altair-2 was regularly in use for MIR-TsUP
communications. I was able to monitor a lot of traffic which gave me
enormous amounts of information. Also the images and video transmissions,
especially of the experiments, the meetings with the crew, but also the
tests with DLR (Oberpfaffenhofen) for the BDD - Betriebs-technik Deutschland
Direkt) were sensational. During BDD sessions the antenna of Altair-2 was
aimed at GSOC Oberpfaffenhofen and I had a quality which was equal to our
TV-cable network.
And now the question: Why didn't give you a try during the operational
period of Altair-2?
73-s, Chris.