The Space Flight Now MER-B status page: http://spaceflightnow.com/mars/merb/status.html says that the first opportunity to launch MER-B is at 10:35PM EDT (02:35 UT) this evening and the second opportunity is at 11:18PM EDT (03:18 UT). If the first opportunity is taken, the Delta depletion burn will take place at 04:15 UT. For the second opportunity, the burn will take place at 04:58. The burn should last about 45 seconds. In both cases, the Delta rocket will be inside the Earth's shadow. For the first opportunity, shadow entry begins about 04:13 and ends about 04:22. For the second opportunity, shadow entry begins about 04:54 and ends about 05:03. The Horizons system will now generate ephemerides for both objects for both opportunities. Note that the Horizons system will produce RA/Dec Alt/Az predictions for the time that the Delta second stage is inside the Earth's shadow. The MER-B spacecraft and its third stage will not be in the Earth's shadow. Elsets for Delta opportunity 1: MER-BO1 Del2 r (use before 04:15 UT) 1 99991U 03189.14979016 .00000000 00000-0 00000+0 0 07 2 99991 28.4730 147.5228 3255465 36.2206 323.5705 9.07664572 02 MER-BO1 Del2 r (use after 04:15 UT) 1 99992U 03189.14979016 .00000000 00000-0 00000+0 0 08 2 99992 25.3051 159.3361 3300943 22.8080 321.4025 9.41426870 04 This elset seems slightly inaccurate. It indicates a shadow exit about one minute too late. Shadow exit should be about latitude 18, longitude 55 west. The depletion burn should take place over latitude 23, longitude 74 west. Elsets for Delta opportunity 2: MER-BO2 Del2 r (use before 04:58 UT) 1 99993U 03189.17799570 .00000000 00000-0 00000+0 0 07 2 99993 29.3964 147.7075 3258580 36.1631 323.6660 9.06706131 05 MER-BO2 Del2 r (use after 04:58 UT) 1 99994U 03189.18215396 .00000000 00000-0 00000+0 0 08 2 99994 25.3822 158.8159 3266916 26.0138 337.1666 9.09057168 01 This elset indicates shadow exit about latitude 18, longitude 65 west. The depletion burn should take place over latitude 22, longitude 77 west. Intrinsic magnitude for the Delta should be about 4.0 (quicksat scale) or 5.0 (Molczan scale). Intrinsic magnitude for MER-B should be about 4.5 to 5.5 (quicksat scale) or 5.5 to 6.5 (Molczan scale). The third stage near MER-B should be IM 5.5 (quicksat scale) or 6.5 (Molczan scale). Mike McCants ----------------------------------------------------------------- To unsubscribe from SeeSat-L, send a message with 'unsubscribe' in the SUBJECT to SeeSat-L-request@satobs.org List archived at http://www.satobs.org/seesat/seesatindex.html
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