Last fall, Iridium 31 apparently began preceding Iridium 30. Iridium P29 30 1 24949U 97051F 02258.91546253 -.00000220 00000-0 -85738-4 0 8857 2 24949 86.3994 18.8408 0002195 57.6507 302.4894 14.34214726262098 Iridium P2A 31 1 24950U 97051G 02259.41018753 -.00000501 00000-0 -18604-3 0 8875 2 24950 86.3995 18.6190 0002224 61.9927 298.1491 14.34212506262171 Iridium P2? 30 1 24949U 97051F 02277.34068691 .00000643 00000-0 22253-3 0 9119 2 24949 86.4020 11.1598 0001962 83.2909 276.8506 14.34217860264736 Iridium P2? 31 1 24950U 97051G 02277.82272857 .00001148 00000-0 40283-3 0 9153 2 24950 86.4041 10.9316 0002413 76.5065 283.6398 14.34213879264816 I have been hoping for some explanation to be offered, but I haven't seen one. I suppose the minor changes in eccentricity and argument of perigee (changes which are better viewed within more elsets) may conceivably suggest that STRATCOM or OIG confused the two objects. Or perhaps Boeing swapped them for some mysterious operational reason, a possibility I think unlikely (something frequency related, possibly?). This change is a potential challenge to the logical operational nomenclature (see below) in which designations incorporate the order of progression of the objects across the sky. In this nomenclature, object Ir P28 is followed by P29 is followed by P2A, with the 11 objects within a plane numbered 0-9 and A. Any thoughts on why the apparent swap? On what I should do? If desirable, I can easily designate 24950 as Ir P29R 31 and 24949 to be Ir P2AR 30; however, the nomenclature will become awkward if many such changes are made. Thanks. Cheers. Walter Nissen wnissen@tfn.net -81.8637, 41.3735, 256m elevation P.S. In a certain well-known web site this statement appears: > There are now 6 separate orbital planes of operational satellites > spaced approximately 30 degrees apart. This is not a particularly accurate statement. There is a substantial operational reason for the deviation from perfect consistency in separation. Those of you not familiar with the operational details might enjoy puzzling out that reason. --- Structural Diagram of the Iridial Constellation P00 64 P10 46* P20 32 P30 5 P40R 84 P50 39 P01 65 P11 47 P21 33 P31 6 P41 10* P51 80 P02 66 P12R 11* P22 57 P32 7 P42 54* P52 17 P03 67 P13 49 P23 58 P33 8 P43 12 P53 15 P04 68 P14 26 P24 59 P34 4 P44 13 P54 81 P05 74 P15R 3 P25 60 P35 37* P45R 83 P55 38 P06 72 P16 22 P26 55 P36 61 P46 16 P56 41 P07R 75 P17 23 P27 28 P37 19 P47 50* P57 43 P08 70 P18 76 P28 29 P38 34 P48 56 P58 18* P09 62 P19 25 P29 30) P39 35* P49 52* P59 42 P0A 63 P1A 45 P2A 31) P3A 36 P4A 53* P5A 40 P0 C 73 P1 B 69 P2 B 90 P3 B 51 P4 B 86 P5 B 77 P0 D 14* P1 D 20* P2 C 91 P3 C 97 P4 S 911 P5 C 82 P0 E 21* P1 S 24* P2 D 94 P3 D 98 P4 T 914 P5 S 920 P1 T 71 P2 E 95 P5 T 44 P2 F 96 P5 U 921 <-------------------------< P4 ?? 2 <----------no longer to scale-------------------< * numbers have been confused (also 9nn numbers), be sure to use P-number the 2 simulator objects are not included the 5 decayed objects are not included --- Site of interest: http://www2.sis.pitt.edu/~jkabara/tele-2100/iridium/iridium_final.html --- The FTC reports that a superficial scan shows 2/3 of all spam evidences fraud. The flood of junk phone calls and junk e-mail has become so overwhelming that I'm not merely completely unwilling to place an order with that company, but I actively want that company put out of business. Now! What is your ISP doing to stop it? ----------------------------------------------------------------- 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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