re: KH 11-8, USA 86, 116
Walter Nissen (dk058@cleveland.Freenet.Edu)
Tue, 4 Jun 1996 16:07:43 -0400
> Date: Tue Apr 30 07:28:44 1996
> From: thomsona@netcom.com (Allen Thomson)
> Subject: KH 11-8, USA 86, 116
> Could someone please summarize the status of observations and
> non-observations of KH 11-8, USA 86 and USA 116? As I understand it,
> 11-8 has definitely been identified, as has one object which may
> be USA 86 or 116 based on its orbit.
> Is this reasonably correct? Also, how firmly can it be said that there
> is only one, rather than two, objects in orbits compatible with USA 86 or
> 116?
> If USA 86 has been replaced, that seems to be quite a short lifetime in
> terms of recent KH-class vehicles. Were there any signs last year that it
> was behaving abnormally?
When this question appeared, I was hopeful that it would receive a nice
clear answer. No such luck.
Since I'm an astronomical observer and not a space technologist, I always
look eagerly toward the "experts" for guidance on matters like these.
Does IMINT mean IMaging INTelligence spacecraft?
This table is drawn in significant part from Mike McCants' QSMG9604.ZIP
and Rainer Kracht's message, SeeSat-L #1220, both available from the
SeeSat-L archive:
preferred
vulgar
name McCants Eberst std
cat # cospar USA KH status abs mag Kracht mag ld
15423 84-122 A 6 11-6 out of orbit 3. 4.09 +/- .06 339
18441 87- 90 A 27 11-7 out of orbit?? ?? 4.20 +/- .16 299
19625 88- 99 A 33 11-8 in orbit 3. 3.98 +/- .07 311
22251 92- 83 A 86 11-9 ?? ?? 5.05 +/- .10 333
or 12-1??
23728 95- 66 A 116 11-10, ?? ?? ?? 339
12-1
or 12-2??
xxxxx?? ?? ?? ?? ?? ??
ld is January launch date
(the January date is sometimes mistakenly called the Julian date)
Is there a consensus supporting the erasure of any of these question
marks? I would be most appreciative.
These are the only KH elsets in Ted Molczan's file last week:
KH 9-17 ELINT 0.3 0.9 0.0 9.0
1 13172U 82041 C 96 80.04925749 .00000180 00000-0 30389-4 0 01
2 13172 95.9712 280.0823 0004000 68.2280 291.7718 14.69528737 09
KH 9-19 ELINT 0.3 0.9 0.0 9.0
1 15071U 84065 C 96 70.08899125 .00000160 00000-0 26244-4 0 03
2 15071 95.9040 89.9195 0006000 5.8552 354.1446 14.70791019 01
KH 11-8 15.0 3.0 0.0 4.6
1 19625U 88099 A 96133.14429013 .00007300 00000-0 82214-4 0 07
2 19625 97.9340 195.7250 0534000 239.4325 120.5673 14.74800988 09
22251 not present
USA 116 15.0 3.0 0.0 4.6
1 23728U 95066 A 96142.99939185 .00000187 00000-0 12433-4 0 09
2 23728 97.7611 253.4578 0427330 335.4015 24.5984 14.54455486 07
How can an ELINT be a KH?? Are we talking CCD here?
Cheers.
Walter Nissen dk058@cleveland.freenet.edu
---
Ignorance, the initial human condition, is little relieved by life.