Re: #20957 back from the dead?
Alan Pickup (alan@wingar.demon.co.uk)
Tue, 3 Jun 1997 22:27:44 +0100
In message <n1346776058.49483@cpqm.saic.com>, ROB MATSON <ROBERT.D.MATSO
N@cpmx.saic.com> writes
>I have a question about Norad #20957 (1990-102E, Gorizont 22 SL-12 ullage
>motor). My records, which may be the victim of a typo, show that this object
>decayed on 7/1/91. Yet, it appears in EL970601 with recent elements:
>
>1990-102E
>1 20957U 90102 E 97150.55137248 .00244185 43614-6 13628-2 0 7800
>2 20957 46.4948 221.8353 4014098 31.2342 347.3842 7.57565571100915
>
>This orbit is 177 x 8969 km. Can anyone confirm that there was an earlier
>report of this motor's demise? --Rob
No, I can't confirm the earlier report. The only object in the catalogue
which decayed on 7/1/91 (assuming you mean 1991 July 1) appears to be
#9411 = 76- 21D, an SL-6 r2. Note that Gorizont 23 (#21533 = 91- 46 A)
was _launched_ by an SL-12 on that day.
I have 288 elsets for #20957 since 1997 Jan 1, during which period the
mean motion has increased from 7.098 to 7.595 revs/day while the perigee
has varied between extremes of 169 and 192 km. Decay looks set for about
1999. The latest elset is
SL-12 r (aux motor) 8935 x 174 km
1 20957U 90102E 97154.50557107 .00251646 45679-6 12599-2 0 7886
2 20957 46.5056 215.9680 4006472 37.0638 344.9034 7.59518628101215
Alan
--
Alan Pickup | COSPAR site 2707: 55d53m48.7s N 3d11m51.2s W 156m asl
Edinburgh | Home: alan@wingar.demon.co.uk +44 (0)131 477 9144
Scotland | Royal Observatory: A.Pickup@roe.ac.uk +44 (0)131 668 8224