Re: Lacrosse 1 De-orbited?

Bjoern Gimle (b_gimle@algonet.se)
Thu, 27 Mar 1997 20:31:23 +0100

>A check on Lacrosse 1 possible close approaches using this elset:
>
>Lacrosse 1      18.0  4.5  0.0  3.6 v
>1 19671U 88106  B 97 67.48741065 0.00000035  00000-0  56900-5 0    07
>2 19671  56.9770 123.3157 0010000 121.2846 238.7154 14.70733585    00
>
>and Mike McCants' most recent alldat.tle with Rob Matson's Cola.exe 
>yielded the results below.  (Note the **0.9 km** close approach predicted 
>on 30 March 1997.  Also, six 94-29 and two 89-89 debris objects are listed.  
>Three of the objects are other payloads.  I used a maximum separation of 
>8 km.)  Perhaps they maneuvered Lacrosse 1 to avoid a possible collision?  

A debris avoidance maneuvre is usually only changing the pass time a
few seconds, if the orbits are not co-planar. When done several days
in advance, it hardly affects the period.

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