The result of my earlier orbital analysis suggested that latest manoeuvre had occurred at apogee, but adding David Brierley's observations leads to the opposite conclusion. Here is my revised elset: Observation arc 2004 Mar 23.81 - 26.12 UTC: USA 129 15.0 3.0 0.0 5.3 v 1 24680U 96072A 04086.11303315 .00022039 00000-0 30897-3 0 08 2 24680 98.0035 147.5078 0531081 162.3560 199.6908 14.71317826 02 WRMS residuals = 0.016 deg This elset strongly suggests that the manoeuvre occurred on 2004 Mar 23 at about 15:05 UTC, near perigee, over 9.8 N, 81.2 W. The apogee was raised about 8 km, and apparently the inclination was increased by about 0.05 deg. Also, my observation last night now appears to be considerably more accurate than it looked earlier, but apparently still too early, by up to 0.2 s. The elements are likely to flop around a bit more as the arc grows, but hopefully I will not be forced to flip flop again on the circumstances of the manoeuvre. Ted Molczan ------------------------------------------------------------------------- Subscribe/Unsubscribe info, Frequently Asked Questions, SeeSat-L archive: http://www.satobs.org/seesat/seesatindex.html
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