The NOSS 3-2 satellite formation, launched 2003 Dec 02 UTC, has manoeuvred to match the mean motion of other active NOSS formations. This had been expected, based on the behaviour of NOSS 3-1 satellites, which manoeuvred to match the orbits of active NOSS many months after their launch. I suspect that the long delay before making those manoeuvres is to allow the satellites to drift to some location in their orbital plane that optimizes the coverage of the overall constellation of active NOSS. To learn about the NOSS satellites, please visit the following web page: http://www.satobs.org/noss.html The final pre-manoeuvre observations were made late on 2004 Mar 23 UTC, at which time the satellites were in the falling orbits: NOSS 3-2 (A) 0.0 0.0 0.0 4.9 v 1 28095U 03054A 04083.88223683 .00000016 00000-0 28392-4 0 09 2 28095 63.4375 17.4791 0121075 179.6345 180.4789 13.40600689 08 NOSS 3-2 (C) 0.0 0.0 0.0 4.9 v 1 28097U 03054C 04083.88232420 .00000015 00000-0 25798-4 0 06 2 28097 63.4384 17.6709 0121431 179.5223 180.5939 13.40600697 08 The first indication of their manoeuvres came late on 2004 Mar 24 UTC, when Peter Wakelin observed both running about 1 s late relative the above elements. The following night, Bruce MacDonald observed both running about 10 s late. I have derived the following estimated elements from their observations: 1 28095U 03054A 04085.89638759 .00000016 00000-0 28392-4 0 06 2 28095 63.4375 12.3530 0121075 179.6246 180.4891 13.40453000 00 1 28097U 03054C 04085.89647823 .00000015 00000-0 25798-4 0 06 2 28097 63.4384 12.5448 0121431 179.5120 180.6045 13.40453000 01 I expect these to be accurate to within about 10 s over the next few nights. Ted Molczan ------------------------------------------------------------------------- Subscribe/Unsubscribe info, Frequently Asked Questions, SeeSat-L archive: http://www.satobs.org/seesat/seesatindex.html
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