yK Chia wrote: "Is there a updated list of Molniya that tumbled ( out of control ) vs still operational? What is the criteria for a seeing 'higher-chance' of flashing from these two groups? phase angle ~ 90 degree, closest range? For the operational ones are they spin stabilized throughout the entire orbit (at perigee)?" I list below what I could find about flashing Molniyas and others in similar orbits. I don't really know if there are consistent criteria for seeing them flashing. Some have been observed flashing quite brightly from pretty far away. Here is a very nice and detailed page about an official Canadian project that was dedicated to tracking them (most of it available in both English and French; don't miss the image gallery, including five identified as tumbling): http://www.rmc.ca/academic/physics/castor/tracking97_e.html From what I've been told by Mike, I think that all Molniyas and Okos that are more than a few years old can be considered candidates for tumbling. Searching various sources, I could find reports of flashing or at least variation for the following Molniyas (some of which may have re-entered): 07276, 74-026A, Molniya 2-9 08015, 75-063A, Molniya 2-13 08425, 75-105A, Molniya 3-3 09880, 77-021A, Molniya 1-3 11057, 78-095A, Molniya 3-10 11240, 79-004A, Molniya 3-11 11474, 79-070A, Molniya 1-44 (four minutes in the report I found) 12156, 81-009A, Molniya 1-49 12133, 81-002A, Molniya 3-14 13012, 81-123A, Molniya 1-52 13070, 82-015A, Molniya 1-53 15214, 84-089A, Molniya 1-62 14313, 83-090A, Molniya 3-21 15738, 85-040A, Molniya 3-24 (flashing?; named in PPAS notes) 15909, 85-061A, Molniya 3-25 15977, 85-074A, Molniya 1-64 16393, 85-117A, Molniya 3-27 17264, 86-103A, Molniya 1-70 19713, 88-112A, Molniya 3-34 20338, 89-094A, Molniya 3-36 (slow) 20255, 89-078A, Molniya 1-76 20646, 90-052A, Molniya 3-38 20813, 98-084A, Molniya 3-39 21118, 91-012A, Molniya 1-80 21426, 91-043A, Molniya 1-81 22178, 92-067A, Molniya 3-42 22255, 92-085A, Molniya 3-43 23420, 94-081A, Molniya 1-88 24640, 96-060A, Molniya 3-48 (over 80 seconds) Here's more information about Molniyas: http://www.astronautix.com/project/molniya.htm http://space.skyrocket.de/doc_sdat/molniya-2.htm http://space.skyrocket.de/doc_sdat/molniya-3.htm Here are the Russian Oko early warning satellies that I know of that have been observed flashing: 09911, 77-027A, Cosmos 903 11015, 78-083A, Cosmos 1030 13080, 82-016A, Cosmos 1341 13124, 82-029A, Cosmos 1348 14587, 83-126A, Cosmos 1518 16993, 86-075A, Cosmos 1783 (slow) 22189, 92-069A, Cosmos 2217 (many reports) Here's information about Okos: http://space.skyrocket.de/doc_sdat/oko.htm http://www.astronautix.com/craft/oko.htm Here's a general site about Russian military spacecraft: http://www.russianspaceweb.com/spacecraft_military.html And finally, some (but not all) of the following unknown or classified objects in eccentric orbits are flashing: 26053, 00-001B, USA 148 Rk (I think this one is lost.) 28385, 04-034B, USA 179 Cn r (tumbling) 90004, 99-750A, Unknown 990907 (definitely flashes - at times) 90006, 00-596A, Unknown 000405 (definitely flashes - at times) 90020, 04-539A, Unknown 040208 90025, 04-800A, Unknown 041026 90026, 04-809A, Unknown 041104 90027, 04-841A, Unknown 041206 90028, 04-846A, Unknown 041211 90032, 05-577A, Unknown 050318 90039, 05-689A, Unknown 050708 90040, 05-683A, Unknown 050702 (tumbling slowly) 90044, 05-859A, Unknown 051225 90045, 05-862B, Unknown 051228 90046, 05-864A, Unknown 051230 90047, 06-521A, Unknown 060121 Ed Cannon - Austin, Texas, USA __________________________________________________ Do You Yahoo!? Tired of spam? Yahoo! Mail has the best spam protection around http://mail.yahoo.com ------------------------------------------------------------------------- Subscribe/Unsubscribe info, Frequently Asked Questions, SeeSat-L archive: http://www.satobs.org/seesat/seesatindex.html
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