Alphonse asked... >Who knows why http://hyperspace.nrl.navy.mil/TiPS/latest_tips.els gives >00006 instead of 23937 as NORAD# ? >My pleasure, avec plaisir, Alphonse >alphonse.pouplier@skynet.be The TiPS website has a link to their e-mail address at tipsinfo@tips.nrl.navy.mil, so I asked this same question a few weeks ago and got back this reply... > On the NORAD number being 00006, that is an artifact of the >procedure we use to get the elements onto the web page. We get the >elements from Naval Space Command in a 1-line element set then run a >conversion program to generate the 2-line sets. The 1-line format only >has 2 digits available to Satellite ID's, and for reasons unknown, TiPS >shows up as 06. There also is (or was, I've lost track) a security issue >concerning the official ID and how that relates back to the host vehicle. >By leaving the 06, we've not had to worry about that. I've not heard >anything of the number being 23937, the only other two ID number's I've >heard of are in the US Space Command analyst set, and they are 86399 for >Norton and 86398 for Ralph. I'm not sure exactly why US Space Command >chose to implement two ID numbers, though might speculate that they were >planning on the tether breaking. The TiPS personnel at the Navy Research Lab are eager to hear from TiPS observers. Here's another snippet of e-mail I received from them regarding the differences between the elements published at thier website vs. the elements available elsewhere... >...I'm not surprised that there's a difference between ours >and theirs, a large area of our research on this project involves >improving the operational tracking techniques of tethered satellites. >The elements we use are created from observations of one mass or the >other, neither of which are technically in an orbit. Is easy to >see how this creates noisy elements with plenty of room for improvement. > > Also wanted to ask you to please let us know if you notice anything >unusual with TiPS, including not being able to find it when you think >you should. We've been thinking about how we'd know when the tether is >finally cut, and may very well first hear about it from observers such >as yourself. Also, if you're in touch with others that regularly >observe TiPS, we'd appreciate hearing from them also if they notice >anything unusual going on with the tether. Craig Cholar 3432P@VM1.CC.NPS.NAVY.MIL Marina, California 36 41' 10.3" N, 121 48' 17.9" W (+36.6862, -121.8050) UTC -7