Pierre Neirinck produced the following elements, using observations by himself, Russell Eberst, Bjoern Gimle and Rob Matson and Jim Nix, from 30 April to 3 May UTC: USA 116 15.0 3.0 0.0 5.1 v 1 23728U 95066A 00125.21706390 .00017000 00000-0 42369-3 0 2633 2 23728 97.9019 237.1874 0454568 335.0541 22.6139 14.75030764 04 USA 129 15.0 3.0 0.0 5.1 v 1 24680U 96072A 00124.90899490 .00024789 00000-0 34440-3 0 4666 2 24680 97.8707 188.6047 0519247 123.5479 241.5183 14.74002794 05 It appears that USA 116 has maintained the higher than standard perigee height, of about 325 km, that it adopted sometime over the winter of 1998/99. An earlier eastern-plane KeyHole, 87090A, did the same during 1991-92, prior to its de-orbiting. The reason for the perigee-raising is unclear. Perhaps it is intended to conserve propellant, by reducing drag; however, the long-lived western-plane KeyHole, 88099A, maintained a nearly constant perigee height, so that is not an entirely satisfactory explanation. Ted Molczan ----------------------------------------------------------------- Unsubscribe from SeeSat-L by sending a message with 'unsubscribe' in the SUBJECT to SeeSat-L-request@lists.satellite.eu.org http://www2.satellite.eu.org/seesat/seesatindex.html
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