Debris from Cosmos 1703 Rocket

From: Mike McCants (mmccants@io.com)
Date: Wed May 10 2006 - 17:14:44 EDT

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    Yesterday 22 pieces of debris with designations 1985-108C through Z
    were cataloged by Spacecom.  (NCats 29114 through 29135)
    
    A quick analysis of a current elset for the Cosmos 1703 rocket
    (NCat 16263, 1985-108B) compared to the Q debris piece indicates
    that the fragmentation occurred about 4 days ago.
    
    The elset for the rocket from day 125.79 shows a small decrease
    in mean motion compared to the elset from day 125.32
    
    I assume that it is likely that this rocket is now tumbling.
    
    Most of the debris pieces have large drag values indicating
    that they are very small.  The Q object (NCat 29126) has a much
    smaller drag value, so it may be large enough for us to see.
    
    Mike McCants
    
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