Cosmos 2326 re-entry

Alan Pickup (alan@wingar.demon.co.uk)
Sat, 8 Nov 1997 11:40:23 +0000

The final elsets from OIG were:
Cosmos 2326      6.0  0.0  0.0  4.2 v            188 x 148 km
1 23748U 95071A   97311.82023168  .09273589  75529-5  42360-3 0  3412
2 23748  64.9983 319.9921 0030880 270.2223  90.5569 16.39099166107031
Cosmos 2326      6.0  0.0  0.0  4.2 v            172 x 142 km
1 23748U 95071A   97311.94195411  .12620707  76351-5  33066-3 0  3426
2 23748  64.9957 319.5534 0022645 271.8764  88.2924 16.43254542107052
Cosmos 2326      6.0  0.0  0.0  4.2 v            161 x 139 km
1 23748U 95071A   97312.00273619  .13542363  77183-5  25627-3 0  3432
2 23748  64.9932 319.2997 0016533 280.4829  79.9867 16.45893122107061
Cosmos 2326      6.0  0.0  0.0  4.2 v            147 x 128 km
1 23748U 95071A   97312.06337956  .22925254  78208-5  20575-3 0  3444
2 23748  64.9710 319.0524 0014720 281.8072  78.7760 16.50728727107074

In comparison with my "9336" prediction, these show it running early by
1.8, 1.8, 4.5 and 3.2 seconds respectively and suggest that SatEvo was
not far off the mark. I doubt whether it survived to the next equator
northbound equator crossing so my opinion is that it re-entered
somewhere around the final orbit above. But where? I think the earliest
likely point is over southern Norway and Sweden at about 01:58 UTC. The
track then took it south-eastwards over the Black Sea (02:03), Saudi
Arabia (~02:07), E of the Seychelles (02:16) and over St Paul I. in the
S Indian Ocean (02.26). Its southern apex was at 02.36 near the coast of
Antarctica, S of Australia, but I suspect it was down by then.

Alan
-- 
 Alan Pickup | COSPAR site 2707:   55d53m48.7s N   3d11m51.2s W    156m asl
 Edinburgh   | Home:      alan@wingar.demon.co.uk       +44 (0)131 477 9144
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