2000-056B (#26403) Zenit RB
As Alan mentioned yesterday (decay watch Oct 12) there was an observation from
an aircraft pilot (altitude 11 000 ft.) over Maseru, Lesotho (29.28°S, 27.29°E)
on Oct 11, around 17:50 - 18:00 UTC which could be the decay of the Zenit RB.
SPACECOM, Alan and I showed the decay on a more northern position over Central
Africa: SPACECOM 17:59 UTC +/- 20 minutes (13.8°S, 29.3°E)
Alan: 17:52 UTC -15m /+ 30 m ( 0.0° 23.6°E)
Harro: 17:52 UTC +/- 07 minutes (02.13°N, 22.67°E)
A small question mark:
A careful reconstruction of the final orbit shows for Maseru at 17:59:43 UTC
a maximum elevation of only 04.96° (AZ: 68.86°, Range: 856,1 km). The geodectic
altitude of the RB for this time was 130.2 km. The observed direction (NNE)
is correct but the description of a "fiery" object (3- 5 minutes visible,unsure)
suggests a lower altitude on the reentry trajectory. Let us assume 87 km. The
elevation of the decayer for the observer over Maseru is then only 2.0° !
It would be of great interest to see a more precise description of the
observation.
Harro
Harro.Zimmer@t-online.de
Berlin. Germany
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This archive was generated by hypermail 2b29 : Fri Oct 13 2000 - 01:15:59 PDT