I watched CCTV's live web cast of the launch, on 2005 Oct 12 at or about 01:00 UTC. According to my clock, the launch was one or two minutes later, but I suspect that was the result of various delays in the web cast, so I assume launch was at 01:00 UTC. Roughly speaking, the northern hemisphere will have morning visibility; the southern hemisphere will have evening visibility. Use the search elements to determine your observing prospects. USSTRATCOM has yet to issue orbital elements, so for now, my estimated elsets will have to suffice. I suggest the following elements for the 2nd stage rocket: Shenzhou 6 r 15.5 3.4 0.0 4.4 d 1 70601U 70600B 05285.08931662 .00809611 00000-0 60000-3 0 09 2 70601 42.4153 27.4814 0102545 130.0626 230.9292 16.03716253 07 The spacecraft's orbits are expected to be as follows: 1. Elliptical Parking Orbit until 2005 Oct 12 at 07:53 UTC The spacecraft and rocket body will be in nearly same orbit for the first approx 6 h and 53 m after launch. Below are search elsets for both. Shenzhou 6 7.8 2.5 0.0 5.4 d 1 70600U 70600A 05285.08933035 .00794136 00000-0 60000-3 0 09 2 70600 42.4153 27.4814 0106040 130.0626 230.9292 16.02866600 01 The rocket's apogee will be nearly 5 km lower than Shenzhou's, as a result of its separation manoeuvre upon orbital insertion. Therefore, Shenzhou will trail a short distance behind its rocket. 2. Circularized Orbit after 2005 Oct 12 at 07:53 UTC Shenzhous 1, 3, 4 and 5 manoeuvred to raise their perigee as they passed through apogee for the 5th time. Shenzhou 1 raised its perigee by only 8 km; Shenzhous 3, 4 and 5 raised it more than 130 km, to nearly circularize their orbit, and Shenzhou 6 is expected to do the same. Approx 6 h and 53 m after launch, Shenzhou 6 should be in this orbit: Shenzhou 6 7.8 2.5 0.0 5.4 d 1 70600U 70600A 05285.33849619 .00000000 00000-0 00000-0 0 02 2 70600 42.4207 25.8822 0002833 248.3475 111.7085 15.78579562 08 Note that the zero decay terms of the circularized Shenzhou elements are intentional; past missions made a number of small manoeuvres throughout their flight, that essentially negated the effects of drag, apparently to achieve a nearly exactly repeating ground track every 31 revolutions. Ted Molczan ------------------------------------------------------------------------- Subscribe/Unsubscribe info, Frequently Asked Questions, SeeSat-L archive: http://www.satobs.org/seesat/seesatindex.html
This archive was generated by hypermail 2b29 : Wed Oct 12 2005 - 00:11:06 EDT