As of mid-October, 2005, Iridium 91 (27373, 2002-005B) appears to be manouvering. In mid-October 2005, Iridium 91 has been raised from the parking orbit (673 x 670km) to the engineering orbit (754 x 743 km), and its orbital inclination has been increased, so that it will drift away from orbital plane 3. The intention may be to drift Iridium 91 to another orbital plane. Orbital plane 5 has been without a spare satellite since Iridium 86 (25528, 1998-066B) took the place of Iridium 16 (24841, 1997-030F) in the operational constellation in April 2005, and orbital plane 6 has been without a spare satellite since Iridium 77 (25471, 1998-051E) took the place of Iridium 17 (24870, 1997-034B) in the operational constellation in August 2005. Iridium 98 has been on the move from orbital plane 4 towards orbital plane 5 since mid-June, 2005. The rate of drift is such that it would take about a year for a satellite to drift between adjacent orbital planes. Perhaps Iridium 98, which is already moving from orbital plane 4 towards orbital plane 5, will now continue to orbital plane 6, while Iridium 91 will move from orbital plane 3 to orbital plane 5. I have updated my Iridium Constellation Status page at http://www.rod.sladen.org.uk/iridium.htm Beeston, Nottinghamshire, UK 52.923°N, 1.208°W ------------------------------------------------------------------------- Subscribe/Unsubscribe info, Frequently Asked Questions, SeeSat-L archive: http://www.satobs.org/seesat/seesatindex.html
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