NOSS 2-3 designations

Ted Molczan (molczan@fox.nstn.ca)
Tue, 3 Sep 1996 22:44:43 -0400

Effective immediately, I have changed the NOSS 2-3 designations in
my database (to be reflected in future weekly xxx.n2l files), so 
that the NORAD numbers match the international designators. The 
changes are as follows:

Int'l       NORAD
Desig    Old    New
------  -----  -----
96029A  23862  23893
96029B  23893  23907
96029C  96293  23908
96029D  96294  23862
96029E  96295  23936
96029?  96290  23937  (Int'l designator changed to 96029F)

Except for 96029?, which is now 96029F, the international designators
are the ones that have been in common use by the hobbyist folks who do 
most of the tracking and differential corrections of these objects. 

Although the NORAD number and international pairings now conform to
those reported by NASA/GSFC/OIG, the objects assigned to them do not.
Given NORAD's penchant for later changing assignments, the observer
analysts long ago decided to use make their own assignments, and to
stick to them. This helps minimize confusion with all their past
observations, which are always recorded by international designator.

The NOSS triad members pose a particular problem, because we do not
know for certain which is which. The international designator
convention adopted by the hobbyists is summarized in the following 
table:


             90050     91076     96029
Leader         B         C         C

Trailer        C         D         D

Outlier        D         E         E


In the case of the 90050 objects, the B,C,D conforms to OIG, but the
USA reported C,D,E to the United Nations. I the case of 96029, OIG
is reporting B,C,D, and I do not know whether or not that will be
reported to the U.N.

Here are the latest elements for the five objects currently being
tracked.

NOSS 2-3 (D)     3.0  2.0  0.0  6.5
1 23862U 96029  D 96189.95353316  .00000005  00000-0  90019-5 0    07
2 23862  63.4270 126.3365 0070000 175.8343 184.1657 13.40263415    00
NOSS 2-3 r       9.8  3.0  0.0  5.0
1 23907U 96029  B 96245.14465912  .00014000  00000-0  10487-3 0    06
2 23907  63.4264 244.8773 0266000 159.5087 200.4913 15.37701227    06
NOSS 2-3 (C)     3.0  2.0  0.0  6.5
1 23908U 96029  C 96189.95355024  .00000005  00000-0  89945-5 0    02
2 23908  63.4250 126.1830 0072000 184.7343 175.2657 13.40263015    02
NOSS 2-3 (E)     3.0  2.0  0.0  6.5
1 23936U 96029  E 96189.95360834  .00000005  00000-0  90020-5 0    04
2 23936  63.4250 126.3460 0070000 174.8497 185.1503 13.40262865    04
TiPS             3.5  0.0  0.0  5.7
1 23937U 96029  F 96203.14225450  .00000250  00000-0  31455-3 0    04
2 23937  63.4290  89.9941 0003001 264.4275  95.5725 13.63763114    02

Ted Molczan