re: star party

Walter Nissen (dk058@cleveland.Freenet.Edu)
Sat, 28 Sep 1996 10:12:04 -0400

> From: palmer@sfu.ca (Leigh Palmer) 
> Subject: star party 
 
> One pair of satellites 
> went over as a bright, close pair, identified later as the 
> Russian satellite Cosmos 2221 and a rocket body from Russian 
> satellite Cosmos 1271. I looked immediately for a leading 
> satellite to make a NOSS constellation, but I soon realized 
> that the orbit was all wrong. These satellites were heading 
> north. Is there any way in which these objects are related? 
 
Hi.  Long time, no correspond. 
 
C* 1271      5.0  1.5  0.0  6.5 
1 12464U 81046  A 96249.08028564  .00000291  00000-0  24861-4 0  7657 
2 12464  81.2148 266.4408 0011729 117.7954 242.4486 14.97624778830395 
C* 1271 r    3.8  2.6  0.0  5.9 
1 12465U 81046  B 96249.17661653  .00000254  00000-0  25877-4 0  5172 
2 12465  81.2334 320.2327 0050859  34.0847 326.3620 14.89792488827923 
C* 2221      6.0  2.0  0.0  5.9 
1 22236U 92080  A 96249.14334884  .00000189  00000-0  28676-4 0   856 
2 22236  82.5161 317.8428 0023363 109.5605 250.8119 14.73921135203418 
         ^^^^^^^ 
You have to be careful, because occasionally an object will accidently end 
up in the wrong orbit, but generally, the inclination will tell a great 
deal about the familial relations of any Cosmos sat ... 
 
C* 2221 is one of the Tselina sats, of which I have written many times. 
The Tselinas and the Okeans (at one time I called them the C* 1933 
family) occupy LEOs at an inclination of 82.5 degrees, and there is at 
least one family of sats in higher orbits at the same inclination.  There 
are also one or more families of sats at an inclination of 82.9 degrees. 
I think 81.2, as in the case of C* 1271, is an older family, not presently 
being replenished.  Nick Johnson (in "Soviet Space Programs, 1980-1985") 
records both C* 1271 and the early Tselinas as ELINTs (electronic 
intelligence sats), and as far as I know, this judgement still holds. 
 
Now maybe an actual expert can chime in. 
 
Cheers. 
 
Walter Nissen                   dk058@cleveland.freenet.edu 
 
P.S.  I think this is probably the latest elset for the new tether: 
TiPS 
1 23937U 96029  F 96266.12917814 0.00000250  00000-0  31439-3 0    05 
2 23937  63.4190 283.1535 0005001 329.1326  30.8674 13.63791809    03 
 
Footnotes: 
Allen Thomson:  Thanks. 
Kettering Group:  Thanks. 
Bart De Pontieu:  Thanks.  It's possible you've forgotten, but there is a 
response in here to a long-ago comment from you. 
Mike McCants:  Thanks.  What?  Me comment about ID confusion??   8-> 
Inclinations of Lacrosse 1 and Lacrosse 2:  Never mind about that.  8->

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We are all newbies at almost everything.