NROL-41 observed by Bob Christy

From: Ted Molczan (ssl3molcz@rogers.com)
Date: Wed Sep 22 2010 - 02:43:45 UTC

  • Next message: Brad Young: "Try Again NROL 41"

    Bob Christy has made Doppler radio observations of what must be the payload of NROL-41, called USA
    215 (10046A / 37162).
    
    He shared with me the following times of closest approach of an UNID, broadcasting a strong signal
    on SGLS Channel 9, on three consecutive passes:
    
     Date    UTC
    Sep 21 21:43:20 +/-10s
    Sep 21 23:25:50 +/-15s
    Sep 22 01:08:05 +/-15s
    
    The first of the above happened to be in the vicinity of my 77003 and 77004 search elsets, but the
    subsequent passes revealed that the orbit was higher than any of my search elements.
    
    I have adjusted my search elements to fit Bob's data, with the following result:
    
    FIA Radar 1                                            1071 X 1086 km
    1 77007U          10265.02987126  .00000000  00000-0  00000-0 0    03
    2 77007 123.0000  98.5010 0010000   1.1879 358.9108 13.48102018    01
    Arc 20100921.9-0922.05 WRMS resid 0.763 totl 0.515 xtrk
    
    I believe they should be sufficient to find it optically. Time should be accurate to well under one
    minute, but track error of 1 deg or more is possible, especially at high elevation.
    
    It will make several more visible passes of North America tonight (evening and morning window).
    
    Ted Molczan
    
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