A Soyuz is scheduled to launch at 2015-09-11T02:08:10 from Guiana and will put two Galileo satellites in orbit. The insertion of the payload into the transfer orbit may be visible from Europe. The VS12 launch kit (http://www.arianespace.com/images/launch-kits/launch-kit-pdf-eng/VS12_Launch-kit_GB.pdf) reports that the Fregat upper stage will shut-down at 23m32s after launch. This is essentially identical to the shut-down reported for the VS03 launch (http://www.arianespace.com/images/launch-kits/launch-kit-pdf-eng/VS03-GALILEO-FM3-FM4-GB.pdf), for which JSpOC has orbital elements of Galileo-FM3 [38857/12055A] while in the 20x23250_at_56deg transfer orbit. Adjusting those elements for the launch time of VS12 yields these elements for the transfer orbit. 1 84001U 14900A 15254.15045429 .00000000 00000-0 00000-0 0 07 2 84001 55.9763 327.1061 6365096 57.0615 62.9644 3.56407484 01 This orbit predicts a shadow exit at 02:30:05UT when the payload is above the border between Germany and Denmark. At this time the Fregat is still in powered flight. The insertion burn is predicted to and at 02:31:32UT. It is unclear what visual effects the burn and the shutdown may have, but observers in Northern Europe are well placed to observe what ever may be visible. Regards, Cees _______________________________________________ Seesat-l mailing list http://mailman.satobs.org/mailman/listinfo/seesat-lReceived on Thu Sep 10 2015 - 04:30:54 UTC
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