Decay watch: Shenzhou 3 rocket decay

From: Alan Pickup (alan@wingar.demon.co.uk)
Date: Wed Apr 03 2002 - 14:17:39 EST

  • Next message: Alan Pickup: "Decay watch: 2002 April 3"

    A very late elset for the Shenzhou rocket suggests that this survived 
    much longer than expected. The following is taken from my Decay Watch 
    page which I'll be updating further in the near future.
    _____________________________________________________________________
    Object: #27398 = 02- 14 B = Shenzhou 3 CZ-2F rocket
    
    Decay predictions:
    Source   Prediction made    Predicted decay at      Latitude Longitude
                    UTC                UTC                  deg      deg
    SpaceCom   Apr  2 17:31     Apr  2 17:04 +-7m        29.0 S   107.0 E
    SatEvo     Apr  3 19:05     Apr  2 23:36 +-50m       25.9 N   179.0 W
    
    Final elsets:
    Shenzhou 3 r    10.0  3.0  0.0  4.0 d   20       181 x 151 km
    1 27398U 02014B   02092.36981260  .09613517  85414-5  53082-3 0   355
    2 27398  42.3705 338.3135 0022793 194.7669 165.2562 16.39891128  1267
    Shenzhou 3 r    10.0  3.0  0.0  4.0 d   20       156 x 121 km
    1 27398U 02014B   02092.91615318  .52241298  92208-5  38239-3 0   362
    2 27398  42.3878 334.5972 0026665  66.6806 292.9315 16.50474552  1352
    
    Note: The final elset was posted only a couple of hours ago and is
    for an epoch 13 hours later than the previous one. It suggests
    that this lasted much longer than SpaceCom or I expected - indeed
    SpaceCom's final notice gives a decay time almost 5 hours earlier
    with an uncertainty of only 7 minutes. I find that a reasonable
    solution is possible over the final orbits if the effective drag
    coefficient decreased in line with that for a 15m long object.
    In that case, my prediction over the final orbits runs:
    (..See Decay Watch page for more elsets)
    Shenzhou 3 r    10.0  3.0  0.0  4.0 d   20       176 x 144 km
    1 27398U 02014B   02092.55241301  .09836199  55501-1  30184-3 0 90339
    2 27398  42.3797 337.0700 0024579 198.9643 160.9440 16.42249573  1299
    Shenzhou 3 r    10.0  3.0  0.0  4.0 d   20       155 x 133 km
    1 27398U 02014B   02092.79525197  .16124364  18134+0  19803-3 0 90339
    2 27398  42.3783 335.4242 0017353 200.8897 159.0392 16.48211367  1339
    Shenzhou 3 r    10.0  3.0  0.0  4.0 d   20       138 x 123 km
    1 27398U 02014B   02092.91626546  .30046924  93491+0  17976-3 0 90332
    2 27398  42.3769 334.5976 0011670 201.8568 158.0934 16.53391609  1356
    Shenzhou 3 r    10.0  3.0  0.0  4.0 d   20       119 x 111 km
    1 27398U 02014B   02092.97658338 1.13916813  50000+2  32054-3 0 90332
    2 27398  42.3755 334.1825 0006083 202.3425 157.6310 16.59296469  1368
    Decay occurs northbound soon after the start of the last of these
    revs, to the W of the Hawaiian Is.
    _____________________________________________________________________
    
    
    Alan
    -- 
    Alan Pickup / COSPAR 2707:  55.8968N   3.1989W   +208m   (WGS84 datum)
    Edinburgh  / SatEvo & elsets:    http://www.wingar.demon.co.uk/satevo/
    Scotland  / Decay Watch: http://www.wingar.demon.co.uk/satevo/dkwatch/
              *
    
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