Most observers have been side-lined by cloudy skies, but several have been more fortunate, including myself, Russell Eberst and Alberto Rango. We have been able to make a good number of observations, so just 2.6 days after launch, our orbital elements already have converged to realistic values. Observation arc 2003 Dec 03.00 - 05.02 UTC: NOSS leader 0.0 0.0 0.0 4.9 v 1 71001U 03054A 03339.00205255 .00000000 00000-0 00000-0 0 01 2 71001 63.4270 297.1993 0128941 180.5173 179.5738 13.39690537 09 WRMS residuals = 0.021 deg Observation arc 2003 Dec 03.00 - 05.02 UTC: NOSS trailer 0.0 0.0 0.0 4.9 v 1 71002U 03054B 03339.00219229 .00000000 00000-0 00000-0 0 08 2 71002 63.4272 297.1978 0129963 180.0790 180.0235 13.39618999 01 WRMS residuals = 0.014 deg Observation arc 2003 Dec 02.78 - 05.02 UTC: NOSS 3-2 r 10.1 3.0 0.0 3.7 v 1 71003U 03054C 03339.00041299 .00000000 00000-0 00000-0 0 09 2 71003 63.6720 296.6708 0142423 182.6784 177.3496 13.40535834 00 WRMS residuals = 0.015 deg The initial difference in orbital period between the NOSS is 0.34 s, compared with 0.35 s of the 2001 NOSS. The initial orbits are several km higher than the final orbits will be; the 2001 orbits were several km lower than the final orbits. In 2001, the leader's first manoeuvre occurred about 9 d after launch, and the trailer first manoeuvred about 16 d after launch. The catalogue entries for the new launch have yet to appear at OIG, so I continue to use dummy SSN values, 71001, etc. My guess is that the payloads' initial manoeuvres may be to slightly lower their orbits, so in my tracking, I am allowing for at least a 1 to 2 minute early arrival. I am likely to be clouded-out tonight, but the following two or three nights look promising. Ted Molczan ----------------------------------------------------------------- To unsubscribe from SeeSat-L, send a message with 'unsubscribe' in the SUBJECT to SeeSat-L-request@satobs.org List archived at http://www.satobs.org/seesat/seesatindex.html
This archive was generated by hypermail 2b29 : Fri Dec 05 2003 - 06:40:56 EST