thomas@mvac23.UUCP (Thomas Lapp) (03/02/90)
Anyone have the shuttle elements for this flight yet? Since the inclination
is so steep this flight, I guessed it might pass higher than the 5 - 10 degree
above the horizon of most flights.
Thanks,
- tom
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The UUCP Mailerchowe@bbn.com (Carl Howe) (03/02/90)
>Anyone have the shuttle elements for this flight yet? Since the inclination >is so steep this flight, I guessed it might pass higher than the 5 - 10 degree >above the horizon of most flights. Here are the orbital parameters I've been using. Thanks to Aviation Week for the original parameters and T.J.Molczan of Toronto Canada for the parameter estimation algorithms. I'd appreciate if people would check and see if I've done anything stupid in generating these. Satellite STS-36 NORAD Number 90010 Int Des 1990 910A Epoch 90 59.32638900 2/28/90 at 0750:00 UTC Drag 0.00100000 Rev/Day^2 Element Set 1 Inclination 62.0000 Deg RAAN 157.2726 Deg Eccentricity 0.00000000 Argument of Perigee 0.0000 Deg Mean Anomaly 360.0000 Deg Mean Motion 16.25824000 Rev/Day Epoch Revolution 1 Semimajor Axis 6581.9 Km Period 88.57 Min Apogee 203.72 Km Perigee 203.72 Km I ran these elements through a satellite tracking program on my Mac to see if it is visible from Boston any time over the next 4.5 days. As it turns out it won't be visible. While the shuttle is passing over this area, it is either passing over in the earth's shadow (meaning it is completely dark and impossible to see), or it is passing over during daylight hours (when the sky completely obscures it). Ideally, one would like it to pass overhead sometime around dawn or dusk +/- 2 or 3 hours when it would be dark on the ground but illuminated in the sky, but that doesn't seem to be likely at this point unless Hope this is useful to someone else. Carl
chowe@bbn.com (Carl Howe) (03/02/90)
>Anyone have the shuttle elements for this flight yet? Since the inclination >is so steep this flight, I guessed it might pass higher than the 5 - 10 degree >above the horizon of most flights. Here are the orbital parameters I've been using. Thanks to Aviation Week for the original parameters and T.J.Molczan of Toronto Canada for the parameter estimation algorithms. I'd appreciate if people would check and see if I've done anything stupid in generating these. Satellite STS-36 NORAD Number 90010 Int Des 1990 910A Epoch 90 59.32638900 2/28/90 at 0750:00 UTC Drag 0.00100000 Rev/Day^2 Element Set 1 Inclination 62.0000 Deg RAAN 157.2726 Deg Eccentricity 0.00000000 Argument of Perigee 0.0000 Deg Mean Anomaly 360.0000 Deg Mean Motion 16.25824000 Rev/Day Epoch Revolution 1 Semimajor Axis 6581.9 Km Period 88.57 Min Apogee 203.72 Km Perigee 203.72 Km I ran these elements through a satellite tracking program on my Mac to see if it is visible from Boston any time over the next 4.5 days. As it turns out it won't be visible. While the shuttle is passing over this area, it is either passing over in the earth's shadow (meaning it is completely dark and impossible to see), or it is passing over during daylight hours (when the sky completely obscures it). Ideally, one would like it to pass overhead sometime around dawn or dusk +/- 2 or 3 hours when it would be dark on the ground but illuminated in the sky, but that doesn't seem to be likely at this point unless it stays up long enough for its orbit to precess farther. Hope this is useful to someone else. Carl Howe chowe@bbn.com