karn@allegra.UUCP (02/21/84)
I just made a phone call to Millstone Hill and received the following information regarding the UoSAT-B launch events, relative to T = 0: Event hh:mm:ss (relative to liftoff) 1st stage main engine cutoff: 00:03:47 Vernier engine cutoff: 00:03:53 Stage 1 separation: 00:03:55 Stage 2 ignition #1: 00:04:00 Stage 2 cutoff #1: 00:10:50 Stage 2 ignition #2: 00:54:04 Stage 2 cutoff #2: 00:54:17 Landsat separation: 00:59:10 Stage 2 maneuver start: 00:59:15 Stage 2 maneuver stop: 00:59:52 Uosat-B separation: 01:11:40 Stage 2 ignition #3: 01:30:53 distancing maneuver Stage 2 cutoff #3: 01:30:58 Stage 2 ignition #4: 01:36:43 depletion (deorbit?) burn Stage 2 cutoff #4: 01:37:05 I also got some numbers for preliminary orbital elements. These do not necessarily agree exactly with the numbers Harold gave, so I suspect either they were derived from a different source, or apply to different instants in the launch sequence. The only major apparent discrepancy is in RAAN, but we've seen this problem before - it probabably has only to do with a different convention in coordinate systems. Satellite: uosat-b Epoch time: 84061.79768519 (separation) Thu Mar 1 19:08:40.000 1984 UTC Element set: prelaunch Inclination: 98.2596 deg RA of node: 124.2426 deg Eccentricity: 0.0004100 Arg of perigee: 174.4207 deg Mean anomaly: 226.7604 deg Mean motion: 14.61025794 rev/day Decay rate: 0 rev/day^2 (none given) Epoch rev: 0 Semi major axis: 7065.080 km Anom period: 98.560888 min Apogee: 690.030 km (These I computed from other MH numbers, Perigee: 684.236 km and agree pretty closely with Harold's numbers) From this, I can see that the first pass visible over the eastern US will occur just after 00:00 UTC on 2 Mar. Phil