karn@allegra.UUCP (12/03/83)
Note that the epoch time is just before an ascending node; hence the orbit number is still 65, but changes to 66 just a few seconds after epoch. Phil Satellite: sts-9 Catalog number: 14523 Epoch time: 83336.69925498 Fri Dec 2 16:46:55.630 1983 UTC Element set: MH 12-2 Inclination: 57.0130 deg RA of node: 188.0470 deg Eccentricity: 0.0007644 Arg of perigee: 302.3730 deg Mean anomaly: 57.4320 deg Mean motion: 16.10618270 rev/day Decay rate: 0.0042755 rev/day^2 Epoch rev: 65 Semi major axis: 6622.921 km Anom period: 89.406660 min Apogee: 260.571 km Perigee: 250.446 km
karn@allegra.UUCP (12/04/83)
Satellite: sts-9 Catalog number: 14523 Epoch time: 83338.55976020 Sun Dec 4 13:26:03.281 1983 UTC Element set: MH 12-4 Inclination: 57.0140 deg RA of node: 179.1810 deg Eccentricity: 0.0004664 Arg of perigee: 287.5080 deg Mean anomaly: 72.4560 deg Mean motion: 16.12408909 rev/day Decay rate: 0.0046165 rev/day^2 Epoch rev: 95 Semi major axis: 6618.016 km Anom period: 89.307371 min Apogee: 256.642 km Perigee: 250.469 km
karn@allegra.UUCP (12/05/83)
Satellite: sts-9 Catalog number: 14523 Epoch time: 83339.61349018 Mon Dec 5 14:43:25.552 1983 UTC Element set: MH 12-5-83 Inclination: 57.0190 deg RA of node: 174.1650 deg Eccentricity: 0.0004531 Arg of perigee: 313.5410 deg Mean anomaly: 46.3590 deg Mean motion: 16.12125940 rev/day Decay rate: 0.0048117 rev/day^2 Epoch rev: 112 Semi major axis: 6618.790 km Anom period: 89.323046 min Apogee: 251.551 km Perigee: 245.553 km
karn@allegra.UUCP (12/07/83)
Satellite: sts-9 Catalog number: 14523 Epoch time: 83341.54513838 Wed Dec 7 13:04:59.956 1983 UTC Element set: MH 12-7-83 Inclination: 57.0140 deg RA of node: 164.9430 deg Eccentricity: 0.0005229 Arg of perigee: 326.0820 deg Mean anomaly: 97.8970 deg Mean motion: 16.13365400 rev/day Decay rate: 0.0051403 rev/day^2 Epoch rev: 143 Semi major axis: 6615.400 km Anom period: 89.254424 min Apogee: 245.399 km Perigee: 238.481 km Beacon: 145.5500 mhz This thing is coming down so fast that if they just waited for a few days, they wouldn't have to fire retrorockets! MH 12-7-83 AOS/LOS times for the last pass this morning showed a 45 second discrepancy with respect to MH 12-5-83, a set only two days old, and in fact I noticed this in my tracking of W5LFL. With each new set, the updated times show the orbiter to be running early with respect to each old set; this means that the drag factors must be consistently too small. Phil