Aihnss.184
net.columbia
utzoo!decvax!ucbvax!mhtsa!ihnss!karn
Thu Nov 12 15:48:54 1981
Shuttle orbital parameters
I have derived a set of orbital elements for the Columbia based on
the sketchy information I previously put on the net, plus the actual
launch time, which was 15:10:02 UTC by my watch.

Epoch time:      Thu Nov 12 00:11:42 1981 UTC (actually a phony time,
               since the launch hadn't occurred yet)
                81316.00812500
Inclination:       38.0000 deg (from AW&ST)
RA of node:       159.7950 deg (from actual launch time, plus given
                               equator crossing data)
Eccentricity:    0.0000000      (assuming perfect circular orbit)
Arg of perigee:     0.0000 deg  (meaningless for circular orbit)
Mean anomaly:       0.0000 deg  (")
Mean motion:   16.12541993 rev/day (based on given period of 89.3 min)
Decay rate:              0 rev/day/day (hopefully insignificant for
                               short mission)
Semi major axis:   6618.02 km
Period:              89.30 min  (from AW&ST)
Apogee:             239.88 km   (calculated)
Perigee:            239.88 km   (")

While the Columbia is making several passes that are above my
horizon (Chicago), they are all during daylight which rules out
optical sighting.  It appears that the orbit is oriented such that
Columbia is crossing the equator going north (the ascending node) at
about the morning terminator, and crossing the equator going south at
about the evening terminator.  Except during midday, the shuttle passes our
longitude too far south to be above the horizon here (or in NJ).

Observers farther south (e.g., Texas, Fla) should be able to see it.
Anybody down there wanna give me your coordinates? I could try
running them through my program.

Phil

-----------------------------------------------------------------
gopher://quux.org/ conversion by John Goerzen <[email protected]>
of http://communication.ucsd.edu/A-News/


This Usenet Oldnews Archive
article may be copied and distributed freely, provided:

1. There is no money collected for the text(s) of the articles.

2. The following notice remains appended to each copy:

The Usenet Oldnews Archive: Compilation Copyright (C) 1981, 1996
Bruce Jones, Henry Spencer, David Wiseman.

You are viewing proxied material from gopher.quux.org. The copyright of proxied material belongs to its original authors. Any comments or complaints in relation to proxied material should be directed to the original authors of the content concerned. Please see the disclaimer for more details.