satellite reentry today?

[usn_skwerl]

i read something on here a few days ago about a satellite reentering the atmosphere sometime today with a high inclination? does anyone have some info on this? from what i remember seeing, with the high inclination, it would be visible by many of us, according to the person who mentioned it...<br /><br />thanks <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> </div>

 

[MeteorWayne]

The reentry page has not been updated sunce the 29th of June; reentry was supposed to take place 01 JUL 2007 @ 04:27 UTC ± 12 hours.<br /><br />I did look during the two orbits before and saw nothing, just for fun<br /><br />This satellite was one in a Molniya orbit, with a perigee of 83 km, and apogee of 5736 km as of the 29th.<br /><br />The Molniya orbits are what the Russians use in place of geostationary satellites, which are inaccessable from their latitude.<br /><br />Very interesting.<br />For example, a typical overhead ISS pass in near circular LEO might be 6 minutes from horizon to horizon, while the Molniya was above the horizon (according to Heaven's above) for over an hour. Howerver the range to the satellite was from 3000 to 10000 km, so unless it was in it's death spiral it would be invisible to even minoculars.<br /><br />AHA, Heaven's-Above has updated the orbit as of Yesterday.<br />Orbit at that time was:<br />Orbit: 71 x 1,289 km, 62.0° (Epoch 01 Jul) <br /><br />So it may still be in orbit.<br /><br />Note perigee has dropped from 83 to 71 km (really getting down into the atmosphere now), and perigee from 5736 to 1289 km.<br /><br />So it certainly won't last much longer.<br /><br />Edits:<br /><br /> Reentry Page <br /><br /> Current orbit (Well as of 7/1) <br /><br />Latest obital elements have an orbital period of about 98 minutes.<br /><br />Epoch (UTC): 1:00:53 PM, Sunday, July 01, 2007 <br />Eccentricity: 0.0862131 <br />Inclination: 062.0262° <br />Perigee Height: 71 km <br />Apogee Height: 1,289 km <br />Right Ascension of Ascending Node: 125.4048° <br />Argument of Perigee: 260.6337° <br />Revolutions per Day: 14.64030781 <br />Mean Anomaly at Epoch: 095.0674° <br />Orbit Number at Epoch: 11301 <br /><br /><br />MW <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> <p><font color="#000080"><em><font color="#000000">But the Krell forgot one thing John. Monsters. Monsters from the Id.</font></em> </font></p><p><font color="#000080">I really, really, really, really miss the "first unread post" function</font><font color="#000080"> </font></p> </div>

 

[MeteorWayne]

The reenty page has now been updated with the latest orbit.<br /><br />Reentry Prediction: Predicted Reentry Time: 02 JUL 2007 @ 00:48 UTC ± 3 hours <br />Prediction Epoch: 01 JUL 2007 @ 13:00:53.409 UTC <br /> <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> <p><font color="#000080"><em><font color="#000000">But the Krell forgot one thing John. Monsters. Monsters from the Id.</font></em> </font></p><p><font color="#000080">I really, really, really, really miss the "first unread post" function</font><font color="#000080"> </font></p> </div>

 

[MeteorWayne]

By the way, usn_skwerl, there's lots of info on this as well as other reentries and satellite passes in an ongoing thread in Missions and Launches called "Observing Spaceraft"<br />To avoid duplication of efforts, I'm going to move the conversation over there.<br /><br />Wayne <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> <p><font color="#000080"><em><font color="#000000">But the Krell forgot one thing John. Monsters. Monsters from the Id.</font></em> </font></p><p><font color="#000080">I really, really, really, really miss the "first unread post" function</font><font color="#000080"> </font></p> </div>

 

[MeteorWayne]

Go back to the thread in M&L and note how much the eccentricity has decreased since 6/29. My 2PM post.<br /><br />We should really lock this thread and go back to the one in M&L.<br /><br />I should have suggested that with my first reply, my first instinct was to answer the question asked, rather than think about the long term implications of the duplicate thread spreading the information out in two places.<br /><br />MW <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> <p><font color="#000080"><em><font color="#000000">But the Krell forgot one thing John. Monsters. Monsters from the Id.</font></em> </font></p><p><font color="#000080">I really, really, really, really miss the "first unread post" function</font><font color="#000080"> </font></p> </div>