Relay-Version: version B 2.10 5/3/83; site utzoo.UUCP Posting-Version: version B 2.10.2 9/5/84; site sol1.UUCP Path: utzoo!watmath!clyde!bonnie!akgua!sol1!s170 From: s170@sol1.UUCP (s170) Newsgroups: net.ham-radio,net.columbia Subject: Re: Challenger orbital elements Message-ID: <201@sol1.UUCP> Date: Sun, 30-Sep-84 20:42:00 EDT Article-I.D.: sol1.201 Posted: Sun Sep 30 20:42:00 1984 Date-Received: Mon, 1-Oct-84 05:07:05 EDT References: <164@mouton.UUCP> Organization: THE SOLUTION, Lincoln, NE Lines: 45 > Here is a predicted element set for orbit 23 of the upcoming Challenger > mission. Note, however, that it was based on an October 1 launch and needs > to have its RA (right ascension) of the ascending node adjusted for the > actual launch time, which I believe is currently scheduled for October 4. > > Epoch time: 84276.85138889 > Tue Oct 2 20:26:00.0 1984 UTC > Inclination: 57.2007 deg > RA of node: 68.7538 deg > Eccentricity: 0.0010544 > Arg of perigee: 346.2766 deg > Mean anomaly: 14.1415 deg > Mean motion: 15.97849766 rev/day > Decay rate: 0.046 rev/day^2 [incredibly high! -- prk] > Epoch rev: 23 > Semi major axis: 6658.131 km > Anom period: 90.121113 min > Apogee: 287.857 km > Perigee: 273.816 km > Ref perigee: 2466.84893045 > Tue Oct 2 20:22:27.590 1984 UTC > > The high inclination of this mission will make the orbiter visible at much > higher latitudes than most shuttle missions. It will also make it possible > for more amateurs to receive the 435 mhz transmissions of a Getaway Special > experiment that will be mounted in the cargo bay. Tracking the shuttle, > however, has always proven to be extremely difficult due to the unpredictable > drag effects of the low orbit and the constant perturbations of maneuvering > rockets. As we found with STS-9, predictions made from element sets which > were only a day old could be off by minutes. > > Phil Karn *** REPLACE THIS LINE WITH YOUR MESSAGE ***In reference to the orbital element state-vector, does someone have an easily transportable algorithm (or program, even) that will give longitude/ latitude predictions, visibility/altazimuth, etc? I know I'm asking a lot, but it sure would be neat. I know the ham elements out there must have some such thing, but I haven't subscribed to QST in some time, now. Anybody seen anything like it? I have a PC-compatible, Turbo Pascal, and even (choke, gag!) MS Basic. Thanx for listening (reading?). Russ Schnapp (...akgua!sol1!s170)