Xref: utzoo rec.ham-radio:7168 sci.space.shuttle:2128 Path: utzoo!utgpu!watmath!clyde!att!osu-cis!tut.cis.ohio-state.edu!rutgers!bellcore!ka9q.bellcore.com!karn From: karn@ka9q.bellcore.com (Phil Karn) Newsgroups: rec.ham-radio,sci.space.shuttle Subject: Re: Predictions for viewing ATLANTIS Keywords: STS-27 WILL be visible over our area! Message-ID: <12337@bellcore.bellcore.com> Date: 4 Dec 88 20:21:57 GMT References: <699@ka2qhd.UUCP> Sender: news@bellcore.bellcore.com Reply-To: karn@ka9q.bellcore.com.UUCP (Phil Karn) Organization: Home for Burned-out Hackers Lines: 21 The estimates I've seen for the altitude of Atlantis's orbit (and that of its payload) range from 340 km (just above a standard shuttle orbit) up to 458 km (the eleset posted by Rich, snowdog@athena.mit.edu). I think the higher altitude is more likely, considering that the lifetime of a payload in the lower orbit would be measured in weeks or months. (Rich also reports fairly consistent sightings based on his elements, so that tends to confirm the 458 km figure ). Even at this altitude, an orbit isn't particularly long-lived. With the currently increasing levels of solar activity, I wouldn't expect an unboosted payload in this orbit to last more than a couple of years at the most. Given the reported cost of this spacecraft, I suspect that it has some sort of onboard boost system. It's also quite likely that we'll be seeing some return visits by future shuttle missions for refueling. It should be fairly easy to tell when this happens, since any future launch would have to match the satellite's orbital plane. Phil