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I am sure the data is close. The satellite has been assigned a Norad number (32709) and it will be radar tracked to determine its orbital parameters. It seems correct to have it being in a very elliptical orbit and highly inclined relative to the equator. The object now is to make the orbit circular and with an inclination of less than 1.5 degrees.
 
My question is, are the Engineers actually doing anything with the satellite to place it in the correct orbit? I thought they were still debating what course of action to take.
 
I think the satellite is just floating around in orbit right now waiting for some sort of commands. Based on what we are seeing the climbing and falling is almost timed meaning that it is just moving based on the gravitational pull.
 
duckydan said:
I think the satellite is just floating around in orbit right now waiting for some sort of commands. Based on what we are seeing the climbing and falling is almost timed meaning that it is just moving based on the gravitational pull.
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That's what I think too. They probably are not doing anything with the satellite yet.
 
I doubt that the orbit will change for 2 weeks at least. They are going to calculate several possible ways to get it into position and have to figure in the moon and such (I do not think they will send around moon, but still have to calculate the moons gravity given its position). They will have to figure out when to start the process, it will be similar to a launch window on earth, they will only have certain periods of time to do the work based on optimum conditions.

I bet they check the figures many times before they start.
 
How can you say nothing is happening when it's altitude has changes thousands of miles since it had the anomaly? You can't climb 14,000 plus miles without some help.
 
8bitbytes said:
How can you say nothing is happening when it's altitude has changes thousands of miles since it had the anomaly? You can't climb 14,000 plus miles without some help.
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Apparently, you're unaware of the definition of an elliptical orbit. That's what AMC-14 is in. Monitor the website for a couple of hours, and you'll see what the high point and low point of the orbit is.
 
I do not have inside info, but I bet it will be on the order of weeks before it is moved. There will be a lot of complex computations, plus ideas on how to best get it into the position with minimum fuel. They will be looking at things like how to use the moon's gravity to help course adjustments, no use fighting them with extra fuel.

Plus, I bet they check the numbers many times before deciding to start.
 
8bitbytes said:
How can you say nothing is happening when it's altitude has changes thousands of miles since it had the anomaly? You can't climb 14,000 plus miles without some help.
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PLEASE read Navychop's post (#79) above. It's a very good explanation of an eliptical orbit. The satellite will continue in this orbit for a very long time with no "adjustments." This is the same type of orbit that the manned Appolo missions were in before their "trans-lunar insertion" burns. With the earth turning below the satellite as it orbits, the low point in the orbit (perigee) will be over a different place on the earth on every orbit. As someone else said, it will probably be (at least) weeks until the engineers try to move it into a more circular orbit. RELAX! ;)

Brad
 
carl033 said:
Apparently, you're unaware of the definition of an elliptical orbit. That's what AMC-14 is in. Monitor the website for a couple of hours, and you'll see what the high point and low point of the orbit is.
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Yes, I'm aware of what an elliptical orbit is. This is extreme if it varies from 100 miles to the Clarke belt. If it is going to vary all the way out to the Clarke Belt then it won't take much to bump it out of the ellipse at the proper altitude. Why then earlier was the talk that the sat would have to burn a lot of fuel to get it up the thousands of miles needed to reach 22,240 miles when it is nearly there now?
 
You guys crack me up! I can't believe so many of you haven't a clue what an elliptical orbit is. OK, listen up. The satellite is following the immutable laws of physics. It's doing exactly what it was doing when the Briz-M upper stage pooped out; it's following a highly elliptical orbit. This means that it whips around the earth at low altitude, but loiters over the earth at high altitude. It's not about to crash into the earth since it's perigee is something like 500 miles. (The perigee is the point of closest approach to the earth.) If the engineers do nothing, the satellite will keep orbiting like this for decades.

You can't look at the altitude at the same time every day and determine much, since this particular elliptical orbit is nowhere near geosynchronous. By that I mean it's period is not 24 hrs.

Now, if you went here it sure would be nice to see the ephemeredes of this satellite. That would tell us the apogee, perigee, period, and inclination of the orbit, and we could see when ground controllers fire their thrusters. But unfortunately, the link above shows all zeros for these numbers, making it entirely useless, at least for now.
 
I think the low point is around 475 miles. Also, it is not in the correct "plane." It needs to go around the equator. Right now, it is moving in more of a polar oriented orbit. They need to adjust for that, and that might well take up more fuel than circularizing the orbit will. Too many factors, and too little knowledge on my part, for me to know for sure.
 
gadgtfreek

Lost 61.5

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N

Something up with 5Max's launch?

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