Re: [amsat-bb] Predicting Final Orbit

[John Magliacane <magliaco@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

On Mon, 24 Apr 2000, Matt Donohoe wrote:

> Is there any program around that can predict using 'current' keps when a
> satellite will decay into earth's orbit?

A "ball park" satellite re-entrance data formula is as follows:

Decay Date = Reference Epoch + (16.666666 - Mean Motion) / (Decay Rate * 10)

This equation was included as part of the news bulletins carried on the
UoSAT-OSCAR-9 satellite prior to its decay.  It is fairly accurate the
closer one gets to the actual re-entrance date.


73, de John, KD2BD

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