Re: [amsat-bb] AO-40 Orbital Stability

[Jon Ogden <na9d@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

on 12/24/00 6:17 PM, Stacey E. Mills, M.D. at w4sm@cstone.net wrote:

> 
> I'll take a shot at this one.  The orbit is incredibly stable.  It's not
> the eccentricity per se that creates instability.  It's the combination of
> eccentricity and high inclination, along with RAAN and ArgP that has the
> potential for instability due to solar/lunar forces.  The current low
> inclination orbit is highly stable.

Stacey,

Thanks for the explanation.  That's good to know.  It was also a good quick
lesson in orbital mechanics!  :-)

Good luck to you and the rest of the command team.  This has got to be hard
and I am sure that you guys all would love to get that bird to reset and
come back in operation on Christmas day.  It would be a great Christmas
present.  But I, at least, would rather have you enjoy the day with your
family than trying to get AO-40 back on line.  We can do that on Tuesday!

Have a great Holiday!  Thank you again.

73,

Jon
NA9D

-------------------------------------
Jon Ogden
NA9D (ex: KE9NA)

Member:  ARRL, AMSAT, DXCC, NRA

http://www.qsl.net/ke9na

"A life lived in fear is a life half lived."

----
Via the amsat-bb mailing list at AMSAT.ORG courtesy of AMSAT-NA.
To unsubscribe, send "unsubscribe amsat-bb" to Majordomo@amsat.org