Re: [amsat-bb] Nasa keeps shuttle launch time secret

[Phil Karn <karn@xxxxxxxx>]

>Funny, NASA is keeping the shuttle launch time confidential until just 
>before launch, but anyone who knows the day of the launch and has a copy of 
>InstantTrack can estimate the launch time to within about 10 minutes using 
>RAAN and a fresh of ISS keps.

You can do even better than that. According to the discussion on
sci.space.shuttle a few days ago, the launch time for a shuttle to
rendezvous with an object in orbit is always 2-4 minutes before the
coplanar time (i.e., the time the launch site passes through the
orbital plane of the target).

For the launch opportunity originally scheduled for today (thursday),
the ISS element set current as of a few days ago predicted that Launch
Complex 39 would pass through the ISS orbital plane at 22:16 UTC, plus
or minus a few seconds. That yielded a predicted launch time between
22:12 and 22:14 UTC.

And guess what? Yesterday's announcement of today's launch time (before
the scrub) was for 22:13 UTC. Is that close enough for you?

Phil

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