STS-90 Nominal Orbital Data

["Kenneth J. Ernandes" <n2wwd@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

The nominal orbital data for STS-90 was posted on the AMSAT web page at:

        http://www.amsat.org/amsat/sarex/orbit.html

STS-90 is scheduled for launch on 16-APR-98 / 18:19 UTC.  Based on this 
launch date and time, the following Keplerian elements were computed from
a nominal NASA state vector:

STS-90      
1 99990U          98106.79323509  .00057478  13761-7  95196-4 0    12
2 99990  39.0116 358.0277 0021068   2.9536 200.1873 16.01509467    13

Satellite: STS-90      
Catalog number: 99990
Epoch time:      98106.79323509
Element set:       1
Inclination:       39.0116 deg
RA of node:       358.0277 deg
Eccentricity:    0.0021068
Arg of perigee:     2.9536 deg
Mean anomaly:     200.1873 deg
Mean motion:   16.01509467 rev/day
Decay rate:    5.74780e-04 rev/day^2
Epoch rev:               1
Checksum:              302

If the launch date or time changes, you can re-compute the Keplerian elements
by entering the new launch date/time into VEC2TLE and reading the nominal 
state vector:

Vector format = 10117
Satellite Name:         STS-90
Catalog Number:         99990            
Epoch MET:                  0.03004064800
                           0/00:43:15.512 MET
EFG E:                   8576405.78999998 ft
    F:                   19366030.3700000 ft
    G:                   -5403492.2142374 ft
    Edot:                -18698.014221237 ft/s
    Fdot:                4176.85649926960 ft/s
    Gdot:                -14685.206890849 ft/s
ndot/2 (drag):              0.00057478027 rev/day^2
nddt/6:                       1.37609E-08 rev/day^3
Bstar:                        9.51964E-05 1/Earth Radii
Elset #:                                1
Rev @ Epoch:                1.56427976132

(If you save this message as a text file, VEC2TLE version 9648 can 
automatically extract this state vector.)  VEC2TLE can be downloaded 
from the AMSAT web page at the above URL.  You can also download it
from my personal web page:

        http://www.mindspring.com/~n2wwd

As for all Space Shuttle flights, the AMSAT web page will have the 
current Keplerian and state vector data posted during the mission.
Since the AMSAT page is often busy during a mission, my personal web 
page provides a back-up data source.

Ken Ernandes
n2wwd@amsat.org
http://www.mindspring.com/~n2wwd