SB SAT @ AMSAT $ANS-353.01
AMSAT SPECIAL BULLETIN

AMSAT NEWS SERVICE BULLETIN 353.01 FROM AMSAT HQ
SILVER SPRING, MD, DECEMBER 18, 2000
TO ALL RADIO AMATEURS
BID: $ANS-353.01

AMSAT-DL and AMSAT-NA forwarded ANS the following AO-40
information:

NORAD has found AO-40 to be in one piece. 

The radar cross section was as expected with no other pieces found
nearby. This should end speculation of an explosion as NORAD found only
one object with a radar cross section that was consistent with a satellite
the
size of AO-40.

The command station team is continuing recovery operations.

AMSAT-NA's N2WWD provided ANS the following preliminary Keplerian
elements based on a single radar pass. More accurate orbital elements
should follow from NORAD in the near future -- following a second radar
pass that should provide time and geometric distribution of the tracking
data.

AO-40       
1 26609U 00072B  00352.42798611 .00000000 00000-0 00000-0 0 115
2 26609 6.3033 237.3129 8126708 194.7923 102.4478 1.27093349 581

Satellite:		AO-40       
Catalog number:		26609
Epoch time:			00352.42798611
Element set:		11
Inclination:			6.3033 deg
RA of node:		237.3129 deg
Eccentricity:			0.8126708
Arg of perigee:		194.7923 deg
Mean anomaly:		102.4478 deg
Mean motion:			1.27093349 rev/day
Decay rate:		0.00000e+00 rev/day^2
Epoch rev:			58
Checksum:		266

Stay tuned to ANS for additional bulletins from AMSAT, the
official source for information on AMSAT OSCAR-40.

[ANS thanks AMSAT-NA and AMSAT-DL for this information]

/EX