Rich, Orbital dynamics are not all that intuitive. Hand waving answer: By kicking it off the tailgate, it was deployed into a _slightly_ lower orbit. You can see that showing up in your tracking programs as well. However, objects in lower orbits have shorter periods. At 370 km the ISS is about 90 minutes, while satellites at 36,000 km take a day, and are geosynchronous. In fact, as the nominal altitude of the ISS, a single kilometer change of height results in a 19 second difference per day in the AOS. That has been adding up.
73s, Alan WA4SCA -----Original Message----- From: amsat-bb-boun...@amsat.org [mailto:amsat-bb-boun...@amsat.org] On Behalf Of Rich Dailey Sent: Monday, August 08, 2011 7:44 AM To: amsat-bb@amsat.org Subject: [amsat-bb] ARISSat deployment direction? I've seen several comments and reports stating the deployment was against the ISS velocity vector. Why do I see arissat out ahead of ISS by a few hundred miles? Keps are current, and 3 tracking programs are in agreement. Can someone provide enlightenment? tnx...:-) Rich, N8UX. _______________________________________________ Sent via AMSAT-BB@amsat.org. Opinions expressed are those of the author. Not an AMSAT-NA member? Join now to support the amateur satellite program! Subscription settings: http://amsat.org/mailman/listinfo/amsat-bb _______________________________________________ Sent via AMSAT-BB@amsat.org. Opinions expressed are those of the author. Not an AMSAT-NA member? Join now to support the amateur satellite program! Subscription settings: http://amsat.org/mailman/listinfo/amsat-bb
