[jamsat-news:1391] AMSAT Special Bulletin

[Dan James <DanJ@marvin.com>]

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


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