AMC-14 Orbit Change

[k1wy-bill]

It appears that AMC-14 orbit is being worked on. Below is the latest orbital
parameters for the satellite. Notice the change in perigee. A big increase over the last few weeks. Also notice the decrease of inclination. Looks like some major tweaking going on.


Name AMC-14
NORAD # 32708
COSPAR designator 2008-011-A
Epoch (UTC) 2008-05-08 06:26:15
Orbit # at Epoch 125
Inclination 46.389
RA of A. Node 157.615
Eccentricity 0.6958314
Argument of Perigee 7.839
Revs per day 2.23127661
Period 10h 45m 22s (645.37 min)
Semi-major axis 24 738 km
Perigee x Apogee 1,146 x 35,574 km
BStar (drag term) 0.000000000 1/ER
Mean anomaly 359.110
Propagation model SDP4
Element number / age 49 / 1 day(s)
StdMag (MaxMag) / RCS N/A
Diameters N/A
Satellite group Geostationary

 

[BigTimMN]

Could you provide the numbers as they used to be? I for one, wasnt following the numbers closely, and dont know where to find the historical ones to see the difference.

Thanks!

 

[nlk10010]

I'm far from knowledgeable on this topic, but shouldn't we be expecting an orbit change? After all, presumably, it had been decided to declare the sat a total loss; thus they need to park it somewhere (or, I suppose, burn it up).

 

[tigerfan33]

Oh no. How long before someone post that it is headed straight for earth??

 

[mdonnelly]

Oh no. How long before someone post that it is headed straight for earth??

If the perigee number is going higher, that shouldn't happen any time soon.

 

[flyingsquirrel]

The perigee was about 740 km as I recall, so this is a significant change. I do not think that you would up the Perigee if you were immediately planning on putting it in the drink.

Possible that someone is trying to save it. Can't really think of any other reason for the change.

 

[k1wy-bill]

Could you provide the numbers as they used to be? I for one, wasnt following the numbers closely, and dont know where to find the historical ones to see the difference.

Thanks!

Here is are the parameters a little less than a month ago.

NORAD # 32708
COSPAR designator 2008-011-A
Epoch (UTC) 2008-04-23 04:18:03
Orbit # at Epoch 91
Inclination 48.989
RA of A. Node 161.714
Eccentricity 0.7085880
Argument of Perigee 4.360
Revs per day 2.25663591
Period 10h 38m 07s (638.12 min)
Semi-major axis 24 552 km
Perigee x Apogee 777 x 35,572 km
BStar (drag term) 0.000000000 1/ER
Mean anomaly 359.681
Propagation model SDP4
Element number / age 32 / 1 day(s)
StdMag (MaxMag) / RCS N/A
Diameters N/A
Satellite group Geostationary

 

[k1wy-bill]

The perigee was about 740 km as I recall, so this is a significant change. I do not think that you would up the Perigee if you were immediately planning on putting it in the drink.

Possible that someone is trying to save it. Can't really think of any other reason for the change.

I agree, slowly raising the perigee and lowering the inclination are good things in the world of geo sats.

 

[k1wy-bill]

Anyone aware of hearing either of the beacon frequencies for AMC 14. Would be interesting to see if any activity is on either.

I am told they are :

11702 MHz (H)
12198 MHz (V)

 

[Sammy033]

Oh no. How long before someone post that it is headed straight for earth??

Duck!!!!

 

[Smith P.]

If someone would use same format as Sixto use at dbstalk, that would show changes in easy understandable format.

 

[Tom Bombadil]

Charlie is using his remote control to maneuver it into a collision course with one of D*'s new birds.

 

[Dah-Henny]

Friday's TLE highlights:

Inclination- 44.3 degrees
Perigee- 1489 km

Things, they are a changin'

 

[hendrix04]

now, i dont know much about this stuff, but could this change have anything to do with the sats highly elliptical orbit?

 

[Dah-Henny]

The orbit has had virtually no change since launch, until a couple of days ago when the perigee & inclination started changing. It appears to be manipulated from the ground. Having said that, it still does not necessarily mean that it's being "saved".

 

[TheKrell]

i dont know much about this stuff, but could this change have anything to do with the sats highly elliptical orbit?

No way. If the perigee were low enough to cause noticeable drag, what would occur (without on-board thrusters firing at all) would be the apogee would get lower. Instead the perigee is going up. Such a change must have been commanded from the ground.

 

[k1wy-bill]

No way. If the perigee were low enough to cause noticeable drag, what would occur (without on-board thrusters firing at all) would be the apogee would get lower. Instead the perigee is going up. Such a change must have been commanded from the ground.

I agree, the changes in the orbit and inclination are a result of onboard thrusters being fired. I am trying to listen for the the beacon frequencies and see if anything is active on them. I have a couple of amateur radio friends who are with Lockheed-Martin Space trying to see if they are doing the changes or if SES is. Would be interesting to know.

 

[mike123abc]

Makes you wonder if the whole "we will sell to the US military to keep it out of Dish's hands" was a negotiating ploy between SES and Dish. I wonder how much Dish would pay to have AMC-14 working even for 3-5 years. That would be long enough to at least build and launch a replacement.

 

[davisdog]

well dont get too excited...Latest TLE from today has it at 48deg, with perigee of 913

Catalog Number Common Name International Designator Comments
32708 AMC-14 2008-011A


Element Set Data
AMC-14
1 32708U 08011A 08131.07681888 -.00000072 00000-0 00000+0 0 528
2 32708 044.2962 156.7425 6842120 008.4778 358.9312 02.20787110 1297
SATCAT Data
Catalog Number Common Name International Designator Country (Key) Launch Date Launch Site (Key) Decay Date Period Incl. Apogee Perigee RCS Latest Data
32708 AMC-14 2008-011A US 2008-03-14 TTMTR 640.73 48.02 35569 913 8.3201 Last Elset


hmmm...on second look, the satcat listing shows it at 48, but the TLE has 44...(they are from the same space-track data...) hmmm....