Astra 2E: General Discussion (Post-Testing)

[sonnetpete]

Upwards LOL....it's altitude is increasing but really slowly

 

[Huevos]

n2yo is showing it moving at 0.01km/s just now....it's been zero all through testing....

Altitude is still typical geostationary at the moment. If 10m/s is correct it would mean a 12 day transit period.

 

[Lazarus]

Altitude is still typical geostationary at the moment. If 10m/s is correct it would mean a 12 day transit period.

Thus missing by some distance that 28 Nov date that was mentioned (and subsequently debated) here

 

[gambit]

Altitude is still typical geostationary at the moment. If 10m/s is correct it would mean a 12 day transit period.

The speed has fluctuated over the whole of the testing period and n2yo has reported speeds within a range of about +-10m/s.

I believe, at the moment, that speed is the wrong way, to the East. Essentially, what n2yo is saying, is that the 2E is approximately stationary at about 43.5 east.

"satellite-calculations.com" has a similar report but the speed is measured as an angular speed in degrees per 10minute intervals. Currently it is showing that the latitude is increasing at 0.0044degrees in 10minutes. So, again, the speed is to the east. But these are estimates only - the satellite could actually have started the transfer by now.

Does Satesco have an update on 12298 V?

 

[Huevos]

Thus missing by some distance that 28 Nov date that was mentioned (and subsequently debated) here

I really don't know... Geo protected zone stretches 200km above and below geostationary. A satellite on maneuvers has to raise/lower its orbit by at least 50km to avoid endangering other synchronous satellites. 50km gives 0.6º per day... Or if they went all the way and raised the full 200km that would give about 2.5º per day.

Raising the orbit 100km uses the same amount fuel as one month's normal station-keeping (more or less) and then the same amount again to return it to geostationary.

 

[strs65]

I knew you'd be on the ball with reports if there was anything. I'll just have to keep hitting F5 on the n2yo site for 2E every morning as I've left it open in my browser as a tabbed page!

When is the next TLE update, are they every 48hrs during weekdays?

No need to hit F5 on N2yo, just get the latest TLE for Astra 2E from Celestrak and copy - paste it on the sat-tracker calculator. Go to the bottom of the page and hit the "generate 170 hours @ 1 hours listings" button, and you'll get a full list of the positions of 2E for the next 7 days.

(Astra 2E is last on this list)

http://celestrak.com/NORAD/elements/geo.txt

http://www.satellite-calculations.com/TLETracker/SatTracker.htm

Now based on the most recent TLE, 2E doesn't seem to move at all, just drifting around 43.5E.

 

[timo_w2s]

Probably still finishing off the Ka band tests then? Shame we haven't got anyone who could check.

 

[Llew]

Nothing on Ka Band here, or on its TT&C frequency (18.8GHz) if that can show up on a scan, but of course I'm not geographically advantaged here whilst it's at 43.5E.
Will check if they're transmitting as it moves towards 28.2E, although if it's using the ME beam, I don't suppose I'll be able to track it.

 

[Schroeder]

Currently shows as stationary. Until there is the next TLE update we won't be sure it's moving or not.

 

[M60]

No need to hit F5 on N2yo, just get the latest TLE for Astra 2E from Celestrak and copy - paste it on the sat-tracker calculator. Go to the bottom of the page and hit the "generate 170 hours @ 1 hours listings" button, and you'll get a full list of the positions of 2E for the next 7 days.

(Astra 2E is last on this list)

http://celestrak.com/NORAD/elements/geo.txt

http://www.satellite-calculations.com/TLETracker/SatTracker.htm

Now based on the most recent TLE, 2E doesn't seem to move at all, just drifting around 43.5E.

Cheers for those links, I'll take a look shortly.

 

[C0re]

We can't say for sure whether it is moving or not. Did SES announce the move of the 2F last year? I can't remember.

 

[strs65]

Cheers for those links, I'll take a look shortly.

If you want an easier way to track 2E, or other satellites, you may download Orbitron (rather old program, but works ok), it will prompt you to download the latest TLE, and then you select 2E from the geo list and track her...

http://www.stoff.pl/




I'm pretty sure there are other, even better programs, for this task...

 

[Lazarus]

We can't say for sure whether it is moving or not. Did SES announce the move of the 2F last year? I can't remember.

I do recall SES were not only lax but, when they did release info, it was either already overtaken by other events or inaccurate, or both.

Also we had a (Former) Member in Tenerife who claimed close association with SES PR Dept. which resulted in much nonsense being Posted. Fortunately we have been free of that this year.

 

[timo_w2s]

Nothing on Ka Band here, or on its beacon frequency (18000GHz) but of course I'm not geographically advantaged here whilst it's at 43.5E.

Yes, I think you may be a bit too far west at the moment. When she gets to 28.2E I would assume you'll be able pick something up. Right now the best bet would probably be for someone in Poland/Southern Sweden/Czech Republic to check.

 

[gambit]

Surely any so called tracking software, that depends on TLE, is only going to predict the current position based on the data received from the last TLE update (Monday?). The satellite was still in position at 43.5 then, so the tracking programs are telling us that it is still in position. This has essentially been the case for the last five weeks.

n2yo is showing the speed is now zero when, in fact, the satellite may already be heading west.

 

[Huevos]

Or east...

 

[strs65]

...or nowhere

Surely any so called tracking software, that depends on TLE, is only going to predict the current position based on the data received from the last TLE update (Monday?). The satellite was still in position at 43.5 then, so the tracking programs are telling us that it is still in position. .

That's all we have, the TLE updates (according to Celestrak, they are quite fresh: Data Updated: 2013 November 20). Well, the beacons too, but that's disputable since they are not always easy to identify and follow...

 

[e3204matic]

Live real time satellite tracking altitude is increasing now at 35791.97 km 22249.1mi

 

[cazhh]

...or nowhere



That's all we have, the TLE updates (according to Celestrak, they are quite fresh: Data Updated: 2013 November 20). Well, the beacons too, but that's disputable since they are not always easy to identify and follow...

I still see the 13322 record. Do you see a newer one ?

 

[Schroeder]

The current TLE is still the one from 18-Nov (13322 record as mentioned above); it will hopefully update and show 2E on the move later nearer 23:30 UTC