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(meteorobs) The decay of the GLONASS launch objects




Report time 13:00 UTC
There is as lot of excitement and confusion about the events
last night (UTC).
The European observations on Dec 01,22:30 UTC are very likely
related to the 2001-53 launch (URGAN/GLONASS). Normally the first
decayer of this mission type is the casing of the Proton DM -
stage (normally named "Platform" by SPACECOM).At this time I don't
see any "Platform" registration by SPACECOM, but the decay of the
of 3. Proton stage, generally the "number 2 on the runway".... I
think this case is clear. The "European" decayer was the casing.

2001-053D (#26990) Proton 3. stage.

SPACECOM'S FINAL REPORT - prepared Dec 02, 04:46 UTC - shows the
decay on 
   02 December, 04:16 +/- 07 minutes (27.0°N, 254.0°E)
on a northbound pass over Mexico.Many visual observations
from Texas shows a little bit later decay.
What can MPM + REENTRY say about this decay? In general I agree
with Alans conclusions but I see some small differences in detail.
   02 December, 04:22 +/- 02 minutes (40.82°N, 263.35°E)
on the same pass over Nebraska.
With some iterations I constructed the reentry trajectory under
the assumption that the visual observations confirm the decayers  below
100 km altitude.
 Time (UTC)       Latitude       Longitude(West) Altitude
 04:14            25.14° N       106.68          86.35
 04:15            28.75°         104.75          82.16
 04:17            32.28          102.68          76.25
 04:18            35.67          100.50          67.56
 04:19            38.68           98.34          53.85 
 04:20            40.50           96.92          34.10
 04:21            40.80           96.66          18.74
 04:22            40.82           96.65          10.00   

It would very important to see observations from Nebraska....

Harro

Harro.Zimmer@t-onlinedot de
Berlin, Germany
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