On Mon, 07 Feb 2005 15:37:55 GMT, Chris L Peterson
wrote:

On Mon, 07 Feb 2005 15:03:27 GMT, "Florian"
wrote:

My planetarium programs can still automatically download TLEs.


Hi Chris,

How does your program handle this? I use Orbitron and i don't think
it yet has the ability to logon to the space-track site using my
name and password.

-Florian

The latest version of TheSky gets its satellite elements from
Space-Track. The dialog that lets you select the element set (or
complete catalogs) of interest has boxes for username and password.
Obviously, there is no issue of redistribution here since Space-Track is
the direct source of the data.


Chris.
Lets be perfectly clear here. There most certainly is an issue with
redistribution. A user who redistributes (transfers) the data to an
unauthorized end user could be charged under any number of US codes that
carry a large fine and/or jail time.

The new version of TheSky is not redistributing the data. It is just
retrieving the data in a semi-automated fashion, using your user name and
password. Without login info (which the user must supply) the latest
version of TheSky would not be able to obtain the TLE data.

Previous versions of TheSky used celestrak.com to get it's TLE data, and
those previous versions will continue to work as long as celestrak
continues offer the TLEs. NASA had authority under the old system to grant
redistribution permission, and I would assume that celsetrak.com sought and
was granted that permission. However once the NASA-OIG site is shut down
celestrak.com had better have written permission from the Secretary of
Defense to continue providing those TLEs to the public, or they will find
themselves in a bit of hot water. I work for a major defense contractor
and I can tell you the Aerospace Corp (who runs the Space-Track website
for the gov) is a stickler for the rules. I would suspect that is why
TheSky switched to direct retrieval from Space-Track.

-JATO
http://jatobservatory.org