Any more news on the cargo ship problem?

On Thu, 07 May 2015, JF Mezei wrote to All:

JM Out of curiosity, how often are the TLEs updates for the real
JM people followowing this ? Is it only when SV passes over USA and
JM radar can track it ? ( in which case it has ceased to pass over
JM USA so no more updates).

the tracking radars are all over the world...

there are also groups of folks that track visually using binoculars and telescopes along with cameras which photos are analysed and tracks determined...

JM Or do they take older TLEs and use math to adjust orbit based on
JM assumed drag/loss of energy ?

yes, this is also done at times...

JM One tracking site shows an orbit of 150 to 164 km but its live
JM tracking now shows it as low as 138km. Just wondering if this
JM altitude is derived from old TLEs (150 rto 164) of if they
JM obtained newer TLE since then.

tracking sites use TLEs that are issued by several groups... when they update those TLEs is anyone's guess...

you might check out https://space-track.org/ for TLEs... you need to register (free) so you can query their TLE database... TLEs can be downloaded and used in numerous tracking programs run on your own machine...

yes, i track and have ~16500 TLEs for currently tracked objects

)\/(ark

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