For those who would like to Track AMC14

[RVD420]

AMC-14 is in an elliptical orbit. The orbit has an apogee and perigee. ( a high point and a low point)

Hi all, i'm bummed that AMC-14 ended up in the wrong spot but have read a lot about it being possibly saved.

As an amateur rocket/satellite enthusiast i have been trying to follow the progress of AMC-14. I have not seen any articles or press releases to say that SES-Americom has started the process of moving it, but i found a great website that tracks satellites, and it does appear to be moving. At least from what I can tell it clearly seems to be rising in altitude, but i suppose this could be related to some sort of elliptical orbit issue, rather then actually moving towards its target. The tracking appears to be in approximate real time.

So, can anyone with more brains then I take a look at this link and comment on what they think this data is trying to tell us?

Here is a link to AMC-14:

LIVE REAL TIME SATELLITE AND SPACE SHUTTLE TRACKING

And here below is a link to Echostar 3 (at 61.5) as reference toward where we would like it to be. (they both say 'live real time ...' but the links are different)

LIVE REAL TIME SATELLITE AND SPACE SHUTTLE TRACKING

 

[8bitbytes]

You guys crack me up! I can't believe so many of you haven't a clue what an elliptical orbit is. OK, listen up. The satellite is following the immutable laws of physics. It's doing exactly what it was doing when the Briz-M upper stage pooped out; it's following a highly elliptical orbit. This means that it whips around the earth at low altitude, but loiters over the earth at high altitude. It's not about to crash into the earth since it's perigee is something like 500 miles. (The perigee is the point of closest approach to the earth.) If the engineers do nothing, the satellite will keep orbiting like this for decades.

You can't look at the altitude at the same time every day and determine much, since this particular elliptical orbit is nowhere near geosynchronous. By that I mean it's period is not 24 hrs.

Now, if you went here it sure would be nice to see the ephemeredes of this satellite. That would tell us the apogee, perigee, period, and inclination of the orbit, and we could see when ground controllers fire their thrusters. But unfortunately, the link above shows all zeros for these numbers, making it entirely useless, at least for now.

Nobody said anything about crashing, geosynchronous orbits are not elliptical, and the extent of the ellipse is not known to everyone so the smarty-pants attitude is not necessary.

Thanks.

 

[8bitbytes]

I think the low point is around 475 miles. Also, it is not in the correct "plane." It needs to go around the equator. Right now, it is moving in more of a polar oriented orbit. They need to adjust for that, and that might well take up more fuel than circularizing the orbit will. Too many factors, and too little knowledge on my part, for me to know for sure.

Ah, shifting from polar to equitorial orbit will burn the most fuel. Makes sense. Thanks!

 

[nmoulton]

This link has been far from useless, it has given me many, many laughs as read the misinformed comments of those who don't understand anything about the physics of spaceflight. Some of the best were "it's coming down fast, it won't last 15 minutes, this is not good"

Priceless!

 

[TheKrell]

The extent of the ellipse is not known to everyone so the smarty-pants attitude is not necessary.

Sorry. But I worked very hard for this attitude. That was my "physics professor" demeanor popping out. Which is not the same as pooping out.

 

[saseenthar]

It does seems to be moving closer to the equator, because the latitude value is decreasing. We just need to see whether it remains constant after it reaches zero.

 

[mloebl]

This link has been far from useless, it has given me many, many laughs as read the misinformed comments of those who don't understand anything about the physics of spaceflight. Some of the best were "it's coming down fast, it won't last 15 minutes, this is not good"

Priceless!

I also think some people don't realize this isn't a "live" track of it either... We are seeing the latest keplerian elements that n2yo has at that time; it's just a file saying where it should be, not necessarily where it really is

-Mike

 

[mainstream]

Fire retro rockets now!

 

[bsexton]

Here is a link that describes how a satellite is put into geostationary orbit. It covers details of the low orbit, the transfer orbit, and the high orbit.

How Orbits Work

 

[jjcttx]

that makes sense. after reading the other posts i also gathered that opinion. oh well. the website is still pretty cool. and it is good to know that at the high point its not super far awy (at least in terms of altitude) to where it should be.

i find rockets and satellites fascinating, i wish they would post updates soon, but your're most likely right in that it will take a few weeks.

 

[dfergie]

Merged threads...

 

[flyingsquirrel]

I am a step below amateur rocket enthusiast, but as the Apogee (the "farther" away from the earth) number approaches Geostationary, shouldn't the perigee be dragged up naturally?

 

[8bitbytes]

Well, at least according to the "Live" realtime tracking page, it is at apogee now at 16,401 miles altitude and 1.17 miles per second, now it is headed back to perigee. Only 6,000 miles short of the right altitude.

 

[Weezknight]

For anyone keeping track. I watched it hit 16401 (miles) before beginning to come back "down" again.

ETA - I guess 8bit and I were posting at the same time.

 

[8bitbytes]

Sorry. But I worked very hard for this attitude. That was my "physics professor" demeanor popping out. Which is not the same as pooping out.

Yeah but you can't go wasting it like that. Save it for better effect.

 

[BoisePaul]

Additional tracking info for AMC-14 can be found here. If you take the time to set it up with your position, it will tell you when the bird might be overhead.

 

[digiblur]

LOL... I got a kick out of this thread imagining people freaking out then getting excited over a simulated orbit program....repeat...wash...rinse...repeat....

 

[Jim5506]

It is in a elliptical orbit.

The high point is about where the geostationary orbit should be, the low point is much less.

It accelerates as it comes nearer the earth and thusly is going very fast as it hits the low point then as it swings out to the high point it decelerates again.

If untouched, it will be there many years. The orbit is stable.

 

[Mojo]

This link has been far from useless, it has given me many, many laughs as read the misinformed comments of those who don't understand anything about the physics of spaceflight. Some of the best were "it's coming down fast, it won't last 15 minutes, this is not good"

Priceless!

Maybe all they have to do is redefine the phase variance of the hyperdrives...................maybe.


Trek Technobabble

 

[stucatz]

Well, at least according to the "Live" realtime tracking page, it is at apogee now at 16,401 miles altitude and 1.17 miles per second, now it is headed back to perigee. Only 6,000 miles short of the right altitude.

Actually the needed altitude is like around 35,791 miles