[Neocp_artsats] C1N7CE1 = 2020 XA1 = Spektr-RG
Bill Gray
pluto at projectpluto.com
Mon Dec 7 10:17:12 EST 2020
Spektr-RG is out at the Earth-Sun L2 point, and (as L2 artsats must)
maneuvers every two or three months to stay "balanced" at that point.
Usually, we catch some data on it a bit after the maneuvers and I update
the TLEs for it to match. I had done so five times this year.
It appears to have maneuvered a sixth time, on 24 November. I
actually should have known; (U71) and (T08) got it in the next few
days, a few arcminutes off prediction. (Though those observations
wouldn't have been enough to let me compute updated TLEs.) By last
night, it was a quarter degree off and the motion was different enough
for Sat_ID to fail to get it. Which led to several telescopes chasing
it, and it being designated as minor planet 2020 XA1 on MPEC 2020-X45.
As a result of the C1N7CE1 = 2020 XA1 observations, though, we now
have good data on the object, and I've updated the TLEs accordingly.
We should have no problems with it (until it moves again in a few months).
-- Bill
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