[Neocp_artsats] Four artsats currently on NEOCP

[Bill Gray]

Hi folks,

    First,  a reminder that a (usually up-to-date) list of 
identifications for NEOCP junk is at

https://www.projectpluto.com/sat_id2.htm#removed

    The four current bits of junk are as follows :

    CCNT4U2 has me quite baffled.  This has a geocentric inclination of 
80.5 degrees and an orbital period of about 2.9 days;  there's nothing 
in the list of known objects that would match.  Maybe a Vela fragment? 
(Though it's not a good match for any of them.  Best I've come up with, 
though.)

    X85009 = Spektr-RG.  This guy shouldn't have made it onto NEOCP. 
Neither should ZTs0352 = Euclid,  which was removed on New Years Day.  I 
thought there might be some sort of Y2025 problem going on,  but if it 
were that,  I think we'd be seeing still more trouble.  The surveys have 
gotten plenty of observations of junk since the year began,  and these 
were the only ones to slip past Sat_ID.

    I've submitted an ID for X85009,  and it'll probably come off NEOCP 
shortly.

    CCNY502 has a 1.8-day orbit.  Unusually,  we got follow-up from 
(T12) at Maunakea,  giving us a solid solution that gives a very 
ETBO-ish area/mass ratio of about 97 +/- 7 m^2/kg.  That's not a record, 
  but it's pretty darn light.  (It's possibly just more face-on to the 
sun than your average bit of trash.  I see variations in the area/mass 
ratio over time,  as junk precesses or moves around the sun.)

    MZ0102A is unusually well-determined,  in an 863-minute orbit.  This 
was reported by Xingming Observatory in China.  Catalina got follow-up 
about ten hours later,  which enabled them to dig out a precovery from 
five days earlier.

    Based on that,  I get an unusual area/mass ratio of 4.6 +/- 0.6 
m^2/kg.  "Normal hardware" usually tops out at about 0.1 m^2/kg.  ETBOs 
are rarely below about 20.  Maybe this is a small,  maneuvering object? 
(Or I may be being misled;  the (N88) and (N89) observations have some 
odd systematic trends going on.)

    The surveys would never report anything moving this fast (about 5.5 
degrees/day when Xingming found it);  the motion alone classifies it as 
junk.  If Xingming starts reporting such objects,  there will be a lot 
of junk on NEOCP.  If I had a contact there,  I'd urge them not to 
report anything moving this fast.

-- Bill