"Pseudo-MPEC" for MSL
Created Tue May 7 21:00:31 2013 using Find_Orb
You can get ephemerides for this object from the Minor Planet Center's Distant Artificial Satellites Observation Page, or from the Jet Propulsion Laboratory's Horizons system, customized for your observing location and desired time span. The geocentric ephemerides given below are just to give a broad idea of what's going on.
The orbital elements for the Mars flyby were quite uncertain, based on extrapolating a pretty short arc of data, and are given to provide a still rougher idea of what's going on. (They indicate a clean miss by over 45000 km, which we know was not the case. Not only is the orbit computed on the basis of this astrometry a little shaky; MSL probably did at least some navigational maneuvering, and would also have been affected by solar radiation pressure.)
You can click here for data on the Centaur stage accompanying MSL to Mars.
Astrometry:
MSL C2011 11 27.01632 08 04 05.54 -04 45 53.3 14.5 V D0394C47
MSL C2011 11 27.02019 08 04 08.44 -04 42 45.7 14.7 V D0394C47
MSL C2011 11 27.02465 08 04 11.56 -04 39 13.1 14.5 V D0394C47
MSL C2011 11 27.03067 08 04 15.39 -04 34 32.1 14.8 V D0394C47
MSL C2011 11 27.03512 08 04 18.01 -04 31 08.3 14.6 V D0394C47
MSL C2011 11 27.03844 08 04 19.83 -04 28 39.2 14.8 V D0394C47
MSL C2011 11 27.04203 08 04 21.72 -04 26 00.8 14.9 V D0394C47
MSL C2011 11 27.04550 08 04 23.46 -04 23 28.9 14.9 V D0394C47
MSL C2011 11 27.04882 08 04 24.98 -04 21 05.3 15.1 V D0394C47
MSL C2011 11 27.05244 08 04 26.57 -04 18 31.5 15.0 V D0394C47
MSL C2011 11 27.06351 08 04 30.89 -04 10 54.2 14.8 V D0394C47
MSL C2011 11 27.06642 08 04 31.88 -04 08 57.3 15.0 V D0394C47
MSL C2011 11 27.06961 08 04 32.94 -04 06 49.7 15.0 V D0394C47
MSL C2011 11 27.07376 08 04 34.25 -04 04 05.9 14.9 V D0394C47
MSL C2011 11 27.07695 08 04 35.20 -04 02 02.8 15.0 V D0394C47
MSL C2011 11 27.08041 08 04 36.21 -03 59 51.6 15.0 V D0394C47
MSL C2011 11 27.08388 08 04 37.12 -03 57 39.9 15.0 V D0394C47
MSL C2011 11 27.08762 08 04 38.11 -03 55 19.6 15.0 V D0394C47
MSL C2011 11 27.09665 08 04 40.24 -03 49 50.5 14.9 V D0394C47
MSL C2011 11 27.10102 08 04 41.21 -03 47 14.4 15.1 V D0394C47
MSL C2011 11 27.10442 08 04 41.99 -03 45 15.0 15.0 V D0394C47
MSL C2011 11 27.10789 08 04 42.69 -03 43 14.8 15.1 V D0394C47
MSL C2011 11 27.11144 08 04 43.44 -03 41 12.9 15.0 V D0394C47
MSL C2011 11 27.11483 08 04 44.13 -03 39 18.2 15.2 V D0394C47
MSL C2011 11 27.11822 08 04 44.84 -03 37 24.6 15.0 V D0394C47
MSL C2011 11 27.12186 08 04 45.54 -03 35 24.1 14.9 V D0394C47
MSL C2011 11 27.12525 08 04 46.23 -03 33 32.2 15.1 V D0394C47
MSL KC2011 11 28.14659 08 18 19.37 -00 18 45.7 17.0 R D0393J95
MSL KC2011 11 28.15502 08 18 15.97 -00 18 10.0 16.8 R D0393J95
MSL KC2011 11 28.16122 08 18 13.46 -00 17 43.9 16.9 R D0393J95
MSL KC2011 11 28.16741 08 18 10.98 -00 17 18.0 17.0 R D0393J95
MSL KC2011 11 28.17241 08 18 08.99 -00 16 57.2 16.9 R D0393J95
MSL KC2011 11 30.05703 08 22 44.72 +00 45 51.1 18.0 R D0395J95
MSL KC2011 11 30.07315 08 22 41.32 +00 46 07.2 18.2 R D0395J95
MSL C2011 11 30.42683 08 22 47.38 +00 56 06.3 19.1 V D0395703
MSL C2011 11 30.43431 08 22 44.83 +00 56 11.2 18.7 V D0395703
MSL C2011 11 30.44186 08 22 42.13 +00 56 16.5 18.4 V D0395703
MSL C2011 11 30.44942 08 22 39.50 +00 56 22.8 18.9 V D0395703
Station data:
(703) Catalina Sky Survey (N32.41712 W110.73264). Observers R. A. Kowalski,
E. J. Christensen, A. R. Gibbs, A.Odell. Measurers E. C. Beshore, E. J.
Christensen, G. J. Garradd, A. D. Grauer, R. E. Hill, R. A. Kowalski, S. M.
Larson, R. H. McNaught, A. R. Gibbs, J. D. Ahern, A. Boattini. 0.68-m
Schmidt + CCD.
(C47) Nonndorf (N48.7869 E15.2356).
(J95) Great Shefford (N51.47502 W1.44700). Observer P. Birtwhistle. 0.40-m
f/6.0 Schmidt-Cassegrain + CCD.
Orbital elements: MSL (near launch)
Perigee 2011 Nov 26.652018 +/- 8.35e-5 TT = 15:38:54 (JD 2455892.152018)
Epoch 2011 Nov 27.0 TT = JDT 2455892.5 Find_Orb
q 6572.8410 +/- 5.54
H 27.5 G 0.15 Peri. 214.7588 +/- 0.020
Node 124.1956 +/- 0.0019
e 1.176823 +/- 0.000244 Incl. 34.9304 +/- 0.0035
From 38 observations 2011 Nov. 27-30; mean residual 0".375.
Orbital elements: MSL (interplanetary)
Perihelion 2011 Nov 17.514354 +/- 0.000712 TT = 12:20:40 (JD 2455883.014354)
Epoch 2011 Dec 30.0 TT = JDT 2455925.5 Earth MOID: 0.0000 Ma: 0.0000
M 29.5949 +/- 0.0028 Find_Orb
n 0.6965878 +/- 7.78e-5 Peri. 170.7088 +/- 0.0013
a 1.2603334 +/- 9.38e-5 Node 243.0424 +/- 0.00031
e 0.218699 +/- 5.92e-5 Incl. 1.6684 +/- 0.00041
P 1.41/516.80d H 27.5 G 0.15 U 6.4
q 0.9846985 +/- 1.3e-6 Q 1.5359683 +/- 0.000189
From 38 observations 2011 Nov. 27-30; mean residual 0".375.
Orbital elements: MSL (near Mars)
Perimars 2012 Aug 6.844615 +/- 0.196 TT = 20:16:14 (JD 2456146.344615)
Epoch 2012 Aug 6.5 TT = JDT 2456146.0 Find_Orb
q 45750.078 +/- 29040
H 27.5 G 0.15 Peri. 70.9638 +/- 0.28
Node 7.2306 +/- 0.7
e 14.394288 +/- 7.98 Incl. 81.7522 +/- 1.4
From 38 observations 2011 Nov. 27-30; mean residual 0".375.
Residuals in arcseconds:
111127 C47 .150- .361- 111127 C47 .081- .691+ 111127 C47 .368- 1.18+
111127 C47 .111+ .438- 111127 C47 .059- .183+ 111128 J95 .146+ .106-
111127 C47 .278+ .388- 111127 C47 .373+ 1.06- 111128 J95 .267+ .202-
111127 C47 .127- .132- 111127 C47 .053- .526- 111128 J95 .094+ .219-
111127 C47 .096- .534+ 111127 C47 .314+ .235+ 111128 J95 .099+ .217-
111127 C47 .281- .442+ 111127 C47 .213- .023+ 111128 J95 .084+ .208-
111127 C47 .011- .269- 111127 C47 .362- .492+ 111130 J95 .727- .499+
111127 C47 .484+ .023- 111127 C47 .257+ .443+ 111130 J95 .165- .181+
111127 C47 .123+ .403+ 111127 C47 .288- .182+ 111130 703 .364+ .803+
111127 C47 .123+ .192+ 111127 C47 .124- .329+ 111130 703 .776+ .105-
111127 C47 .153+ .385- 111127 C47 .208- .141+ 111130 703 .423- .615-
111127 C47 .197- .687- 111127 C47 .106+ .174+ 111130 703 .345- .080-
111127 C47 .185- .106- 111127 C47 .436- .178+
Ephemerides:
Date (UT) HH RA Dec delta r elong mag rvel
---- -- -- -- ------------ ------------ ------ ------ ----- --- ------
2011 11 30 00 08 22 09.857 +01 00 54.43 .00707 .98971 118.0 18.9 3.391
2011 11 30 03 08 22 16.999 +01 02 25.44 .00731 .98981 118.1 19.0 3.388
2011 11 30 06 08 22 23.610 +01 03 51.19 .00755 .98992 118.2 19.0 3.384
2011 11 30 09 08 22 29.740 +01 05 12.20 .00780 0.9900 118.4 19.1 3.381
2011 11 30 12 08 22 35.432 +01 06 28.90 .00804 0.9901 118.5 19.2 3.378
2011 11 30 15 08 22 40.722 +01 07 41.70 .00829 0.9902 118.6 19.2 3.376
2011 11 30 18 08 22 45.645 +01 08 50.94 .00853 0.9904 118.7 19.3 3.373
2011 11 30 21 08 22 50.229 +01 09 56.94 .00877 0.9905 118.8 19.3 3.371
2011 12 01 00 08 22 54.502 +01 10 59.96 .00902 0.9906 118.9 19.4 3.368
2011 12 01 03 08 22 58.486 +01 12 00.26 .00926 0.9907 119.0 19.5 3.366
2011 12 01 06 08 23 02.203 +01 12 58.05 .00950 0.9908 119.1 19.5 3.364
2011 12 01 09 08 23 05.672 +01 13 53.54 .00975 0.9909 119.2 19.6 3.362
2011 12 01 12 08 23 08.909 +01 14 46.90 .00999 0.9910 119.3 19.6 3.361
2011 12 01 15 08 23 11.929 +01 15 38.29 .01023 0.9912 119.5 19.7 3.359
2011 12 01 18 08 23 14.748 +01 16 27.87 .01047 0.9913 119.6 19.7 3.357
2011 12 01 21 08 23 17.376 +01 17 15.77 .01072 0.9914 119.7 19.8 3.355
2011 12 02 00 08 23 19.826 +01 18 02.10 .01096 0.9915 119.8 19.8 3.354
2011 12 02 03 08 23 22.108 +01 18 46.98 .01120 0.9916 119.9 19.8 3.353
2011 12 02 06 08 23 24.232 +01 19 30.51 .01144 0.9918 120.0 19.9 3.351
2011 12 02 09 08 23 26.206 +01 20 12.79 .01168 0.9919 120.1 19.9 3.350
2011 12 02 12 08 23 28.038 +01 20 53.89 .01193 0.9920 120.3 20.0 3.349
2011 12 02 15 08 23 29.736 +01 21 33.91 .01217 0.9921 120.4 20.0 3.347
2011 12 02 18 08 23 31.306 +01 22 12.90 .01241 0.9923 120.5 20.0 3.346
2011 12 02 21 08 23 32.755 +01 22 50.95 .01265 0.9924 120.6 20.1 3.345
2011 12 03 00 08 23 34.087 +01 23 28.11 .01289 0.9925 120.7 20.1 3.344
2011 12 03 03 08 23 35.309 +01 24 04.44 .01313 0.9926 120.8 20.2 3.343
2011 12 03 06 08 23 36.425 +01 24 39.99 .01337 0.9928 121.0 20.2 3.342
2011 12 03 09 08 23 37.440 +01 25 14.81 .01362 0.9929 121.1 20.2 3.341
2011 12 03 12 08 23 38.358 +01 25 48.96 .01386 0.9930 121.2 20.3 3.340
2011 12 03 15 08 23 39.183 +01 26 22.47 .01410 0.9932 121.3 20.3 3.339
2011 12 03 18 08 23 39.917 +01 26 55.38 .01434 0.9933 121.4 20.3 3.338
2011 12 03 21 08 23 40.566 +01 27 27.74 .01458 0.9934 121.6 20.4 3.337
2011 12 04 00 08 23 41.131 +01 27 59.57 .01482 0.9936 121.7 20.4 3.336
2011 12 04 03 08 23 41.616 +01 28 30.92 .01506 0.9937 121.8 20.4 3.335
2011 12 04 06 08 23 42.024 +01 29 01.81 .01530 0.9938 121.9 20.5 3.335
2011 12 04 09 08 23 42.356 +01 29 32.27 .01554 0.9940 122.0 20.5 3.334
2011 12 04 12 08 23 42.615 +01 30 02.33 .01578 0.9941 122.2 20.5 3.333
2011 12 04 15 08 23 42.804 +01 30 32.02 .01602 0.9943 122.3 20.6 3.332
2011 12 04 18 08 23 42.924 +01 31 01.36 .01626 0.9944 122.4 20.6 3.332
2011 12 04 21 08 23 42.978 +01 31 30.37 .01650 0.9945 122.5 20.6 3.331