"I work with a world wide network of amateur observers who would be more than interested (given the opportunity) in observing Pathfinder whilst in low Earth orbit and during the initial stage of the cruise from Earth to Mars (various members track various geostationary and even interplanetary vehicles at times).
"Basically I'm looking for EME J2000 state vectors which I can precess and deosculate into SGP/SGP4 mean element sets (SGP/SGP4 is the low Earth orbit propagation model used by US Space Command/NORAD and by NASA JSC for issuing element sets for the shuttle to amateur observers - this model is widely used in home tracking software)."
So, shown below are the J2000 Cartesian and classical elements for each "mark event" during the Mars Pathfinder launch ascent. Good luck observing!
Data courtesy of Dave Spencer, Mars Pathfinder Entry Trajectory and Navigation Team Member
|
Main Engine Cutoff | ||
|---|---|---|
|
Position and Velocity Elements | ||
|
Earth centered, Earth equator and equinox of J2000 | ||
|
X Distance |
-1463.51121000000 |
km |
|
Y Distance |
5556.37047000000 |
km |
|
Z Distance |
3017.59905000000 |
km |
|
X Velocity |
-6.16701700000000 |
km/sec |
|
Y Velocity |
-.678483999999999 |
km/sec |
|
Z Velocity |
0.463290000000000 |
km/sec |
|
Main Engine Cutoff | ||
|---|---|---|
|
Classical Orbital Elements | ||
|
Earth centered, Earth equator and equinox of J2000 | ||
|
Semi-major Axis |
4738.08826369957 |
km |
|
Eccentricity |
0.380270927270424 |
|
|
Inclination |
28.6886964977004 |
degree |
|
Node Angle |
-1.56457690274954 |
degree |
|
Arg of Periapsis |
-66.5257284426162 |
degree |
|
Mean Anomaly |
161.415248363027 |
degree |
|
Second Engine Cutoff-1 (SECO-1) | ||
|---|---|---|
|
Position and Velocity Elements | ||
|
Earth centered, Earth equator and equinox of J2000 | ||
|
X Distance |
-3435.09561000000 |
km |
|
Y Distance |
4928.88419000000 |
km |
|
Z Distance |
2642.65193000000 |
km |
|
X Velocity |
-6.63945700000000 |
km/sec |
|
Y Velocity |
-3.53021200000000 |
km/sec |
|
Z Velocity |
-2.04611500000000 |
km/sec |
|
Second Engine Cutoff-1 (SECO-1) | ||
|---|---|---|
|
Classical Orbital Elements | ||
|
Earth centered, Earth equator and equinox of J2000 | ||
|
Semi-major Axis |
6563.33634216284 |
km |
|
Eccentricity |
0.143960292246540E-06 |
|
|
Inclination |
28.7298637945968 |
degree |
|
Node Angle |
-1.76194313960540 |
degree |
|
Arg of Periapsis |
-115.334698592281 |
degree |
|
Mean Anomaly |
-121.557282632713 |
degree |
|
Second Engine Cutoff-2 (SECO-2) | ||
|---|---|---|
|
Position and Velocity Elements | ||
|
Earth centered, Earth equator and equinox of J2000 | ||
|
X Distance |
6551.47265000000 |
km |
|
Y Distance |
59.1673399999999 |
km |
|
Z Distance |
160.834760000000 |
km |
|
X Velocity |
-.178974000000000 |
km/sec |
|
Y Velocity |
7.43424500000001 |
km/sec |
|
Z Velocity |
4.07454800000000 |
km/sec |
|
Second Engine Cutoff-2 (SECO-2) | ||
|---|---|---|
|
Classical Orbital Elements | ||
|
Earth centered, Earth equator and equinox of J2000 | ||
|
Semi-major Axis |
8013.82047225981 |
km |
|
Eccentricity |
0.182203735140544 |
|
|
Inclination |
28.7623779038017 |
degree |
|
Node Angle |
-2.04585668297056 |
degree |
|
Arg of Periapsis |
3.44090646257341 |
degree |
|
Mean Anomaly |
-.351954105404022 |
degree |
|
Injection (TECO) | ||
|---|---|---|
|
Position and Velocity Elements | ||
|
Earth centered, Earth equator and equinox of J2000 | ||
|
X Distance |
6357.25309000000 |
km |
|
Y Distance |
1462.16719000000 |
km |
|
Z Distance |
926.754370000000 |
km |
|
X Velocity |
-2.27206100000000 |
km/sec |
|
Y Velocity |
9.84686400000000 |
km/sec |
|
Z Velocity |
5.36052900000000 |
km/sec |
|
Injection (TECO) | ||
|---|---|---|
|
Classical Orbital Elements | ||
|
Earth centered, Earth equator and equinox of J2000 | ||
|
Semi-major Axis |
-40410.5060808825 |
km |
|
Eccentricity |
1.16239852847423 |
|
|
Inclination |
28.7775241325488 |
degree |
|
Node Angle |
-2.03805966992218 |
degree |
|
Arg of Periapsis |
10.0240860383475 |
degree |
|
Mean Anomaly |
0.310766652935716 |
degree |
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