27 Dec
2011
27 Dec
'11
2:05 p.m.
Farrell, An often used rule-of-thumb in astrodynamics for "decay" height is about 140 kilometers which is about 87 miles. A satellite that gets that far into the atmosophere will burn up during it's final orbit in short order! I would recommend you just keep trying until you are sure the satellite is no longer in orbit. I will post an updated decay prediction on AMSAT-BB this afternoon for operator planning purposes. Jim, N8OQ