17 Feb
2017
17 Feb
'17
8:17 a.m.
As things de-orbit, they actually appear to "speed up". So yes, it will arrive earlier and earlier.
Reason is that "slowing down" due to drag only makes the orbit lower. And lower means the orbit is smaller, and smaller means it gets to the same point sooner. Hence, it appears "faster" in time, but only because it is lower...
Something like that... Bob
-----Original Message-----
A quick analysis, based on the doppler curve shown on the Dashboard and the Nova predictions using the latest TLEs, suggests that the spacecraft is presently approx 40-45 seconds ahead of the TLE predictions. Whether this is a”fixed offset” or whether this difference will change each day remains to be seen.