It appears that AMSAT IT updated TLE file processing scripts and the changes inadvertently omitted AO-07 from some files starting at approximately 27 JAN 2023 0700 UTC. The files have been restored to their intended state, and an investigation has been launched to understand how the defect was introduced into the processing scripts and how to avoid this kind of problem in the future.
As always, please report errors of this kind to [email protected] for fastest attention.
Joe Fitzgerald (KM1P)
AMSAT IT Team
AMSAT IT, in conjunction with the New England Sci-Tech STEM Education Center assembled a tiger team of software experts from the Olin College of Engineering, Boston Latin School and the Wilson Middle School to investigate the recent disappearance of AO-7 from www.amsat.org/tle/current/dailytle.txt and the legacy naasbare.txt files.
The team determined that AMSAT's processing is not robust in the face of minor format differences in the source data received from the USSF's 18th Space Defense Squadron. Specifically, the TLE data provided does not always include the leading zero in AO-7's object number "07530". The official report from the team's leader : "My grandma would say that AMSAT's software is just a little too persnickety". A member of the tiger team agreed to adjust the update script to account for the vagaries of the 18th SDS data. A production quality fix is expected by March 1st, meanwhile manual monitoring and updates will keep AO-7 in the files.
Joe Fitzgerald (KM1P)
AMSAT IT Team
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Joseph Fitzgerald (KM1P)