[amsat-bb] Object IDs

[Nico Janssen]

It seems that the JSpOC has changed some of their policies lately.
After the launch of multiple small satellites late last year it took
a long time to get them all identified. Apparently they don't want to
leave all the TBAs in their database for a long time, so now they use
a different approach: they randomly assign the names of all satellites
of a launch to the observed objects and then wait for reactions from
the users of the satellites to see if the assignments are correct.
This is how e.g. the Cubesats, that recently were launched from the ISS,
got 'identified' only a few days after their launch. So of course now
we find that some identifications are wrong.

Doppler measurements clearly show that the following IDs are correct:
Object 39568, 1998-067EM, is LitSat 1
Object 39569, 1998-067EN, is LituanicaSat 1.

I am trying to get these corrected.

In the past the policy was to assign the 'A' object to the main payload
of a launch. Secundary payloads, like Cubesats, would then get 'B', 'C',
etc. So if the main payload initially was linked to the wrong TLE set,
this required some swapping of TLE sets some time after the launch. Now
they have decided to prevent this confusion by simply leaving the main
payload assigned to another object than 'A' if required. Therefore the
GPM satellite now is assigned to 2014-009C and this will not change
anymore.

Regards,
Nico