[amsat-bb] Nayif-1 orbit update

[Robert Bruninga]

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.