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29 June 2003

ISS On-Orbit Status 28 Jun 2003

Part 2 of 2

Today's optional CEO targets, limited in the current XPOP attitude by
flight rule constraints on the use of the Lab nadir/science window,
and including the targets of the Lewis & Clark 200-year memorial
locations, were Western Mediterranean Haze (coastal Spain very hazy.
Looking obliquely left and right.  Obliqueness of view and slight
overexposure both help to capture these aerosol loadings.  Sources of
the haze are poorly understood, but probably lie hundreds of miles
away in France or northern Italy), Betsiboka R delta, Madagascar
(Dynamic event:  sun glint pass right of track over this
fast-changing estuary.  A new island was documented late last year,
developing as a vast mud bank.  Such islands rapidly become permanent
as they are colonized by mangrove vegetation.  The Betsiboka is one
of the most dramatically changing sites we know of, and relates to
extreme post-WW II soil erosion rates on the hills inland), Kinshasa,
Zaire (looking right for the Kinshasa region on the south side of the
Congo River [at the point where the river widens at "Stanley Pool"]),
Chongqing, China (nadir pass over this major inland city which lies
on the Yangtze River [where the river exits the Red Basin --
southeast corner of the basin]), Manila, Philippines (nadir pass),
Dust storm, E Iran (Dynamic event:  Major dust storm in eastern Iran,
western Pakistan and western Afghanistan was raging for the second
day.  Sources of the dust are a critical item of research [more nadir
views of plume origins].  Geology of the source points is easily
interpreted from the ISS CEO images.  Dust transport directions are
also of great interest. South Asia is the dustiest part of the planet
and needs to be understood to improve global aerosol models),
Bangkok, Thailand (looking left for a view of the Bangkok region),
and Missouri River sites (LEWIS & CLARK SITES: Nadir series of views
[overlapping mapping swath] along the Missouri requested to capture
several sites of interest). CEO images can be viewed at the websites

http://eol.jsc.nasa.gov
http://earthobservatory.nasa.gov

See also the website "Space Station Challenge" at
http://voyager.cet.edu/iss/

ISS Orbit  (as of this afternoon, 6:45am EDT [= epoch]):

Mean altitude -- 387.7 km
Apogee -- 392.8 km
Perigee -- 382.7km
Period -- 92.32 min.
Inclination (to Equator) --  51.63 deg
Eccentricity -- 0.0007406
Orbits per 24-hr. day -- 15.60
Mean altitude loss in last 24 hours -- 95 m
Revolutions since FGB/Zarya launch (Nov. '98)  -- 26276
For more on ISS orbit and worldwide naked-eye visibility dates/times,
see http://www.hq.nasa.gov/osf/station/viewing/issvis.html

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