escription of NASA Orbital Data
Ephemeris data is a tabulation of a series of points which define the position and
motion of a satellite. This data, re q u i red by most tracking programs, is contained in the
NASA two line orbital elements. These elements are part of the NASA prediction bulletin,
which is published by NASA Goddard Space Flight Center and contains the latest orbital
i n f o rmation for a particular satellite. The re p o rt provides information in three part s :
- two line orbital elements
- longitude of the South to North equatorial crossings
- longitude and heights of the satellite crossings for other latitudes
The two line orbital elements look like this when you get them from NASA (this set is a
description of NOAA 10).
figure 58. chart courtesy of Charles Davis
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