Afternoon chaps.
I've been examining the space-track catalogue for some of the EOS sats (EUMETSAT don't provide us with orbital elements, as they're pains in the ass).
I have noticed that the Meteosat Second Generation (MSG) sats have vbery similar orbits (of course) but completely different Radar Cross Sections: One has an RCS of 3,981 and the other has one of 0,1
Anyone think of a reason for this difference? The two satellites are in almost identical orbits and are totally identical in design, so shouldn't they give almost identical RCSs?
The 0,1 figure is a little suspicious to me as it's only to one decimal place too, so if it's just a fill figure then why the heck can they find the satellite elements but can't tell how big a cross section it has?:huh:
I've been examining the space-track catalogue for some of the EOS sats (EUMETSAT don't provide us with orbital elements, as they're pains in the ass).
I have noticed that the Meteosat Second Generation (MSG) sats have vbery similar orbits (of course) but completely different Radar Cross Sections: One has an RCS of 3,981 and the other has one of 0,1
Anyone think of a reason for this difference? The two satellites are in almost identical orbits and are totally identical in design, so shouldn't they give almost identical RCSs?
The 0,1 figure is a little suspicious to me as it's only to one decimal place too, so if it's just a fill figure then why the heck can they find the satellite elements but can't tell how big a cross section it has?:huh:
