celestrak.com and n2yo.com elements for STS 133 do not agree

Asked by Joseph Hughes

celestrak.com and n2yo.com elements for STS 133 do not agree as of 9:00 EST 2/25/11.Should they agree?

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Joseph Hughes
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Joseph Hughes (hughesj333) said :
#1

I received an email from Dr.Kelso that solved the problem.Thank you

The TLE on CelesTrak is the latest data available from USSTRATCOM. It will not, however, match the data for the ISS, due to the way USSTRATCOM updates and publishes TLEs. They simply cannot keep up with the maneuvers being performed by the space shuttle during rendezvous or reentry preparations. They also do not update the space shuttle TLEs while it is docked, since they won't match the ISS position, anyway.

If you look closely at the TLE from n2yo.com, you'll notice that it indicates it is Element Set 902 and Rev Number 70341. This is actually the TLE for the ISS and NOT STS 133. Apparently, they decided to manually edit the data. I do NOT change the data received from USSTRATCOM on CelesTrak, so you unfortunately have to deal with the lack of data quality provided by USSTRATCOM. Users can, however, simply look for the ISS when they know the space shuttle is docked to it.

I hope that answers your question. - TS

Dr. T.S. Kelso
CelesTrak, http://celestrak.com