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1993-07-25
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STSORBIT PLUS Revision History
------------------------------
Each released version of STSPLUS uses a four digit revision code such
as 9331. The first two digits indicate the year and the second two digits
indicate the week of the year. In some cases, an additional letter suffix
is added to distinguish changes occurring within the same week or to
identify special versions. A partial week at the beginning or end of the
year is counted as a full week. Using this method, a year will typically
have 53 weeks although it is possible to have 54 weeks in a leap year (1972
is an example). The current year-week revision code is shown on the Julian
Date display, Display Mode 7, in my program ASTROCLK.
This file records the revision history of program STSPLUS through all
of the minor twists and turns that usually accompany the evolution of such
a complex program. It illustrates the tortuous process of maintaining and
refining a program as ideas and problems are reported from every quarter.
These notes may also be helpful to users who are upgrading from one version
to another to find out what has changed.
David H. Ransom, Jr.
Version 9331 -- July 1993
-------------------------
-In coordination with Ken Ernandes' VEC2TLE, the data output for Format 7,
ECI State Vector (Labeled Data), has been modified. The data have been
supplemented by the addition of two lines: Element Set Number; and, Rev
Number at Epoch. The IAU Designation has been added to the Catalog Number
line and the Epoch Time is now given to .001 seconds. The data output for
Format 4 has been changed so that it is identical to Format 7. See text for
details.
-Per Ken Ernandes, the Format 4 & 7 label "Ndot/3" is changed to "Nndot/6".
CAUTION: STSPLUS Version 9331 Data Formats 4 and 7 are NOT compatible
with VEC2TLE Version 9322 when multiple state vectors are generated!
Use a release of VEC2TLE with a version number equal to or greater
than 9331. (However, manually editing the data to remove the Elset and
Rev Number lines can restore compatibility with the older version.)
NOTE: Users are urged to update to VEC2TLE Version 9331 or the current
version, which ever is later! Not only does the current version of
VEC2TLE maintain compatibility with STSPLUS but several important new
features have been added and a bug in Version 9322 which affected data
accuracy under certain circumstances has been repaired.
-The Tracking Station Mode is now active in both Orthographic and
Rectangular projections. The projection used will same as the one which is
active when the "T" key is pressed.
-Repaired a bug which caused the NORAD number displayed in the Pass
Prediction Mode to be incorrect under certain circumstances. Thanks to
Grant Pinto!
-Repaired a bug in the pass prediction logic which caused the MAX
VISIBILITY data to be missstated by a significant amount for certain
satellites, especially ones with higher eccentricities. Thanks to Grant
Pinto for spotting and reporting the bug!
-Changed the default time zone abbreviation for unrecognized (foreign) time
zones from all spaces (which confused the Pass Prediction setup!) to "LCL".
-Corrected a bug using F2 from the Main Menu which showed no 2-line
elements files if no .TXT files were found in the current directory but one
or more .TLE files were present. Thanks to Bob Krohn for reporting the bug.
If no files of either filetype are found, an error is displayed and the
user is returned to the Main Menu.
-Corrected a bug in default paths if the root directory was used. (Path
defaulted to "B:\\" instead of "B:\" for drive B:, etc.)
-Corrected a bug in the NORAD number for F2 from the Main Menu. If the
NORAD number was greater than 32767, a negative nunber was shown.
-Disabled RIGHTIME detection for 8086/8088 processors. The detection
process affected the time in certain XT-class machines.
-Corrected a minor bug which caused the "blink" feature for the satellite
icon not to function under certain circumstances.
-Corrected a minor bug which initialized the Location Flag incorrectly for
CGA systems when file STSPLUS.INI was not present. Locations and Features
were displayed even though the menu display indicated they were OFF.
-Various cosmetic changes.
-Most of the changes in this release were included in Beta Version 9329.
Version 9320 -- May 1993
------------------------
-This is a MAJOR UPGRADE, adding new improvements and features along with
high precision state vector data output for use with Ken Ernandes' program
VEC2TLE.
-By popular request, STSPLUS now estimates if a satellite may be visible to
the naked eye or binoculars, and displays "VIS" in bright white next to the
orbit inclination if a visual sighting may be possible. See the section
"Satellite Visibility" for additional discussion.
-Also by popular request, the pass predections (F3, Data Mode 9) have been
enhanced to permit dates and times to be displayed for either UTC/GMT or
LOCAL time. An additional prompt has been added for that selection.
-When displaying predicted passes (F3, Data Mode 9), the satellite is now
approximately centered in the display (instead of being well to one side).
-After considerable confusion and several user comments, I have reworked
the pass prediction logic so that when the user returns to the Main Menu
after the ground track for a predicted pass is displayed, the time is
automatically restored to the real or simulated time in effect BEFORE the
pass prediction was displayed. This means that repeated use of the pass
prediction feature will generally display the same list of numbered passes
and the user no longer needs to restore real time (or reset simulated time)
after displaying predicted passes.
-Corrected a cosmetic bug on pass predictions when an illegal pass number
(greater than the last pass number displayed) was entered at the prompt.
-Added an asterisk ("*") at the left of each event timer when the satellite
is AOS (signal/Sun is being received). This will particularly benefit users
with monochrome or shades of gray.
-Enhanced the Precision X-Y-Z State Vector Data Modes (F3, Data Modes 4
through 7) to include four output formats: multi-line Ascending Node with
state vector, 2 numeric data lines, comma delimited, and multi-line labeled
data. State vectors may now be logged continuously, for a specific time, or
for a specified time span. See text for details.
-Corrected a problem with state vectors being generated at the wrong time
(Data Modes 5 through 7) when the time was entered in UTC and local time
was a different date.
-Removed the low precision state vector data output (F3, Data Mode 4).
-Changed the angle used to calculate the Earth's partial penumbra from 1.2
degrees to 0.3 degrees to better correspond with observed lighting. The Sun
AOS and LOS penumbral calculations were also slightly adjusted; timings
during STS-56 indicated about a 15 to 20 second error before these changes.
-Updated the TDRS information in the section "TDRS Satellite Features" and
all five TDRS satellites are now displayed on the maps at their approximate
locations as of 05/05/93. Thanks to Jim Walls for reminding me!
-Corrected a bug which caused "BASIC Error = 5" when the selected satellite
had probably decayed. #22209 MIR Debris was an example in file TLE180.TXT.
STSPLUS now displays a warning message if the satellite has a current
altitude less than 75 nautical miles and then returns to the Main Menu.
-Corrected the conversion from kilometers to feet per Ken Ernandes. (My
original conversion factor was taken from a 40+ year old Handbook of
Chemistry and Physics and was very slightly in error!)
-Repaired (I think...) a truncation problem which sometimes caused MET/T+E
to run one second slow.
-For all those who refuse to read documentation, I added a reminder to the
Main Menu: "WHILE MAP IS DISPLAYED: F1 = HELP, ENTER = Main Menu".
-Special thanks to Ken Ernandes, Joes Runes, and Willie Musty for state
vectors, testing, and validation of the new features in recent versions!
-Version 9319 was released privately for beta testing.