Glossary

AFB Air Force Base
AMSAT The Radio Amateur Satellite Corporation
AOS Acquisition of Signal, Appear on Sky
ASL Above Sea Level
COBE Cosmic Background Explorer - US satellite for cosmic microwave background research
COSPAR The Comittee on Space Research
Decimal degrees Degrees and its parts - angle notation (10.5036°)
DMS Degrees, Minutes, Seconds - angle notation (10°30'13")
DST Daylight Saving Time
ECI Earth Centered Inertial - coordinate system used for position and velocity vectors of satellite
ESA European Space Agency
GEO Geosynchronous Earth Orbit
GLONASS Global Navigation System - Russian GPS equivalent
GOES Geostationary Operational Environmental Satellite
GTO Geostationary Transfer Orbit
GMT Greenwich Meridian Time, see also UTC
GPS Global Positioning System
GSO Geostationary Orbit
GST Greenwich Sideral Time
HEO High Earth Orbit
HETE High-Energy Transient Experiment
HMS Hours, Minutes, Seconds - angle notation used for RA output (10h 12m 13s)
HST Hubble Space Telescope (NORAD# 20580)
ISS International Space Station (NORAD# 25544)
LCL, LT Local Time
LEO Low Earth Orbit
LOS Loss of Signal
LST Local Sideral Time
MEO Mid Earth Orbit, semi-synchronous orbit
MET Maximum Elevation Time (middle of pass); Mission Elapsed Time
NASA National Aeronautics and Space Administration
NOAA National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration
NOSS Naval Ocean Surveillance System
NORAD North American Air Defense
NSSC NORAD Space Surveillance Center
PAM Payload Assist Module
QTH Location of ground station in amateur radio jargon
RA Right Ascension
RAAN Right Ascension of the Ascending Node
RCS Radar Cross Section
R/B Rocket body
SDP4 Simplified Deep-space Perturbations - prediction model using for satellites with period greater than 225 minutes
SGP4 Simplified General Perturbations - prediction model using for satellites with period less than 225 minutes
SMA Semi-Major Axis - half of the longest linear dimension of ellipse
SRB Solid Rocket Boosters
STS Space Transport System - American space Shuttle program
TDRSS Tracking and Data Relay Satellite System
TLE Two Line Element - format for storage satellite orbit data necessary for SGP/SDP prediction
USSPACECOM United States Space Command
UTC, UT Coordinated Universal Time, mean solar time of Greenwich meridian

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