Jonathan’s Space Report No. 535 2004 Sep 24, Mumbai

* EDUSAT

The Indian Space Research Organization successfully launched the
GSLV-F-01 rocket carrying the EDUSAT satellite on Sep 20 from the Satish
Dhawan Space Center at Sriharikota. The satellite reached a 162 x 35814
km x 19.3 deg geostationary transfer orbit. EDUSAT (GSAT-3) is a 820 kg
satellite carrying 1130 kg of propellant and a 440N ISRO-built liquid
apogee motor used on the larger INSAT 2/3 satellites; the satellite is
2.4 x 1.6m across at launch with a 10.9m span across the deployed solar
panels. The launch is good news for ISRO, following a tragic explosion
at the launch site in February in which six workers died.

* SJ-6

China launched a pair of scientific satellites on Sep 8. Shi Jian 6A
and Shi Jian 6B were carried on a single Chang Zheng 4B rocket from
the Taiyuan space center.

The satellites were inserted into a 590 x 602 km x 97.7 deg orbit,
together with a small adapter. A fourth object in a lower, more eccentric
529 x 637 km orbit is probably the CZ-4B third stage rocket.

* NROL-1

Reports from observers indicate that the Centaur AC-167 rocket is in a
lower apogee orbit than anticipated, around 255 x 15370 km x 57.4 deg. A
prelaunch announcement that the Centaur would deliver the payload to an
‘ascent trajectory’ suggests to me that this is the intended transfer
orbit (rather than a failure) and the USA 179 payload will probably use
(or has already used) an onboard engine to reach a final orbit which I
still expect to have an apogee of around 39000 km.

* ‘Ofeq

Noah Brosch informs me that, according to Israeli media, in the Sep 6
Israeli launch failure the third stage failed to separate from the
second stage, preventing third stage burn.

* Strela-3

Kosmos-2408 and 2409, two Strela-3 military communications satellites,
were launched by a Kosmos-3M from Plesetsk on Sep 23.

Table of Recent Launches

———————–

Date UT       Name            Launch Vehicle  Site            Mission
INTL.



DES.



Aug  3 0616   MESSENGER         Delta 7925H     Canaveral SLC17B  Probe
30A
Aug  4 2232   Amazonas          Proton-M/Briz-M Baykonur LC200/39 Comms
31A
Aug 11 0503   Progress M-50     Soyuz-U         Baykonur LC1      Cargo
32A
Aug 29 0750   JB-4?             CZ-2C           Jiuquan           Imaging
33A
Aug 31 2317   USA 179 (NROL-1)  Atlas IIAS      Canaveral LC36A   Comms?
34A
Sep  6 1053   'Ofeq-6           Shaviyt         Palmachim         Imaging
F01
Sep  8 2314   SJ-6A )           CZ-4B           Taiyuan           Science
35A
              SJ-6B )                                             Science
35B
Sep 20 1031   EDUSAT            GSLV            SDSC              Comms
36A
Sep 23 1507   Kosmos-2408 )     Kosmos-3M       Plesetsk          Comms
37A
              Kosmos-2409 )                                       Comms
37B

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