NASA Spacewarn Bulletin No. 629 01 April 2006

2006-009A

Soyuz-TMA 8
is a Russian automatic passenger craft that was
launched by a Soyuz FG rocket from Baikonur at 02:30 UT on 30 March
2006. It carried three astronauts (a Russian, an American, and a
Brazilian) to the International Space Station (ISS). It docked
automatically with the Zarya module of the ISS at 07:19 UT on
01 April 2006, and delivered the astronauts to the station. The
Brazilian will stay on the ISS only for eight days, the two others
for several months. (The previously docked Soyuz-TMA 7 will depart
the station on 08 April, along with the Brazilian and two long-resident
astronauts. The initial orbital parameters were period
90.3 min, apogee 290.8 km, perigee 244.5 km, and inclination
51.6°.

2006-008A, 2006-008B, 2006-008C

ST5-A, ST5-B, and ST5-C
are the first three microsatellites in the
Space Technology 5 mission of the American (NASA) New Millennium
Program. They
were launched at 14:04 UT on 22 March 2006 by a Pegasus XL rocket
that was released from the belly of a Lockheed L-1011 plane flying
out of Vandenberg AFB. Each, with a mass of 25 kg and power 20 W, is
octagon-shaped (53 cm x 48 cm). Each is called a “full service”
satellite, capable of orbit/attitude maneuver and radio links. In
all, about 10 innovative, miniaturized technology advances will be
tested during the 90-day operational span. Among them are variable
emittance coatings (to heat when cold and cool when hot), metal
oxide logic circuits that can operate at 0.5 volts, miniature
magnetometers, and miniature, spinning Sun-sensors. They will
orbit in a “string of pearls” formation. After success with this
mission, the hope is to launch many such microsatellites to better
understand the space weather impacts. The Project Scientist is James
A. Slavin at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center. The initial orbital
parameters of all three were very similar: period 137 min, apogee
4,550 km, perigee 303 km, and inclination 105.6°.

2006-007B

Hot Bird 7A
is a European geostationary communications satellite
that was launched by an Ariane 5 ECA rocket from Kourou at 22:32 UT
on 11 March 2006. The 4.1 tonne (with fuel) satellite will provide
video and internet services to Europe through its 38 Ku-band
transponders after parking over 13°E longitude.

2006-007A

SpainSat
is a Spanish military geostationary communications
satellite that was launched by an Ariane 5 ECA rocket from Kourou at
22:32 UT on 11 March 2006. The 3.7 tonne (with fuel) satellite
carries 13 X-band and one Ka-band transponders. It will be parked
over 30°W longitude.

Spacecraft with essentially continuous radio beacons on frequencies
less than 150 MHz, or higher frequencies if especially suited for ionospheric
or geodetic studies.

NNSS denotes U.S. Navy Navigational Satellite System. Updates or
corrections to the list are possible only with information from the
user community.

Note:
The full list appeared in SPX 545.
The list will not be repeated in future issues until significantly revised
again.

Global Positioning System satellites useful for navigational
purposes and geodetic studies.

High precision (<20 cm) GPS constellation tracking data obtained from
the network of about 80 dedicated global stations that are of interest to
geodetic study may be obtained through the following services provided
by the International Association of Geodesy (IGS)

     FTP:    igscb.jpl.nasa.gov  [directory /igscb]
     WWW:    http://igscb.jpl.nasa.gov/
     E-mail: igscb@cobra.jpl.nasa.gov

The standard format of the GPS situation appeared in SPX-518. It will not
be repeated since an excellent source of trajectory- and science-related GPS information is at:

http://www.colorado.edu/geography/gcraft/notes/gps/gps_f.html

It provides many links to GPS related databases.

The latest addition to the fleet is Navstar 57, 2005-038A.

Russian Global Navigational (Positioning) Spacecraft, GLONASS
constellation.

SPACEWARN requests updates/additions from readers to this list.

All GLONASS spacecraft are in the general COSMOS series. The COSMOS numbers
invoked by USSPACECOM have often differed from the numbers (NNNN)
associated in Russia; when different, the USSPACECOM COSMOS numbers are shown
in parentheses. The corresponding GLONASS numbers are Russian numbers, followed
by the numbers in parentheses that are sometimes attributed to them outside
Russia.

The operating frequencies in MHz are computed from the channel number K.
Frequencies (MHz) = 1602.0 + 0.5625K and L2 = 1246.0 + 0.4375K.

The standard format of the GLONASS situation last appeared in
SPX-545. It
will not be repeated in view of the excellent updated source at:
http://www.glonass-center.ru
maintained by the Coordinational Scientific Information Center (CSIC), Russian
Space Forces.

According to CSIC the
latest addition to the fleet are GLONASS 712, GLONASS 796, and GLONASS 797.
Their International IDs are 2005-050A, 2005-050B, and 2005-050C.

Visually bright objects.

See
http://www.space-track.org/perl/bulk_files.pl.
Users must register. Conditions apply.

Actual decays/landings of payload spacecraft and rocket bodies (R/B)
only. No further information is available.

Designations         Common Name                  Decay Date (2006)

2006-006A (28943)    ARABSAT-006A                    14 March
2005-035A (28866)    PROGRESS-M 54                   03 March

60-day Decay Predictions.

See
http://www.space-track.org/perl/60day_decay_predict.pl.
Users must register for access. Conditions apply

Miscellaneous Items.

This section contains information or data that are entered on occasion
and may not be repeated in each issue of the SPACEWARN Bulletin.

The Russian telecommunications satellite Express AM-11 (2004-015A) was
impacted by space debris at 02:55 UT on 29 March 2006, hard enough to make it
totally inoperable. It will soon be removed from the 96.5°E parking longitude to a “space disposal orbit”.

Related NSSDC resources.

NSSDC/WDC for Satellite Information is an archival center for science
data from many spacecraft. Many space physics datasets are on-line for
electronic access through:
http://nssdc.gsfc.nasa.gov/space/

For off-line data, please contact the Request Office, NSSDC, Code 633,
NASA GSFC, Greenbelt, Maryland 20771, U.S.A., for specific information
(request@nssdca.gsfc.nasa.gov).
Information on the current status of the instruments on board from the
investigators will be most welcomed. Precomputed trajectory files
and orbital parameters of many magnetospheric and heliospheric science-payload
spacecraft may be obtained from:
ftp://nssdcftp.gsfc.nasa.gov/miscellaneous/orbits/

Other files of interest for Earth-centered spacecraft can be generated via the URL,
http://sscweb.gsfc.nasa.gov/

Programs related to the heliospheric spacecraft trajectories can be executed
through the URL,
http://nssdc.gsfc.nasa.gov/space/helios/heli.html

Magnetospheric, Planetary, and Astronomical science data from many spacecraft
may be accessed through links from the URL:
http://nssdc.gsfc.nasa.gov/sc-query.html