Jonathan’s Space Report No. 453 – 24 May 2001

Shuttle and Station

Soyuz TM-32 remains docked to the Station’s Zarya nadir port. The
Expedition Two crew, Usachyov, Voss and Helms, remain aboard the
Station. Progress spacecraft 255 was launched on May 20 at 2233 UTC
aboard the first Soyuz-FG rocket – a modified Soyuz-U with 5 percent
improved perfomance from new fuel injection systems in the core and
strapon engines. Vehicle 255 is named Progress M1-6 after launch, and is
flying ISS supply mission 4P. It carries food and equipment including
spare computer equipment for Destiny. Progress M1-6 docked with Zvezda’s
aft (-Y) port at 0024 UTC on May 23.

The next Shuttle flight, in June, will deliver the Joint Airlock to the
station. The Airlock consists of two segments – a small diameter airlock
cylinder which is based on the Shuttle airlock design, with the hatch in
the side of the cylinder, and a larger diameter, short length, cylinder
which remains pressurized and contains storage for spacesuits and
equipment, and a CBM berthing system which will connect to the Unity
module. The Airlock will be used for spacewalks using both the
EMU and Orlan spacesuits. The flight will also carry a Spacelab pallet
with oxygen and nitrogen gas tanks for installation on the airlock
exterior.

Recent Launches

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Panamsat’s PAS 10 satellite, which will replace PAS 4 in providing
C-band and Ku-band television broadcasts to Africa, Asia and Europe, was
launched by International Launch Services on May 15 using a Krunichev
Proton-K with an Energiya Blok DM3 upper stage. PAS 10 is a Boeing
BSS 601HP satellite.

The National Reconnaissance Office’s GeoLITE spacecraft was launched by
a Boeing 7925 on May 18 into geostationary transfer orbit. GeoLITE is a
TRW T-310 class satellite with a mass of about 1800 kg, probably
including a solid apogee motor. The satellite carries an experimental
laser communications payload and an operational UHF data relay payload.

Space Command has once again interchanged the international designations
of 2001-13A and 2001-14A (now Mars Odyssey and Ekran-M, respectively).

Galileo reached perijove flying 450400 km above the Jovian cloud tops at
1734 UTC on 2001 May 23. Closest approach to Io was 341771 km at 1718
UTC; Europa was at 718513 km at 2351 UTC on May 23 and Ganymede was
passed at 358700 km at 1120 UTC on May 24. A close 123 km pass of
Callisto will occur on May 25 at around 1124 UTC, reducing Galileo’s
perijove on its next orbit to target it for an Io flyby.

US Non-compliance with UN convention on registration of objects in outer space

The UN Convention on the registration of outer space objects is meant to
reassure member states that no-one is putting secret satellites in
orbit that might be weapons of mass destruction. As a US citizen, it
embarrasses me that my own country is the one with the most errors and
omissions in its submissions to the UN – particularly as it appears that
some of these errors represent deliberate misinformation. I therefore
call attention to these errors below (and by the way, it’s not as if
this misinformation would actually *fool* anyone who is paying attention
to the subject).

Below I note US compliance with, and violations of the UN Convention on
Registration for satellites launched in 1999-2000. The bulk of the
information provided to the UN on classified satellites is deliberately
wrong or misleading. In addition, many commercial US satellites launched
on non-US launch vehicles were not registered, presumably due to sloppy
record-keeping.

All classified satellites in 1999-2000:

• 1999-017A (DSP) Orbit given is wrong.
  
• 1999-023A (Milstar) Orbit given is wrong.
  
• 2000-001A (DSCS) Orbit given is not the final orbit.
  
• 2000-001C (IABS) Orbit given is wrong.
  
• 2000-024A (DSP) Data is correct.
  
• 2000-024D (IUS) Inclination given is wrong (probably accidental typo).
  
• 2000-047A (NRO) Data is correct.
  
• 2000-065A (DSCS) Orbit given is not the final orbit.
  
• 2000-065C (IABS) Orbit given is wrong.
  
• 2000-080A (NRO) Orbit given is not the final orbit.
  

For example, the orbit given for 1999-017A is actually
the orbit of another object from the 1999-017 launch.
In contrast, the data given for unclassified satellites is
substantially correct, with the following exceptions (mostly
US satellites launched outside US territory)

1999-014: Demosat satellite not registered (Boeing Sea Launch).
1999-012, 1999-019, 1999-031, 1999-049, 1999-058, 1999-062:
24 Globalstar satellites not registered.
1999-053A: LMI 1 satellite not registered.
2000-035A: Correctly registered, but incorrectly
stated that launch was made from US territory.
2000-067A: QuickBird satellite not registered.
2000-075C: Incorrectly registered (ST/SG/SER.E/385);
it is actually a Swedish satellite already

registered in ST/SG/SER.E/380 by Sweden.

Full details of all registration errors by all member states since
the opening of the convention in 1962 may be found at
http://hea-www.harvard.edu/~jcm/space/un/un_paper1.html

Table of Recent Launches

———————–

Date UT       Name            Launch Vehicle  Site            Mission    INTL.

                                                                          DES.

Apr  7 0347   Ekran-M No. 18    Proton-M       Baykonur LC81/24 UHF video    14A

Apr  7 1502   2001 Mars Odyssey Delta 7925     Canaveral SLC17A Mars probe   13A

Apr 18 1013   GSAT-1            GSLV           Sriharikota      S,C band vid 15A

Apr 19 1840   Endeavour  )      Space Shuttle  Kennedy LC39A    Spaceship    16A

              Raffaello  )                                      Module

              Canadarm-2 )

Apr 28 0737   Soyuz TM-32       Soyuz-U        Baykonur LC1     Spaceship    17A

May  8 2210   XM-1 Roll         Zenit-3SL      Odyssey, Pacific S-band radio 18A

May 15 0111   PAS 10            Proton-K/DM3   Baykonur LC81/23 C/Ku video   19A

May 18 1745   GeoLITE           Delta 7925     Canaveral SLC17B Laser/UHF    20A

May 20 2233   Progress M1-6     Soyuz-FG       Baykonur LC1     Cargo        21A

Current Shuttle Processing Status

Orbiters               Location   Mission    Launch Due   

OV-102 Columbia        VAB Bay 4     STS-109 2001 Nov 19  HST SM-3B

OV-103 Discovery       OPF Bay 2     STS-105 2001 Jul 12  ISS 7A.1

OV-104 Atlantis        OPF Bay 3     STS-104 2001 Jun 20? ISS 7A

OV-105 Endeavour       OPF Bay 1     STS-108 2001 Nov     ISS UF-1

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|  Jonathan McDowell                 |  phone : (617) 495-7176            |

|  Harvard-Smithsonian Center for    |                                    |

|   Astrophysics                     |                                    |

|  60 Garden St, MS6                 |                                    |

|  Cambridge MA 02138                |  inter : jcm@cfa.harvard.edu       |

|  USA                               |          jmcdowell@cfa.harvard.edu |

|                                                                         |

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