Jonathan’s Space Report No. 590 2008 Jan 16
Shuttle and Station
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The Expedition 16 crew of Whitson, Tani and Malenchenko remain aboard ISS. Progress M-61 undocked from the Pirs module at 0359 UTC on Dec 22. Progress M-62 was launched from Baykonur at on 0712 UTC on Dec 23 and docked with Pirs at 0814 UTC on Dec 26. (Note that until Dec 30, Space Command tracking confused Progress with its final rocket stage, which reentered on Dec 26.) Progress M-62 is spacecraft production number 362 and is ISS flight 27P.
Glonass
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Three Uragan-M (Glonass-M) navigation satellites, nos. 21, 22 and 23, were launched on Dec 25 by a Proton-M with a Blok DM-2 upper stage. This is the first time the Energiya Blok DM-2 (11S861) has been used with the new Proton-M launch vehicle instead of the older Proton-K.
GPS
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GPS 57 made its apogee burn at 2320 UTC on Dec 22 into a 20143 x 20317 km x 55.0 deg orbit.
Rascom
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The African-owned RASCOM-QAF-1 satellite was still in its initial transfer orbit 10 days after launch; manufacturer Thales Alenia Space has reported a problem in its propulsion system. No new US orbital data for the satellite have appeared since Jan 1, so it may now have begun raising its orbit. Even if it reaches its geostationary location, the operational lifetime of the satellite is expected to be severely shortened.
USA 198
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The National Reconnaissance Office’s USA 198 spacecraft was launched into a 261 x 16776 km x 60.0 deg orbit on Dec 10. According to independent observers, it maneuvered to a 12-hour, 515 x 39705 km x 62.6 deg Molniya-type orbit sometime around Dec 28. The spacecraft is thought to be a data relay communications satellite.
Seven Mystery Skylarks
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Occasionally I throw out a historical mystery in the hope that some reader will have the answer. Here is today’s: the Skylark sounding rocket was the mainstay of the British suborbital space science program from 1957 to 1978, and then served as the vehicle for various European microgravity programs, especially TEXUS, until its retirement in 2005. The UK Science Research Council’s Skylark science flight program was cancelled in 1977-78. But, from 1973 to 1978 there were seven launches from Woomera in the SL1290 series that appear only in a comprehensive listing of Skylarks from the manufacturer and not in any of the compendia describing the science program. What were they, and which agency launched them? Here are the details I have:
1973 Jul 17 Skylark 3 AC SL1291 1974 Jul 22 Skylark 3 AC SL1292 1975 Feb 28 Skylark 3 AC SL1293 1975 Jul 3 Skylark 6 AC SL1295 1977 Jun 8 Skylark 3 AC SL1298 1978 Nov 15 Skylark 3 AC SL1296 1978 Dec 13 Skylark 3 AC SL1297
Anyone out there have any data on these launches? Geoff Richards just sent me the speculation that they might be related to development of components for the Chevaline reentry vehicle on the UK’s Polaris missiles, which seems plausible. It’s also possible they were some kind of ozone monitoring program by the Meteorological Office, which wouldn’t have appeared in the Science Research Council documents.
NASA 36.243UG
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Stephan McCandliss reports that his far UV telescope and LIDOS UV spectrograph have flown again, on sounding rocket NASA 36.243UG launched at 0523:00 UTC on 2008 Jan 11. This was the first flight of a Black Brant IX Mod 2 from White Sands. The Mod 2 uses a Mk 70 Terrier booster and the new Black Brant Mk1 sustainer. The igniter for the Mk1 was recently redesigned following the failure of NASA 40.17UE in 2006 Mar. This third flight of LIDOS was targeted on the Orion Nebula, and the orbit was around -6370 x 315 km.
Messenger
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NASA’s Messenger probe flew past Mercury at 200 km altitude at 1904 UTC on Jan 14. This was the first Mercury encounter since Mariner 10 in 1975. The flyby hyperbola is inclined 5.0 deg to the Mercurian equator, and the encounter changes Messenger’s orbit around the Sun from 0.33 x 0.75 AU to 0.32 x 0.70 AU. After more flybys, Messenger will enter orbit around Mercury in 2011.
Thuraya 3
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A Boeing GEM (GEO Mobile) communications satellite with a large antenna for cellphone service was launched by Boeing Sea Launch Zenit-3SL on Jan 15. The Zenit-3SL returned to flight successfully after its 2006 failure. The payload is Thuraya 3, for Thuraya Satellite Comms. based in Abu Dhabi and was inserted into a 729 x 35889 km x 6.2 deg orbit.
Table of Recent (orbital) Launches
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Date UT Name Launch Vehicle Site Mission INTL.
DES.
Dec 9 0015 Kosmos-2434 Proton-M/Briz-M Baykonur LC81/24 Comms 58A
Dec 9 0231 Cosmo 2 Delta 7420-10 Vandenberg SLC2W Radar 59A
Dec 10 2205 USA 198 (NROL-24) Atlas V 401 Canaveral SLC41 Comms? 60A
Dec 14 1317 Radarsat-2 Soyuz-FG/Fregat Baykonur LC31 Radar 61A
Dec 20 2004 GPS 57 (USA 199) Delta 7925 Canaveral SLC17A Nav 62A
Dec 21 2141 Rascom-QAF-1 ) Ariane 5GS Kourou ELA3 Comms 63A
Horizons 2 ) Comms 63D
Dec 23 0712 Progress M-62 Soyuz-U Baykonur LC1 Cargo 64B
Dec 25 1932 Kosmos-2435) Proton-M/DM-2 Baykonur LC81/24 Nav 65A
Kosmos-2436) Nav 65B
Kosmos-2437) Nav 65C
Jan 15 1149 Thuraya 3 Zenit-3SL Odyssey, Pacific Comms 01A
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