SPACEWARN Bulletin Number 564 (DRAFT) 1 November 2000
SPACEWARN Bulletin Number 564 (DRAFT)
| 01 November 2000 |
|---|
A publication of NASA’s National Space Science Data Center/World Data Center for Satellite Information as the WWAS for ISES/COSPAR
SPACEWARN Activities
All information in this publication was received between
1 October 2000 and 31 October 2000.
A. List of New International Designations and Launch Dates (UTC).
USSPACECOM Catalog numbers are in parentheses.
COSPAR/WWAS USSPACECOM SPACECRAFT LAUNCH
INT.ID CAT. # NAME DATE (2000)
-------------------------------------------------------
2000-070A (26603) Soyuz TMA-1 31 Oct
2000-069A (26599) Beidou 30 Oct
2000-068A (26590) Europe*Star 1 29 Oct
2000-067A (26580) GE 6 21 Oct
2000-066A (26578) Thuraya 1 21 Oct
2000-065A (26575) USA 153 20 Oct
2000-064A (26570) Progress M-43 16 Oct
2000-063C (26566) Cosmos 2376 13 Oct
2000-063B (26565) Cosmos 2375 13 Oct
2000-063A (26564) Cosmos 2374 13 Oct
2000-062A (26563) STS 92 11 Oct
2000-061A (26561) HETE 2 09 Oct
2000-060A (26559) NSat 110 06 Oct
2000-059A (26554) GE 1A 01 Oct
In SPX 563, we had listed five International IDs in Sec.A without the names of
the spacecraft. Brief descriptions of the five spacecraft were, however,
provided in Sec.B. The USSPACECOM have since matched the names and numbers as
follows:
COSPAR/WWAS USSPACECOM SPACECRAFT LAUNCH
INT.ID CAT. # NAME DATE (2000)
-------------------------------------------------------
2000-057A (26545) Tiungsat 1 26 Sep
2000-057B (26546) Megsat 1 26 Sep
2000-057C (26547) Unisat 26 Sep
2000-057D (26548) Saudisat 1A 26 Sep
2000-057E (26549) Saudisat 1B 26 Sep
B. Text of Launch Announcements.
| 2000-070A | Soyuz TMA-1 is Russian passenger transportation satellite that was launched by a Soyuz-U rocket at 07:52 UT. It carries a crew of three to dock it with the Zvezda module of the International Space Station (ISS) at about 09:20 UT on 2 November. The PROGESS M1-3 cargo craft that remains docked with Zvezda will first be evicted to make way for the SOYUZ. The crew of two Russian and one American cosmonauts will spend over three months in the ISS, and return to Earth in an American shuttle (STS 102) in February 2001. In the initial days, the crew will bring a variety of life support systems on-line, and create a lap-top computer network to will help run all systems in the ISS. The remaining months will be alloted for exercise and space endurance practice. The crew is the first batch of a decade-long “permanent inhabitation” of the ISS. Initial orbital parameters of the Soyuz TMA_1 were period 92.2 min, |
|---|---|
| 2000-069A | Beidou is a Chinese (PRC) test model of a navigational system satellite that was launched by a Long March 3A rocket from Xichang launch center in south-west China at 16:30 UT (00:02 Beijing Time). When completed, the Beidou Navigational System (BNS) will help to locate and navigate highway, railway, and oceanic transportation. Initial orbital parameters were period 753 min, apogee 41,887 km, perigee 173 km, and inclination 25 deg. |
| 2000-068A | Europe*Star 1 (with that embedded * in the name) is a European geosynchronous communications spacecraft that was launched by an Ariane 44LP rocket at 04:59 UT from Kourou. The 4.2 tonne (with fuel) spacecraft carries 30 Ku-band transponders to provide direct- to-home video, internet, and high speed data transmission among South Africa, Europe and the Indian subcontinent after parking over 45 deg-E longitude. It was the 100th successfull launch by Ariane rockets, almost coinciding with the 100th successful launch of the American Shuttle mission. |
| 2000-067A | GE 6 is an American geosynchronous communications spacecraft that was launched by a Proton-K rocket from Baikonur at 22:00 UT. It carries 24 C-band and 24 Ku-band transponders to provide direct- to-home voice, video and data transmission to America and the Caribbean countries after parking over 83 deg-W longitude. |
| 2000-066A | Thuraya 1 is a United Arab Emirate (UAE) geosynchronous communications spacecraft that was launched at 05:52 UT by a Zenit 3SL rocket from a floating Sea Launch platform in the equatorial Pacific. The 3,200 kg (5,100 kg with fuel), 13 kW spacecraft is designed to handle thousands of voice, FAX, and data transmisssions simultaneously from/to mobile telephones, via its 128-element phased array antenna of 12m x 16m dimension in the L-band, after parking over 44 deg-E longitude. |
| 2000-065A | USA 153 is an American geosynchronous military communications spacecraft that was launched by an Atlas 2A rocket from Cape Canaveral. It is a member of the fleet of Defence Satellite Communications System (DSCS). The communications will be in six channels covering the frequency band of 50-85 MHz. |
| 2000-064A | Progress M-43 is a Russian automatic cargo carrier that was launched from Baikonur at 21:27 UT by a Soyuz-U rocket. It carried food and fuel for a probable crew that may enter MIR early 2001. It docked with Mir after four days of orbiting, rather than the usual two days; this slow docking enabled the cargo ship to conserve 150 kg of fuel that will be spent in raising Mir to a higher altitude from the currently perilous orbit. Initial orbital parameters of Progress M-43 were period 91.4 min, apogee 359 km, perigee 331 km, and inclination 51.7 deg. |
| 2000-063A, 2000-063B, 2000-063C |
Cosmos 2374 (Glonass 783), Cosmos 2375 (Glonass 787), and Cosmos 2376 (Glonass 788) are the latest additions to the Russian fleet of Glonass navigational system, and were launched by a Proton-K rocket from Baikonur at 18:10 UT. The Cosmos/Glonass numbers are matched according to the Russian sources, but the match of names and IDs are often uncertain in any multiple launch; if that matching is revised, a later issue of the Bulletin will carry that list. More details of the Glonass fleet may be accessed through Sec.C-2 below. Initial orbital parameters of all three were similar: period 675.5 min, apogee 19,129 km, perigee 19,120 km and inclination 64.8 deg. |
| 2000-062A | STS 92 is an American shuttle spacecraft that was launched from Cape Canaveral at 23:17 UT. The crew carried out space walks to install a 8.5 tonne, aluminum Z-1 Truss on the Unity module. The truss is intended to support a football-field sized solar array that will be installed during a later mission in December 2000. A triaxial attitude control gyroscope and a Ku-band satellite dish were then installed on the truss. The crew also installed a major 1.2 tonne docking port named Pressurized Mating Adapter (PMA) on the Unity module. They fired thrusters in the shuttle to raise the altitude of the ISS. Among other activities was a practice run of a device named SAFER (Simplified Aid For Eva Rescue) to rescue an untethered astronaut and to assess whether a dead or gravely ill spacewalker could also be retrieved back to a shuttle or the ISS. The shuttle landed in Edwards AFB in California on 24 October at 20:59 UT; Cape Canaveral landing had to be cancelled because of persistent bad weather in southern Florida. The potential uses of the ISS for furthering science and enginering are outlined in a NASA site, http://spaceflight.nasa.gov/station/science/index.html. STS 92 was the 100th successful shuttle mission, almost coinsiding with the 100th successful launch of the European Ariane rocket. Initial orbital parameters of the STS 92 were period 92 min, apogee 381 km, perigee 380 km, and inclination 51.6 deg. |
| 2000-061A | HETE 2 (High Energy Transient Explorer) is an American astrophysical research spacecraft that was launched at 05:38 UT from over Kwajalein Missile Range (in Marshal Islands) by a Pegasus rocket released from a L-1011 cargo aircraft that flew out of Vandenberg AFB. (An earlier version, HETE 1 had failed on launch in 1996.) The 130 kg satellite carries three instruments to measure gamma rays and x-rays in the bands 6-400, 2-25, and 0.5-10 keV. As soon as a radiation burst is recorded by the instruments, an automatic alarm will be relayed to a number of ground astronomy stations around the world to look for the source in visible wavelengths. The sources to look for will always be in the anti-solar direction monitored by HETE 2. These very rare/transient bursts are presumed to be extra-galactic, but source identification remains elusive. Ongoing updates to the mission may be accessible through http:// space.mit.edu/HETE/. Initial orbital parameters were period 97 min, apogee 637 km, perigee 594 km, and inclination 2 deg. |
| 2000-060A | NSat 110 is a Japanese geosynchronous communications spacecraft that was launched by an Ariane 42L rocket from Korou at 23:00 UT. It carries 24 Ku-band transponders to provide direct-to-home television, internet and data transmission service to all of Japan after parking over approximately 135 deg-E longitude. |
| 2000-059A | GE 1A |
C. Spacecraft Particularly Suited for International Participation
- 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. (“NNN” denotes no national name. SPACEWARN
would appreciate suggestions to update this list. An asterisk [*] denotes
changes in this issue.)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.govThe 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.utexas.edu/depts/grg/gcraft/notes/gps/gps.html#DODSystem
It provides many links to GPS related databases. - Russian Global Navigational (Positioning) Spacecraft, GLONASS
constellation. (SPACEWARN requests updates/additions from readers to this list.
Entries marked “*” are updates or additions to the list.)All GLONASS spacecraft are in the general COSMOS series. The COSMOS numbers
(nnnn) 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 appeared in SPX-545. It
will not be repeated in view of the excellent updated source at:
http://www.rssi.ru/SFCSIC/english.html
maintained by the Coordinational
Scientific Information Center (CSIC),Russian Space Forces.The latest addition to the Glonass fleet are Cosmos 2374 (2000-063A),
Cosmos 2375 (2000-063B) and Cosmos 2376 (2000-063C) that were launched on
13 October 2000. See Sec. A above. - Actual decays/landings of payload spacecraft and rocket bodies (R/B)
only. No further information is available.Designations Common Name Decay Date (2000) 1997-067B (25031) R/B Delta 2 26 Oct 2000-062A (26563) STS 92 Landed on 24 Oct 2000-021A (26301) PROGRESS M1-2 24 Oct 1995-018A (23549) OFEQ 3 24 Oct 2000-067B (26581) R/B Proton-K 23 Oct 1998-042B (25390) TUBSAT N1 21 Oct 1996-015B (23817) R/B Ariane 44LP 19 Oct 2000-064B (26571) R/B Soyuz-U 18 Oct 1995-039A (23632) INTERBALL_TAIL 16 Oct 2000-063E (26568) R/B Proton-K 15 Oct 2000-040B (26408) R/B Delta 2 14 Oct 2000-056B (26539) R/B Zenit 2 11 Oct 1998-012B (25234) BATSAT 09 Oct 1996-041B (23954) R/B Delta 2 08 Oct 1991-087F (21829) R/B Proton 08 Oct 1998-068B (25547) R/B Delta 2 07 Oct 1997-086D (25129) R/B Proton-K 07 Oct 2000-013E (26104) R/B Proton-K 05 Oct 2000-059B (26555) R/B Proton-K 03 Oct 2000-058B (26553) R/B Soyuz-U 02 Oct 2000-038B (26403) R/B Atlas 2A 01 Oct 1999-026C (25737) R/B Pegasus 24 Sep 1999-069B (25995) Atlas 2A 21 Sep
- Miscellaneous Items. (This section contains information/data that
are entered on occasion and may not be repeated in each issue of the
SPACEWARN Bulletin.)Geoffrey Lindop of Carlisle, England has kindly drawn our attention to an
error in SPX 562. There Raduga-1 5 (2000-049A) was reported to have an
alternative name, Cosmos 2372. Errors of this kind occur because we use FBIS
messages from Moscow quoting local TV or newspapers as one of the sources of
information. In fact, as SPX 563 reported, Cosmos 2372 (2000-056A) was
launched a month later. - 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 accessed via anonymous FTP from NSSDC.
(See About the SPACEWARN Bulletin
for access method; a file in the active directory named AAREADME.TXT,
outlines the contents.)Other files interest for Earth-centered spacecraft can be generated through 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.htmlMagnetospheric, Planetary, and Astronomical science data from many spacecraft
may be accessed through links from the URL:
http://nssdc.gsfc.nasa.gov/sc-query.html
