Jonathan's Space Report 

No. 135		1992 Dec 1
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Cosmonauts Solov'yov and Avdeev continue in orbit aboard the
Mir/Kvant/Kvant-2/Kristall/Soyuz TM-15/Progress M-15 orbital complex. On
Nov 23 they ejected a small satellite, Mak-2, from one of the airlocks
into a 392 x 397 km orbit inclined 51.6 deg. The precursor Mak-1
satellite, which was deployed in June 1991 but failed, carried an
experiment to study plasma in the upper atmosphere. I don't have any
details on Mak-2 yet, it may be a replacement. If anyone knows the
payload or the deployment time please let me know.

Discovery is on Pad 39A awating launch on mission STS-53 on Dec 2. 
Recent speculations by Sean Sullivan and Philip Chien passed on to me by
Bruce Watson suggests that the payload is to enter an elliptical 12-hour
orbit. This implies it is probably the second satellite in a series of
highly classified electronic intelligence satellites which I refer to as
Advanced JUMPSEAT. These satellites apparently are replacing the
JUMPSEAT satellites launched by Titan 34B Agena D from 1971 to 1983. The
JUMPSEAT satellites, also known as AFP 711, were built by Hughes
Aircraft, who also built the LEASAT comsats. The unclassified payload
bay drawings for STS-53 suggest a shape and size similar to LEASAT for
the Adv JUMPSEAT, so I speculate that the propulsion system is the same,
namely a UTC Orbus 7S solid perigee motor and a Marquardt R4D liquid
apogee motor. Here is the launch history of the JUMPSEAT series as I
have reconstructed it, but there are still some uncertainties:

Satellite	Launch		Date	Orbit

Jumpseat 1	T3B-36	   1971 Mar 21	390x33800x63.2	   1971-21A
Jumpseat 2	T3B-37	   1972 Feb 16	Agena failed	    -
Jumpseat 3	T3B-38	   1973 Aug 21	460x39296x63.3	   1973-56A
Jumpseat 4	T3B-50	   1975 Mar 10	295x39337x63.5	   1975-17A
Jumpseat 5	T34B-2	   1978 Feb 25	805x34272x63.5	   1978-21A
Jumpseat 6	T34B-8	   1981 Apr 24	700x39300x63??	   1981-38A
Jumpseat 7	T34B-9	   1983 Jul 28	1028x39321x63.4	   1983-78A
Adv Jumpseat 1	STS-28	   1989 Aug  8	Unknown		   1989-61B

I had earlier speculated that the Titan 2 launches in Sep 1988,
Sep 1989 and Apr 1992 were the Advanced JUMPSEAT payloads, but
I now believe this to be incorrect; they remain among the most
mysterious US military payloads; the launch of the second one
was omitted from US reports to the UN in an unusual contravention of
the treaty on registration of space objects.

Kosmos-2221 was launched by Tsiklon from Plesetsk on Nov 24.
It is an electronic intelligence spacecraft in a 650x 663 km 
x 82.5 deg orbit.

Kosmos-2222, launched on Nov 25, is an early warning satellite
in an elliptical 597x  39758 km x 62.90 deg orbit.

Launches:
Date		Payload		Rocket		From

Nov 20 1540?	Kosmos-2220	Soyuz		Plesetsk	      77A
Nov 21 1345     MSTI-1		Scout		Vandenberg	      78A
Nov 22 2354 	Navstar GPS 32 	Delta 7925	Canaveral	      79A
Nov 23 		Mak-2		-		Mir		1986-17GX
Nov 24 0420?	Kosmos-2221	Tsiklon		Plesetsk	      80A
Nov 25 1100?	Kosmos-2222	Molniya		Plesetsk	      81A
Nov 27 1325?	?		Proton/Blok-DM	Baykonur	      82A

Reentries:
Date
Nov 19		Molniya-1 (54)
Nov 20		Kosmos-2210	[Landed in Kazakhstan?]
Nov 22		Resurs-500	[Landed in Kazakhstan]

Current Shuttle Processing Status
____________________________________________

Orbiters               Location   Mission 
                                          
OV-102 Columbia        OPF Bay 2     STS-55
OV-103 Discovery       LC39A         STS-53
OV-104 Atlantis        Palmdale      OMDP
OV-105 Endeavour       VAB Bay 1     STS-54
                                          
ML/SRB/ET/OV stacks                       
                                          
ML1/STS-53/ET/OV-103   LC39A 
ML2/STS-54/ET/OV-105   VAB Bay 1
ML3/STS-55	       VAB Bay 3


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 |  Jonathan McDowell                 |  phone : (617) 495-7176                |
 |  Harvard-Smithsonian Center for    |                                        |
 |   Astrophysics                     |                                        |
 |  60 Garden St, MS4                 |                                        |
 |  Cambridge MA 02138                |  inter : mcdowell@cfa.harvard.edu      |
 |  USA                               |                                        |
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