Jonathan's Space Report No. 163 (Revised) 1993 Aug 4 Last minute amendment since I guessed wrong on the Titan payload first time around. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Shuttle ------- Launch of STS-51 has been delayed until at least Aug 12. Concern about possible exceptional Perseid meteor shower activity this year during the perihelion passage of Perseid parent comet P/Swift-Tuttle caused the delay until after the annual Perseid display. Meanwhile, the external tank and solid rocket boosters for STS-58 have been mated in the VAB. The STS-58 mission will be a Spacelab mission using orbiter Columbia. Mir --- Tsibliev and Serebrov continue in orbit aboard the Mir complex. Their callsigns are 'Sirius-1' and 'Sirius-2'. Launches -------- A Titan 4 blew up one minute 41 seconds after launch on Aug 2, and is being billed as the most expensive space accident since the loss of Challenger. According to the New York Times, the payload was not a LACROSSE as originally thought, but an advanced Naval Ocean Surveillance Satellite system. This system, consisting of three satellites which maintain a fixed distance from each other to carry out interferometric location of radio signals from ships, is the third in a second-generation series. In the first generation, WHITECLOUD, which flew from 1976 to 1987, the three satellites were reportedly physically connected by long (several km!) wires to a central deployer core, the configuration being visible in binoculars from the ground as a fixed pattern moving across the sky. The details of the new generation are not yet clear. Launch of the Titan 4 was from Space Launch Complex 4-East at Vandenberg AFB, California. This is the seventh Titan 4 launch and its first failure. The largest Titan 4 variant, the Titan 401/Centaur, has been stuck on the pad at Cape Canaveral for over a year because of various delays; this setback will certainly delay the launch even further. Titan 4 launches: 1 1989 Jun 15 Titan 402/IUS DSP F14 early warning 2 1990 Jun 8 Titan 405 Advanced Ocean Surveillance 3 1990 Nov 13 Titan 402/IUS DSP F15 early warning 4 1991 Mar 8 Titan 403 LACROSSE 2 5 1991 Nov 8 Titan 403 Advanced Ocean Surveillance 6 1992 Nov 28 Titan 404/TPA Advanced CRYSTAL spy sat? 7 1993 Aug 2 Titan 403 Advanced Ocean Surveillance First Generation WHITECLOUD launches: Test vehicle 1971 Dec 14 983x999x70 1971-110A,C,D,E NOSS 1 1976 Apr 30 1092x1128x63 1976-38 A,C,D,J NOSS 2 1977 Dec 8 1054x1169x63 1977-112A,D,E,F NOSS 3 1980 Mar 3 1048x1166x63 1980-19 A,C,D,G NOSS 4 Dec 9 - - NOSS 5 1983 Feb 9 1052x1168x63 1983-08 A,E,F,H NOSS 6 Jun 9 1051x1170x63 1983-56 A,C,D,G NOSS 7 1984 Feb 5 1052x1172x63.4 1984-12 A,C,D,F NOSS 8 1986 Feb 9 1049x1166x63.0 1986-14 A,E,F,H NOSS 9 1987 May 15 1045x1179x63 1987-43 A,E,F,H Erratum: The launch on Jul 22 was not in the Resurs-F series. It has been given the name Kosmos-2260. The launch announcement stated that it was part of a series to compile an official register of natural resources and to study soil properties (i.e. perhaps agricultural studies?). It has also reportedly been given the name Resurs-T. The recon satellite Kosmos-2259 surprisingly reentered after only 11 days in space. It was expected to stay up for two months. On its last day in space its orbit was 172 x 322 km, which is high enough to suggest a deliberate de-orbiting rather than a reentry due to engine failure. Date Name Launch Vehicle Site Mission INTL. DES. Jul 1 1433 Soyuz TM-17 Soyuz 2 Baykonur Spaceship 43A Jul 8 0715 Kosmos-2258 Tsiklon-M Baykonur EORSAT 44A Jul 14 1640 Kosmos-2259 Soyuz Plesetsk Recon 45A Jul 19 2204 DSCS III Atlas AC-104 Canaveral Comsat 46A Jul 22 0856 Kosmos-2260 Soyuz Plesetsk Remote sens. 47A Jul 22 2258 Hispasat 1B ) Ariane 44L Kourou Comsat 48A Insat 2B ) Comsat 48B Aug 2 1959 LACROSSE 3? Titan 403 Vandenberg Recon FTO Reentries --------- Jul 1 Endeavour Landed at Kennedy Space Center Jul 1 EURECA Returned to Earth aboard Endeavour Jul 4 Progress M-18 Deorbited Jul 4 Raduga capsule Landed in Russia Jul 12 Resurs-F1 Landed in Kazakhstan? Jul 18 MSTI-1 Reentered Jul 22 Soyuz TM-16 Landed in Kazakhstan Jul 25 Kosmos-2259 Reentered? Current Shuttle Processing Status ____________________________________________ Orbiters Location Mission OV-102 Columbia OPF Bay 2 STS-58 OV-103 Discovery LC39B STS-51 OV-104 Atlantis Palmdale OMDP OV-105 Endeavour OPF Bay 1 STS-61 ML/SRB/ET/OV stacks ML1/RSRM-34/ET-57 VAB Bay 3 STS-58 ML3/RSRM-33/ET-59/OV-103 LC39B STS-51 -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- --- WORLDWIDE SATELLITE LAUNCHES --- Following my review of Worldwide Satellite Launches (WSL), a monthly publication by Phillip Clark, I received from him a rebuttal of some minor criticisms I expressed. In the interests of completeness I reproduce an abridged version of his comments below: "Following the demise of the RAE Tables I decided to produce a replacement on a commercial basis; not a straight copy but an expansion which would result in the kind of publication I wish had been around twenty years ago. Naturally there are omissions as well as additions to the RAE format, and I invite comments and suggestions which will all be seriously considered. " "Dr. McDowell mourns the lack of lifetimes in WSL. This was a conscious decision on my part as I do not have the RAE algorithms and would rather not give estimated figures which could be greatly in error. I do give descent dates and times for all objects, and I do include launch and descent times to the nearest minute when they are announced, something that the RAE did not do. More orbital data for manoeuvring objects, and orbital data for more objects involving recognizable operational debris, are included. As for including perigee passage and ascending node data, I had not considered this but will ponder over it as something to add later. Orbital epochs are given to one more decimal place than in the RAE table. The descriptive data for Russian rocket stages is more complete and more accurate. Finally, unlike the RAE Tables, data for launch failures are included. " "As for the production standard, I appreciate Dr. McDowell's comments. Should the number of subscribers increase I shall be able to invest in a laser printer. At present masters are prepared in bold print on a 24-pin dot matrix printer to ensure to good quality original. However I would hope that the amount of information in WSL is not overlooked because of the printer quality which in any case is normally very clear. " "Anyone interested in further details of WSL can contact me at: Molniya Space Consultancy, 30 Sonia Gardens, Heston, Middlesex TW5 0LZ, England (tel and fax +44 81 570 3248). The subscription for 1993 launches is US$100 and that for 1994 (including the fully-updated and corrected 1993 launch list) will be about US$120." Phillip S Clark -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- .-----------------------------------------------------------------------------. | Jonathan McDowell | phone : (617) 495-7176 | | Harvard-Smithsonian Center for | | | Astrophysics | | | 60 Garden St, MS4 | | | Cambridge MA 02138 | inter : jcm@urania.harvard.edu | | USA | | '-----------------------------------------------------------------------------'