Jonathan's Space Report No. 317 1997 Apr 4 Cambridge, MA ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Shuttle and Mir --------------- Shuttle mission STS-83 was launched from Kennedy Space Center at approximately 1920:36 UTC on Apr 4. The orbiter is OV-102 Columbia; solid rocket motors RSRM-59 separated two minutes after launch and the external tank ET-84 was jettisoned at 1929 UTC, leaving Columbia in an elliptical transfer orbit with an apogee near 300 km. The OMS 2 orbit circularization burn was scheduled for 2000 UTC. Launch was delayed for 20 minutes due to minor technical problems. The Microgravity Science Lab 1 (MSL-1) mission carries the following payloads in its cargo bay: Bay 1-2: Airlock Tunnel Adapter Bay 3-5: Spacelab Long Tunnel Bay 4 Starboard: CRYOFD Bay 6-10: Spacelab Long Module, Flight Unit 1 Bay 11 keel: OARE Bay 12: EDO Kit (Extended Duration Orbiter pallet) The Long Module laboratory is a reusable space vehicle which has flown in space seven times previously, almost always aboard orbiter OV-102 Columbia: Long Module 1 flights 1983 Spacelab 1 (Columbia) 1985 Spacelab 3 (Challenger) 1991 Spacelab Life Sciences 1 (Columbia) 1992 US Microgravity Lab 1 (Columbia) 1993 Spacelab D-2 (Columbia) 1994 International Microgravity Lab 2 (Columbia) 1995 US Microgravity Lab 2 (Columbia) 1997 Microgravity Science Lab 1 (Columbia) There is a second Long Module which has flown six times, on every single orbiter in NASA's fleet: Long Module 2 flights 1985 Spacelab D-1 (Challenger) 1992 International Microgravity Lab 1 (Discovery) 1992 Spacelab J (Endeavour) 1993 Spacelab Life Sciences 2 (Columbia) 1995 Spacelab-Mir (Atlantis) 1996 Life Science/Microgravity Spacelab (Columbia) 1998, planned: Neurolab (Columbia) On this MSL-1 mission, Long Module 1 carries a number of experiment racks including a test flight of the International Standard Payload Rack which is to be used on Space Station. On this mission the ISPR is called EXPRESS, is installed in module Rack 7, and carries a plant growth experiment and a fluid physics experiment. Rack 3 contains the TEMPUS electromagnetic levitation facility and two acceleration monitoring systems. Another set of racks comprises the Combustion Module (Rack 6, Rack 8) which will be used for experiments in microgravity combustion (setting fire to things in space). The Large Isothermal Furnace (Rack 9) will conduct experiments with metallic liquids. The Drop Combustion Experiment (Rack 10) has another fire experiment. Rack 12 is the misleadingly named Middeck Glovebox, which used to fly on the orbiter mid-deck but now is in the Long Module, and carries more materials experiments. The OARE Orbiter Acceleration Research Experiment is an instrument attached to the bottom of the cargo bay, which has flown on many previous Columbia missions. It measures the acceleration environment of the Shuttle, which is particularly important on a microgravity experiment mission. The CRYOFD (Cryogenic Flexible Diode) payload is mounted on an adapter beam on the payload bay wall. It consists of the Hitchhiker avionics box and a Getaway Special type canister containing two experimental heat pipes. Heat pipes are devices used to passively remove heat from electronics on spacecraft. Technical problems with the life support systems and thermal control systems continue on board Mir. The carbon dioxide removal system failed on Apr 3. Launch of a supply craft, Progress M-34, with repair equipment for the oxygen systems, is scheduled for Apr 6. Recent Launches --------------- A Defense Meteorological Satellite Program weather satellite for the US Air Force was launched on Apr 4 from Vandenberg. The payload is probably satellite 5D S-14 (Satellite no. 14) and will become 5D F-14 (Flight no. 14) now it is up. Earlier Block 5D satellites were launched on refurbished Thor and Atlas ICBMs; this time was DMSP's first use of a a two-stage refurbished Titan II ICBM. The Titan 23G-6 rocket separated from the payload six minutes after launch and delivered the DMSP and its integral Star 37 solid motor upper stage into a suborbital trajectory over the Pacific. The Star 37 was due to fire at apogee to place DMSP in an 800 km sun-synchronous orbit. The Block 5D program is a classic example of the disease of designation asymptotia. The Block 5A satellites introduced in 1970 were significantly larger than their Block 4B precursors but were the same basic shape. Block 5B and 5C were minor upgrades to the 5A design. Block 5D, however, was a completely and utterly different spacecraft and should really have been called Block 6. Since then the design has been upgraded to a 5D-2 variant (should have been at least Block 6B if not Block 7) and the next launch will be a 5D-3. Thank goodness, a Block 6 is finally on the drawing boards, although at this point I wouldn't be surprised if they decided to rename it 5D-3-B. By the way, for some incomprehensible reason the Block 1 to Block 3 series weather satellites of 1962-1965 are still classified. List of DMSP Block 5D launches ------------------------------ Flight Satellite Operational Launch Launch vehicle Designation Date -------------------------------------------------------------- F-1 S-1 12535 1976 Sep 11 Thor 172 F-2 S-2 13536 1977 Jun 5 Thor 183 F-3 S-3 14537 1978 May 1 Thor 143 F-4 S-5 15539 1979 Jun 6 Thor 264 F-5 S-4 16538 1980 Jul 14 * Thor 304 F-6 S-6 17540 1982 Dec 21 Atlas 60E F-7 S-7 18541 1983 Nov 18 Atlas 58E F-8 S-9 19543/USA 26 1987 Jun 20 Atlas 59E F-9 S-8 20542/USA 29 1987 Jun 20 Atlas 54E F-10 S-10 21544/USA 68 1990 Dec 1 Atlas 61E F-11 S-12 22546/USA 73 1991 Nov 28 Atlas 53E F-12 S-11 23545/USA 106 1994 Aug 29 Atlas 20E F-13 S-13 24547/USA 109 1995 Mar 24 Atlas 45E F-14 S-14? 25548?/USA 1997 Apr 4 Titan 23G-6 -------------------------------------------------------------- * Launch failure; last DMSP Block 5D-1 The Zeya satellite is an 87 kg small satellite possibly based on the Strela-1M military comsat bus launched in octuplets during the 1970s and 1980s. It carries 20 laser reflectors for geodesy and GLONASS and GPS navigation receivers (*not* transmitters) presumably for orbital determination to support its geodesy mission. Zeya also carries the RS-16 amateur radio payload with 29.4 MHz, 435 MHz and 145.8 MHz antennae. Thanks to Eric Rosenberg and Vladimir Agapov for the info. Peter Klanowski reports that Itar-Tass (Jan 23) says Zeya was " developed by the Krasnoyarsk-26 applied mechanics research and production association [i.e. NPO-PM - ed.] jointly with the Mozhaisky military space engineering academy on order from the military space forces in the interests of the Russian Defence Ministry." Table of Recent Launches ------------------------ Date UT Name Launch Vehicle Site Mission INTL. DES. Mar 1 0107 Intelsat 801 Ariane 44P Kourou ELA2 Comsat 09A Mar 4 0200 Zeya Start-1 Svobodniy LC5 Comsat 10A Mar 8 0601 Tempo 2 Atlas IIA Canaveral LC36A Comsat 11A Apr 4 1647 DMSP 5D-2 S-14 Titan 23G Vandenberg SLC4W Weather Apr 4 1920 Columbia/STS-83) Shuttle Kennedy LC39A Spaceship MSL-1 Spacelab ) Current Shuttle Processing Status ____________________________________________ Orbiters Location Mission Launch Due OV-102 Columbia LEO STS-83 Apr 3 OV-103 Discovery OPF Bay 2 STS-85 Jul 17 OV-104 Atlantis OPF Bay 3 STS-84 May 15 OV-105 Endeavour OPF Bay 1 STS-86 Sep 18 ML/SRB/ET/OV stacks ML1/ ML2/RSRM-60/ET-85 VAB Bay 3 STS-84 ML3/ LC39A STS-83 .-------------------------------------------------------------------------. | Jonathan McDowell | phone : (617) 495-7176 | | Harvard-Smithsonian Center for | | | Astrophysics | | | 60 Garden St, MS6 | | | Cambridge MA 02138 | inter : jcm@urania.harvard.edu | | USA | jmcdowell@cfa.harvard.edu | | | | JSR: http://hea-www.harvard.edu/QEDT/jcm/space/jsr/jsr.html | | Back issues: ftp://sao-ftp.harvard.edu/pub/jcm/space/news/news.* | '-------------------------------------------------------------------------'