Jonathan's Space Report No. 326 1997 Jul 5 Cambridge, MA ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Shuttle and Mir --------------- Orbiter OV-102 Columbia was launched on mission STS-94 on Jul 1 at 1802:02 UTC. The RSRM-62 solid rocket motors separated at 1804 UTC. The ET-86 external tank separated at 1811:13 UTC leaving Columbia in an elliptical transfer orbit which was circularized later by the OMS engines to a 300 km orbit inclined at 28.5 deg to the equator. Columbia's mission is MSL-1R, the reflight of the Microgravity Science Laboratory. The MSL-1 mission was cut short earlier this year when a fuel cell malfunctioned. This is the first time that a Shuttle crew has been recycled to fly a mission again. The collision on Mir happened at around 0910 UTC Jun 25 according to Vladimir Agapov. The cosmonauts reported it to the ground no earlier than 0917 UTC when they got into the radio communication zone. The Spektr module hatch was closed by 0938 UTC. Progress M-34 was deorbited over the Pacific at 0534 UTC on Jul 2. The replacement cargo ship, Progress M-35, was launched on Jul 5. It will deliver repair equipment to the Mir station. Mars Pathfinder --------------- The Mars Pathfinder (MPF) space probe landed on Mars at 1656 UTC on Jul 4. Mars Pathfinder is part of NASA's Discovery program. The spacecraft consists of: - a cruise stage, which separates prior to entry into the Martian atmosphere - an aeroshell, which protects the lander during atmospheric entry, - main parachute, 12.7m diameter - backshell with RAD Rocket Assisted Decelerator, which brakes the craft just before touchdown, - a set of airbags which inflate prior to touchdown, - the MPF lander itself, - the MFEX (MicroRover Flight Experiment), or Sojourner, a small 10 kg automated vehicle. MPF was built by the Jet Propulsion Lab (JPL), which also controls the mission. The lander has a camera and a meteorology experiment. The rover has an X-ray spectrometer to study the composition of rocks at the landing site. MPF landed in the Ares Vallis region of Mars at 19 N 34 W, southeast of the Tharsis volcanoes and of the Viking 1 landing site. The cruise stage separated at 1622 UTC. The aeroshell entered the Martian atmosphere at an altitude of 125 km at 1652 UTC. At 1654 UTC the parachute deployed, and at 1655 UTC the aeroshell separated from the lander. The rockets fired, the airbags inflated, and the MPF lander reached the surface at about 1656 UTC, landing on its base petal. The light travel time from Mars to Earth is 10 minutes and 40 seconds. At around 1706 UTC transmissions from the surface were received at JPL. The airbags then were slowly deflated, and at around 1800 UTC the side petals deployed to orient the lander correctly. Confirmation of petal deployment was received at 1836 UTC. The first pictures of the surface show an uneven landscape with many rocks and large hills on the horizon. Controllers plan to adjust the petals and airbags before deploying the rover, as the petal on which the rover sits is tilted a little high. The rover is also having problems communicating with the lander (and thus with Earth). Deployment of the Sojourner rover was planned for Jul 6 at the time of writing. Previous landings and impacts on Mars: Mars-2 1971 Nov 27 44S 313W Hellespontus Montes, Noachis province Mars-3 1971 Dec 2 45S 158W Sirenum Terra, Phaethontis province Mars-6 1974 Mar 12 24S 25W Margarifiter Terra, Margarifiter Sinus province Viking 1 1976 Jul 20 22N 48W Chryse Planitia, Lunae Palus province Viking 2 1976 Sep 3 48N 226W Utopia Planitia, Cebrenia province MPF 1997 Jul 4 19N 34W Ares Vallis, Oxia Palus province Recent Launches --------------- The other NASA Discovery program probe launched so far is NEAR, the Near Earth Asteroid Rendezvous spacecraft. Built and operated by the Applied Physics Lab of Johns Hopkins University, NEAR was launched in Feb 1996. On Jun 27 NEAR made a 1200 km flyby of minor planet (253) Mathilde, the first C-type minor planet to be visited by a probe. On Jul 3 NEAR made a major orbit maneuver to target it for a Dec 1998 rendezvous with minor planet (433) Eros. The Midori (ADEOS) satellite failed on Jun 30 for unknown reasons. Space debris collision was initially suggested but that seems unlikely since a gradual power decline was observed before the failure. Table of Recent Launches ------------------------ Date UT Name Launch Vehicle Site Mission INTL. DES. May 5 1455 Iridium SV004 ) Delta 7920 Vandenberg SLC2W Comsat 20E Iridium SV005 ) Comsat 20D Iridium SV006 ) Comsat 20C Iridium SV007 ) Comsat 20B Iridium SV008 ) Comsat 20A May 11 1617 DFH-3 CZ-3A Xichang LC2 Comsat 21A May 14 0033 Kosmos-2342 Molniya-M Plesetsk LC43/4 EarlyWarn 22A May 15 0808 Atlantis STS-84 Shuttle Kennedy LC39A Spaceship 23A May 15 1210 Kosmos-2343 Soyuz-U Baykonur LC31 Recon 24A May 20 0707 - Zenit-2 Baykonur LC45 Sigint FTO May 21 2239 Thor 2 Delta 7925 Canaveral LC17A Comsat 25A May 24 1700 Telstar 5 Proton-K/DM-4 Baykonur LC81 Comsat 26A Jun 3 2321 Inmarsat 3 F4) Ariane 44L Kourou ELA2 Comsat 27A Insat 2D ) Comsat 27B Jun 6 1757 Kosmos-2344 Proton-K/DM-2M Baykonur LC200 Recon? 28A Jun 10 1201 FY-2B Chang Zheng 3 Xichang Weather 29A Jun 18 1402 Iridium SV009 ) Proton-K/DM-5 Baykonur Comsat 30 Iridium SV010 ) Comsat 30 Iridium SV011 ) Comsat 30 Iridium SV012 ) Comsat 30 Iridium SV013 ) Comsat 30 Iridium SV014 ) Comsat 30 Iridium SV016 ) Comsat 30 Jun 25 2344 Intelsat 802 Ariane 44P Kourou ELA2 Comsat 31A Jul 1 1802 Columbia ) Shuttle Kennedy LC39A Spaceship 32A Spacelab MSL-1R ) Jul 5 0411 Progress M-35 Soyuz-U Baykonur LC1 Cargo 33A Current Shuttle Processing Status ____________________________________________ Orbiters Location Mission Launch Due OV-102 Columbia LEO STS-94 Jul 1 OV-103 Discovery OPF Bay 2 STS-85 Aug 7 OV-104 Atlantis OPF Bay 3 STS-86 Sep 18 OV-105 Endeavour OPF Bay 1 STS-89 Jan 15 MLP/SRB/ET/OV stacks MLP1/ LC39A STS-94 MLP2/ MLP3/RSRM-57/ET-87 VAB Bay 3? STS-85 .-------------------------------------------------------------------------. | 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.* | '-------------------------------------------------------------------------'