Jonathan's Space Report No. 334 1997 Sep 14 Cambridge, MA ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Shuttle and Mir --------------- Solov'yov and Foale failed to locate any punctures in Spektr during an otherwise successful spacewalk on Sep 6. The hatch of the Kvant-2 module was opened at 0107 UTC and closed at 0707 UTC. The spacewalkers probably used the new Orlan-M spacesuits (one report claims Foale used the M and Solov'yov the older DMA version). They used the Strela crane to transfer from the Kvant-2 to Spektr, and Solovyov cut away insulation to inspect the area around the radiator and solar panel mounting. Recent Launches --------------- Seven more Iridium satellites were launched on Sep 14. The Krunichev Proton-K launch vehicle took off from Baykonur at 0136 UTC and its third stage entered a 170 x 170 km x 72.6 deg orbit at around 0146 UTC (by 1100 UTC this had decayed to a 124 x 143 km orbit and reentry has probably already occurred). The Energiya Blok DM-5 (17S40) upper stage made two burns to a 516 x 516 km x 86.6 deg parking orbit where the seven satellites were dispensed around 0304 UTC. The DM-5 then made a third burn to deorbit itself. The satellites will use their own propulsion systems to raise to their final orbits. This is the third use of the DM-5 stage, following Kosmos-2344 and the previous Iridium Proton launch. Unlike DM-1, DM-3 and DM-4, which are minor modifications of the DM-2 stage used for different commercial launch profiles, DM-5 is apparently a significant block upgrade to the DM-2, getting a new ministry article designation (17S40 instead of 11S861). Source: Novosti Kosmonavtiki. There are now 28 working Iridium satellites in orbit, plus one failed one and two dummy satellites. On Sep 12, Meteosat 7 was over 10.0W drifting 0.15 deg east per day, in a 35753 x 35794 km x 1.8 deg geosynch drift orbit. On Sep 14, the most recent elements available for Eutelsat's Hot Bird 3 satellite at GSFC were dated Sep 6, at which time Hot Bird 3 was still in its initial transfer orbit and no liquid apogee motor burns had ocurred. Hot Bird 3 is a Eurostar 2000 class satellite. The Eurostar satellites are made by Matra Marconi Space/Toulouse [et je signale aux lecteurs la-bas que je serai a Toulouse la mois prochaine; recommendations spatio-touristiques svp?] The Eurostar satellites launched to date are: Inmarsat II F-1 1990 Oct 30 Eurostar 1000 Inmarsat II F-2 1991 Mar 9 Eurostar 1000 Inmarsat II F-3 1991 Dec 16 Eurostar 1000 Telecom 2A 1991 Dec 16 Eurostar 2000 Inmarsat II F-4 1992 Apr 15 Eurostar 1000 Telecom 2B 1992 Apr 15 Eurostar 2000 Hispasat 1A 1992 Sep 10 Eurostar 2000 Hispasat 1B 1993 Jul 22 Eurostar 2000 Orion 1 1994 Nov 29 Eurostar 2000 Telecom 2C 1995 Dec 6 Eurostar 2000 Hot Bird 2 1996 Nov 21 Eurostar 2000+ Hot Bird 3 1997 Sep 2 Eurostar 2000+ The Hot Bird satellites provide high power TV broadcasting to supplement Eutelsat's regular satellites, the Eutelsat 2 and forthcoming Eutelsat 3 series which are Spacebus class satellites built by Aerospatiale/Cannes. Mars Global Surveyor entered polar orbit around Mars on Sep 12. The burn began at 0015 UTC and ended at 0037 UTC. Orbit is 258 x 54021 km x 93.3 deg with a period of 44h59.5min. This orbit will be reduced by aerobraking to a low, circular mapping orbit over the next few months. MGS will be the first probe to enter a low orbit around Mars and is the highest inclination satellite of Mars to date, beating Viking 2's 80 degree inclination. The following is a catalog of objects in Martian orbit; the orbits are contemporary with the active phase of the mission, and gravitational perturbations will have greatly changed the orbits of some of the earlier missions, possibly causing some of them to reenter. Where major orbit maneuvers were made, starting date of later orbit is given (e.g. Viking 2). I am confident that Mars Observer never achieved orbit insertion, so it is not included. Corrections and updates are welcome. Orbit heights are given relative to a reference spherical Mars of radius 3393 km. Objects In Martian Orbit No. Object Orbit insertion Orbit km x km x deg Deorbit date - Phobos - 5836 x 6117 x 1.1 - Deimos - 20108 x 20146 x 2 1 Mariner 9 1971 Nov 14 1394 x 17144 x 64 2 M-71 No. 171 (Mars-2) 1971 Nov 27 1380 x 25000 x 49 3 M-71 No. 172 (Mars-3) 1971 Dec 2 1530 x 214500 x 60 4 M-73 No. 53S (Mars-5) 1974 Feb 12 1769 x 32560 x 35 5 Viking Orbiter 1 1976 Jun 19 1514 x 50300 x 37.7 1976 Jun 21 1513 x 32625 x 37.9 1977 Mar 11 299 x 30750 x 39.2 1980 Jul 31 411 x 56275 x 37.9 6 Viking Lander 1 1976 Jul 20 1513 x 32625 x 38 1976 Jul 20 7 VO1 Bioshield Base 1976 Jul 20? 1513 x 32625 x 38 8 Viking Orbiter 2 1976 Aug 7 1502 x 35728 x 55.6 1976 Aug 25 1432 x 32042 x 55.6 1976 Aug 27 1502 x 32692 x 55.4 1976 Sep 30 1518 x 34933 x 75.1 1976 Dec 20 787 x 35463 x 80.1 1977 Oct 23 302 x 33080 x 80.3 9 Viking Lander 2 1976 Sep 3 1502 x 32692 x 55.4 1976 Sep 3 10 VO2 Bioshield Base 1978 Mar 3 302 x 33080 x 80.3 11 Fobos-2 (1F No. 102) 1989 Jan 29 867 x 81357 x 0.9 1989 Feb 18 6145 x 6409 x 1.3 12 Fobos-2 ADU 1989 Feb 18 6145 x 6409 x 1.3 13 Mars Global Surveyor 1997 Sep 12 258 x 54021 x 93.3 Notes: Objects 6 and 7 separated from 5; 9 and 10 separated from 8; and 12 separated from 11. The Mars-2 and Mars-3 landers separated from the orbiters prior to orbit insertion. The following objects failed to reach Martian orbit: F1 M-69 No. 521 1969 Mar 27 Impact on USSR F2 M-69 No. 522 1969 Apr 2 Destroyed during launch F3 Mariner 8 1971 May 9 Fell in Atlantic Ocean F4 M-71 No. 170 1971 May 10 Failed to leave Earth orbit (Kosmos-419) F5 M-73 No. 52S (Mars-4) 1974 Feb 10 Flew past Mars, in solar orbit F6 1F No. 101 (Fobos-1) 1989 Jan 23 Flew past Mars, in solar orbit F7 Mars Observer 1993 Aug 24 Flew past Mars, in solar orbit (may have exploded 1993 Aug 21?) The Delta stage from the ACE launch was very briefly in the L1 transfer orbit of 175 x km x 1.5 million km x 28.7 deg, from which it would have been perturbed into solar orbit. It then depleted its fuel with a retrograde burn that placed it back in Earth orbit of 174 x 840904 km x 28.8 deg, from which it is expected to reenter after a few revs. (Thanks to Boeing/Delta folks for the info). Table of Recent Launches ------------------------ Date UT Name Launch Vehicle Site Mission INTL. DES. Aug 1 2020 OrbView 2 Pegasus XL Vandenberg Remote sen.37A Aug 5 1536 Soyuz TM-26 Soyuz-U Baykonur LC1 Spaceship 38A Aug 7 1441 Discovery Shuttle Kennedy LC39A Spaceship 39A Aug 7 2227 CRISTA-SPAS OV-103,LEO Remote sen.39B Aug 8 0646 PAS 6 Ariane 4 Kourou ELA2 Comsat 40A Aug 14 2049 Kosmos-2345 Proton-K/DM2 Baykonur Early Warn 41A Aug 19 1750 Agila 2 CZ-3B Xichang LC2 Comsat 42A Aug 21 0038 Iridium SV022) Delta 7920 Vandenberg SLC2W Comsat 43E Iridium SV023) Comsat 43D Iridium SV024) Comsat 43C Iridium SV025) Comsat 43B Iridium SV026) Comsat 43A Aug 23 0651 Lewis LMLV-1 Vandenberg SLC6 Remote sen. 44A Aug 25 1439 ACE Delta 7920 Canaveral LC17A Space sci. 45A Aug 28 0033 PAS 5 Proton-K/DM3 Baykonur Comsat 46A Aug 29 1502 FORTE Pegasus XL Vandenberg Space sci. 47A Sep 1 1400 Iridium MFS ) CZ-2C Taiyuan Inert 48B Iridium MFS ) Inert 48F Sep 2 2221 Hot Bird 3 ) Ariane 44LP Kourou ELA2 Comsat 49A Meteosat 7 ) Weather 49B Sep 4 1203 GE-3 Atlas IIAS Canaveral LC36A Comsat 50A Sep 14 0136 Iridium SV027 ) Proton-K/DM5 Baykonur Comsat 51 Iridium SV028 ) Comsat 51 Iridium SV029 ) Comsat 51 Iridium SV030 ) Comsat 51 Iridium SV031 ) Comsat 51 Iridium SV032 ) Comsat 51 Iridium SV033 ) Comsat 51 Current Shuttle Processing Status ____________________________________________ Orbiters Location Mission Launch Due OV-102 Columbia OPF Bay 2 STS-87 Nov 19 OV-103 Discovery OPF Bay 3 STS-91 May 28 OV-104 Atlantis LC39A STS-86 Sep 25 OV-105 Endeavour OPF Bay 1 STS-89 Jan 15 MLP/SRB/ET/OV stacks MLP1/ MLP2/RSRM-61/ET/OV-104 LC39A STS-86 MLP3/ .-------------------------------------------------------------------------. | 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.* | '-------------------------------------------------------------------------'