Jonathan's Space Report No. 351 1998 Mar 2 Cambridge, MA ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Shuttle and Mir --------------- Progress M-37 redocked with the Kvant module on the Mir complex on Feb 23. Musabaev took official command of Mir in the early hours (UTC) of Feb 19. Launch of STS-90 is now due for Apr 16. Recent Launches --------------- The final fuel dump from the Japanese H-II second stage was observed from Argentina as a mag -2 cometary object at 0850 UTC on Feb 21. The name of the COMETS satellite, "Kakehashi" reportedly means "bridge" or "intermediary" (thanks to Geoff Perry for forwarding tht info). Kakehashi's apogee motor will be fired to place it in a higher orbit. Orbital's L-1011 Stargazer launch plane took off from Vandenberg at 0605 UTC on Feb 26 and launched a Pegasus XL over the Pacific an hour later over 36.0N 123.0W. The three stage Pegasus placed two satellites in a 535 x 580 km x 97.8 deg orbit. The main payload for the Pegasus launch was SNOE, the Student Nitric Oxide Explorer. This small satellite built by the University of Colorado measures the NO density as a function of altitude. It's the first satellite in the small STEDI (Student Explorer Demonstration Initiative) program, or University Explorer (UNEX) series. (Technically, HETE was also managed under the UNEX umbrella). The secondary payload is T1, Bill Gates' first satellite. This demonstration payload is an Orbital-built Microstar bus (used for the Orbcomm satellites), but with an experimental Boeing/Seattle Ka-band high frequency, broadband, high throughput data communications payload. It's a pathfinder for the Teledesic LEO constellation which will build a global space-based Internet. The T1 satellite was cloaked in secrecy prior to launch, hidden behind a cover story called BATSAT. BATSAT was advertised as a small technology satellite from the Texas Space Grant Consortium, intended to transmit Ka-band and X-band signals to test out signal attenuation with the Jet Propulsion Lab's Deep Space Network. It now seems possible that this story was largely a fiction. Hot Bird 4 was launched on Feb 27. Hot Bird 4 is a high power television satellite for EUTELSAT, the European Telecommunications Satellite Organization. It was launched by Arianespace's Ariane 42P launch vehicle, with two solid strapon motors. The Eurostar class satellite was built by Matra Marconi Space/Toulouse. On Feb 28, a Lockheed Martin/Denver Atlas IIAS rocket, AC-151, was launched with the Intelsat 806 international telecommunications satellite. The LM7000 class satellite, built by Lockheed Martin/East Windsor, will provide communications to Europe and Latin America. Transfer orbit for Intelsat 806 was 190 x 35656 km x 23.0 deg. The Iridium folks have provided me with the correct names for the Feb 18 Iridium launch. Upcoming launches include Iridium 51 and 61 on Long March, and 55, 57, 58, 59, 60 on Delta; Globalstar inform me the prelaunch name for their payloads are simply FM1 to FM4, but names based on the satellites' position in the constellation will be assigned later. The initial Globalstar orbital heights were 1250 km; their on-board propulsion will raise the orbits later. Table of Recent Launches ------------------------ Date UT Name Launch Vehicle Site Mission INTL. DES. Jan 7 0228 Lunar Prospector Athena-2 Canaveral SLC46 Probe 01A Jan 10 0032 Skynet 4D Delta 7925 Canaveral SLC17B Comsat 02A Jan 22 1256 'Ofeq-4 Shaviyt Palmachim Imaging F01 Jan 23 0248 Endeavour Shuttle Kennedy LC39A Spaceship 03A Jan 29 1633 Soyuz TM-27 Soyuz-U Baykonur LC1 Spaceship 04A Jan 29 1837 CAPRICORN Atlas IIA Canaveral SLC36A Comsat? 05A Feb 4 2329 Brasilsat B3 ) Ariane 44LP Kourou ELA2 Comsat 06A Inmarsat 3 F5 ) Comsat 06B Feb 10 1320 GFO ) Taurus Vandenberg 576E Altimeter 07A Orbcomm G1 ) Comsat 07B Orbcomm G2 ) Comsat 07C Celestis-02 ) Burial 07D Feb 14 1434 Globalstar FM1 ) Comsat 08A Globalstar FM2 ) Delta 7420 Canaveral SLC17A Comsat 08B Globalstar FM3 ) Comsat 08C Globalstar FM4 ) Comsat 08D Feb 17 1030? Kosmos-2349 Soyuz-U Baykonur LC31? Recon 09A Feb 18 1358 Iridium 50 ) Delta 7920 Vandenberg SLC2 Comsat 10A Iridium 52 ) Comsat 10C Iridium 53 ) Comsat 10D Iridium 54 ) Comsat 10E Iridium 56 ) Comsat 10B Feb 21 0755 Kakehashi H-II Tanegashima Y Comsat 11A Feb 26 0707 SNOE ) Pegasus XL Vandenberg Science 12A Teledesic 1 ) Comsat 12B Feb 27 2238 Hot Bird 4 Ariane 42P Kourou ELA2 Comsat 13A Feb 28 0021 Intelsat 806 Atlas IIAS Canaveral LC36 Comsat 14A Current Shuttle Processing Status __________________________________ Orbiters Location Mission Launch Due OV-102 Columbia OPF Bay 3 STS-90 Apr 16 OV-103 Discovery OPF Bay 2 STS-91 May 28 OV-104 Atlantis Palmdale OMDP OV-105 Endeavour OPF Bay 1 STS-88 Sep 17? MLP/SRB/ET/OV stacks MLP1/ MLP2/RSRM65/ET VAB Bay 3 STS-90 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/~jcm/space/jsr/jsr.html | | Back issues: ftp://sao-ftp.harvard.edu/pub/jcm/space/news/news.* | '-------------------------------------------------------------------------'