Jonathan's Space Report No. 353 1998 Mar 25 Cambridge, MA ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Shuttle and Mir --------------- RKK Energiya's automated cargo vehicle Progress 7K-TGM No. 240 was launched on Mar 14 and named Progress M-38. Vehicle 240 is specially modified to carry the second VDU (Vynosnaya Dvigatel'naya Ustanovka, External Engine Unit) propulsion unit. If vehicle 240 is similar to the vehicle 209 (Progress M-14) which carried the first VDU in 1992, the unit is mounted externally on a special structure between the cargo module and the service module, replacing the OKD fuel section present on normal Progress vehicles. The crew will spacewalk to extract the VDU from Progress and place it on the end of a Sofora boom extending from the Kvant module. The VDU is used to provide attitude control capability for the station. Launch mass of Progress M-38 was 7007 kg. By 0320 UTC on Mar 15 it had successfully completed its first two orbital maneuvers. It replaced Progress M-37 at the docking port on the Kvant module, with a successful docking on Mar 16. Progress M-37 undocked on Mar 15 at 1916 UTC and was deorbited at 2303 UTC over the Pacific. Columbia was moved to the VAB on March 16 in preparation for STS-90. On Mar 24 it was rolled out to pad 39B. Recent Launches --------------- NASA has begun drop testing of an X-38 test vehicle. The X-38 is a project to develop a lifeboat (crew return vehicle) for the Space Station. X-38 V-131 was dropped from a B-52 on Mar 12, flying 7 km over Edwards AFB, and parachuted to the desert. Vehicle 131 is a subscale test prototype, not a spaceworthy craft. Two other 130-series X-38's will be drop tests prior to the space flight of the full-scale V-201 in the year 2000. Lockheed Martin Astronautics launched the last Atlas II, AC-132, from Cape Canaveral on Mar 16. It placed a Hughes HS-601 satellite in orbit for the US Navy. UHF Follow-On F8 is the first Block III UHF Follow-On satellite, replacing the old FLTSATCOM satellites. It carries UHF, EHF and Ka-band transponders, including a video broadcast payload. Future Atlas launches will use the IIA and IIAS models, as well as the forthcoming IIAR variant. The French SPOT 4 remote sensing satellite was launched on Mar 24. Developed by Matra Marconi Space/Toulouse for CNES, the 2755 kg satellite provides 10-m resolution images with a wide field of view. SPOT 4 also carries a wide field 'vegetation' imager and a laser communications experiment. Launch was by an Arianespace Ariane 40 rocket, the base Ariane 4 model with no strap-on boosters. The liquid hydrogen fuelled third stage of the Ariane 40 entered an 800 km sun-synchronous orbit together with SPOT 4. The Kakehashi satellite has begun orbit raising maneuvers. Table of Recent Launches ------------------------ Date UT Name Launch Vehicle Site Mission INTL. DES. 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 SLC36B Comsat 14A Mar 14 2246 Progress M-38 Soyuz-U Baykonur LC1 Cargo 15A Mar 16 2132 UHF F/O F8 Atlas II Canaveral SLC36A Comsat 16A Mar 24 0146 SPOT 4 Ariane 40 Kourou ELA2 Imaging 17A Current Shuttle Processing Status __________________________________ Orbiters Location Mission Launch Due OV-102 Columbia LC39B 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/RSRM66 VAB Bay 1 STS-91 MLP2/RSRM65/ET-91/OV-102 LC39B 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.* | '-------------------------------------------------------------------------'