Jonathan's Space Report No. 376 1998 Oct 21 Cambridge, MA ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Shuttle and Mir --------------- STS-95 is due to be launched on Oct 29. Meanwhile, Endeavour has been moved to the VAB in preparation for STS-88. STS-95 crew are: Curtis L. Brown, Jr., LtCol USAF, NASA, Commander Steven W. Lindsey, LtCol USAF, NASA, Pilot, Stephen K. Robinson, Ph.D, NASA, Mission Specialist 1 Scott E. Parazynski, MD, NASA, Mission Specialist 2 Pedro F. Duque, ESA, Mission Specialist 3 Chiaki Naito Mukai, MD, NASDA, Payload Specialist 1 John H. Glenn, Jr., Col. USAF (Ret.), U.S. Senate (D-Oh.), Payload Specialist 2 Brown has flown on four missions (STS-47, 66, 77 and 85); Parazynski on two (STS-66 and 86), and Lindsey, Robinson Mukai and Glenn each have made one flight. Editorial --------- I've added a new `work in progress' web page giving details of the French national space program, including previously unpublished information on the French sounding rocket program courtesy of CNES/Toulouse. Comments and corrections, as always, welcome. http://hea-www.harvard.edu/~jcm/space/nbook/programs/europe/cnes/ Errata ------- In the description of the Hot Bird 5 launch, it has been pointed out to me that the Centaur post-separation depletion (letting the remaining fuel out to lower the chance of an explosion which would cause space debris ) does not involve ignition of the engines, just a venting of the tanks. The parking orbit perigee was 150 km. Thanks to Mark Kinnersley for spotting another typo in my launch sites list: Plesetsk is at 62.7 deg North, not 65 deg N. Recent Launches --------------- * UHF F/O F-9 Atlas flight AC-130 placed the UHF F/O F9 satellite in orbit on Oct 20 using a Lockheed Martin Astronautics (Denver) Atlas IIA with a 14-ft fairing. It took off from Cape Canaveral's Space Launch Complex 36A. The Atlas IIA first stage main (sustainer) engine is the Boeing Rocketdyne RS-56SA, based on the RS-27 used in Delta. Wrapped around the main engine section is a booster section with a similar RS-56BA engine with two thrust chambers. The combination of the sustainer and booster engines is called the MA-5A engine system. The booster engine cutoff (BECO) was at T+2:45 (i.e. 2min 45s after launch), followed 3s later by separation of the heavy booster package with its two engine nozzles. The sustainer engine cutoff (SECO) was at T+4:35. Although the Atlas IIA stage is much stretched compared to the original missile, this `stage-and-a-half' design is largely unchanged since the (Convair/San Diego) Atlas B flights in 1958 (the booster section on the experimental Atlas A series of 1957 wasn't designed to separate). It still uses the trademark pressurized tank, with a lightweight thin wall which must be kept under pressure to stop the whole stage collapsing. The new Atlas III now under design will lose the booster section in favor of a single engine, and the EELV Atlas will have a conventional rigid wall design. After separation of the Atlas stage at T+4:37, the Centaur II second stage takes over. Centaur is a liquid hydrogen fuelled stage using two Pratt and Whitney RL10A-4-1 engines. At T+9:53 the Centaur shut down putting the vehicle in a 168 x 1090 km x 28.9 deg elliptical parking orbit. After coasting around the orbit, Centaur reignited at T+22:23 for about one minute until its fuel was almost depleted. and then at T+27:03 separated from the payload. The payload was delivered to an orbit of approximately 286 x 25866 km x 27.0 deg, very close to that expected, with an apogee 10000 km below geostationary. The remaining altitude is to be made up by the Marquardt R-4D bipropellant liquid apogee motor on the satellite payload. The payload is UHF F/O F9, an HS-601 satellite built by Hughes/El Segundo, and is a Block III UHF Follow-On comsat for the US Naval Space Command. Earlier UHF F/O satellites were launched by Atlas II and Atlas I, which have now been retired. The satellite carries UHF and EHF transponders for naval communications, and a Ka-band Global Broadcast Service video relay package. Launch mass is 3200 kg, dropping to around 1550 kg once geostationary orbit is reached. Dry mass of the satellite is probably around 1200-1300 kg, but I haven't seen a figure on this. UHF F/O F9 will be placed over the Atlantic Ocean. * Fuyo-1 The Japanese Fuyo-1 (ERS-1) satellite failed on Oct 12 after six years of operation. Table of Recent Launches ------------------------ Date UT Name Launch Vehicle Site Mission INTL. DES. Sep 8 2113 Iridium SV77) Delta 7920 Vandenberg SLC2 Comsat 51E Iridium SV79) Comsat 51D Iridium SV80) Comsat 51C Iridium SV81) Comsat 51B Iridium SV82) Comsat 51A Sep 9 2029 Globalstar FM5 ) Zenit-2 Baykonur Comsat F05 Globalstar FM7 ) Comsat F05 Globalstar FM9 ) Comsat F05 Globalstar FM10) Comsat F05 Globalstar FM11) Comsat F05 Globalstar FM12) Comsat F05 Globalstar FM13) Comsat F05 Globalstar FM16) Comsat F05 Globalstar FM17) Comsat F05 Globalstar FM18) Comsat F05 Globalstar FM20) Comsat F05 Globalstar FM21) Comsat F05 Sep 16 0631 PAS 7 Ariane 44LP Kourou ELA2 Comsat 52A Sep 23 0506 Orbcomm FM21 ) Pegasus XL/HAPS Wallops I Comsat 53A Orbcomm FM22 ) Comsat 53B Orbcomm FM23 ) Comsat 53C Orbcomm FM24 ) Comsat 53D Orbcomm FM25 ) Comsat 53E Orbcomm FM26 ) Comsat 53F Orbcomm FM27 ) Comsat 53G Orbcomm FM28 ) Comsat 53H Sep 28 2341 Molniya-1T? Molniya-M Plesetsk Comsat 54A Oct 3 1004 STEX ) ARPA Taurus Vandenberg 576E Technol. 55A ATEX ) Oct 5 2251 Eutelsat W2 ) Ariane 44L Kourou ELA2 Comsat 56A Sirius 3 ) Comsat 56B Oct 9 2250 Hot Bird 5 Atlas IIA Canaveral SLC36B Comsat 57A Oct 20 0719 UHF F/O F9 Atlas IIA Canaveral SLC36A Comsat Current Shuttle Processing Status _________________________________ Orbiters Location Mission Launch Due OV-102 Columbia OPF Bay 3 STS-93 OV-103 Discovery LC39B STS-95 Oct 29 OV-104 Atlantis OPF Bay 2 ? OV-105 Endeavour OPF Bay 1 STS-88 Dec 3 MLP2/RSRM-68/ET-98/OV-103 LC39B STS-95 MLP3/RSRM-67/ET-97/OV-105 VAB3 STS-88 .-------------------------------------------------------------------------. | Jonathan McDowell | phone : (617) 495-7176 | | Harvard-Smithsonian Center for | | | Astrophysics | | | 60 Garden St, MS6 | | | Cambridge MA 02138 | inter : jcm@cfa.harvard.edu | | USA | jmcdowell@cfa.harvard.edu | | | | JSR: http://hea-www.harvard.edu/~jcm/space/jsr/jsr.html | | Back issues: http://hea-www.harvard.edu/~jcm/space/jsr/back | | Subscribe/unsub: mail majordomo@head-cfa.harvard.edu, (un)subscribe jsr | '-------------------------------------------------------------------------'