Jonathan's Space Report No. 383 1998 Dec 24 Cambridge, MA ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Travel followed by email problems caused me to get behind, so here's a bumper winter solstice issue to catch up. Next week I expect to publish the usual annual launch list. Shuttle and Station ------------------------ On Dec 6 Endeavour was docked to the International Space Station, consisting of PMA-2, Unity, PMA-1 and Zarya. The vehicles are in a 386 x 401 km x 51.6 deg orbit. Ross and Newman made the first spacewalk to connect up cables with Zarya. Hatch open on the Tunnel Adapter was at 2210 UTC on Dec 7, and the airlock was repressurized at 0532 UTC on Dec 8. The second EVA, to install antennas, was from Dec 9 at 2033 UTC to Dec 10 at 0335 UTC. A third EVA began at 2033 UTC on Dec 12 and lasted 6h 59min, during which a canvas tool bag was attached to the exterior of Unity to provide tools for future spacewalkers. They also disconnected some docking cables, so that Unity and Zarya can no longer undock. Endeavour undocked from the ISS at 2030 UTC on Dec 13; the Unity module has been cataloged by Space Command and given the international designation 1998-67F. The SAC-A and Mightysat satellites were ejected from the payload bay on Dec 14 and Dec 15. Deorbit burn was Dec 18 at 0248 UTC, and Endeavour landed on Dec 18 at 0353:29 UTC, on runway 15 at Kennedy Space Center. Errata: - Third stage for the Mars Climate Orbiter launch was the usual Star 48, not the alternate Star 37FM as I claimed last week. Apologies for the error. - I keep misspelling the location of the organization formerly known as McDonnell Douglas. It is Huntington Beach, not Huntingdon Beach. The Huntington Beach unit built the PMA-1 and PMA-2 docking adapters used on the Station. AXAF/Chandra ------------ The Advanced X-ray Astrophysics Facility (AXAF) has been renamed the Chandra X-ray Observatory. Launch will be in April 1999. The CXO name honors physicist Subrahmanyan Chandrasekhar; see my short bio page for him at http://hea-www.harvard.edu/QEDT/jcm/space/axaf/chandra.html The spacecraft will be operated from the Chandra X-ray Center (CXC) in Cambridge, Massachusetts. CXO is currently at TRW's plant in Los Angeles, and will be flown to Florida in January. Recent Launches --------------- Arianespace launched the PAS 6B satellite on Dec 22. The Ariane 42L rocket took off from the ELA2 pad at Kourou's Centre Spatial Guyanais and its hydrogen-oxygen H-10-3 third stage placed the satellite in transfer orbit after a 20 minute flight. Transfer orbit is 228 x 35717 km x 7.0 deg. PAS 6B is a Hughes HS-601HP satellite which will provide direct TV broadcasting to South America. Mass is 3475 kg at launch. PAS 6B will replace PAS 6, a Loral satellite which had problems with its solar arrays. The new satellite has 32 Ku-band transponders. Two replacement Motorola Iridium satellites were launched by a Chinese CZ-2 rocket on Dec 19. Their parking orbit is 623 x 656 km x 86.4 deg. The satellites have been given operating numbers 11 and 20; I don't know their production numbers. A Parus navigation satellite was launched from GIK-1 Plesetsk on Dec 24 and given the name Kosmos-2361. Polyot's 11K65M Kosmos-3M launch vehicle placed the craft and the Kosmos-3M second stage in transfer orbit; a second burn of the S3M stage left Kosmos-2361 in a circular 969 x 1013 km x 82.9 deg orbit. Kosmos-2361 is in the same orbital plane as Kosmos-2233. Recent Parus satellites include: Satellite Plane (relative deg) Kosmos-2266 0 Kosmos-2327 0 Kosmos-2334 0 Kosmos-2341 0 Kosmos-2310 30 Kosmos-2339 30 Kosmos-2218 60 Kosmos-2239 90 Kosmos-2336 90 Kosmos-2233 120 Kosmos-2361 120 Kosmos-2279 150 Japan's Nozomi Mars probe made a lunar flyby at an altitude of 2809 km on Dec 18 at 0734 UTC followed by a 1003 km Earth flyby on Dec 20 at 0810 UTC. The perigee burn resulted in an escape orbit with too little velocity, and a correction burn on Dec 21 had to use much more fuel than planned to adjust the trajectory (a AP wire report of a `second swingby' on Dec 21 is simply incorrect). Nozomi was launched in July; it made six orbits in a 700 x 480000 km parking orbit before a lunar flyby on Sep 24 placed it in a large loop orbit with an apogee of at least 1.6 million km, which it reached on about Nov 10 before falling back to its second lunar encounter on Dec 18. Meanwhile, NASA's Mars Climate Orbiter made its first orbit correction at 2133 UTC on Dec 21 and is now on course for Mars. The NEAR space probe ran into trouble on Dec 20 at 2200 UTC when controllers lost contact during an engine burn. A signal was picked up early on Dec 22, and it appears that a main engine malfunction was followed by a software error putting the craft into a tumble. NEAR made a flyby of minor planet (433) Eros at 4100 km at 1843 UTC on Dec 23. The Eros rendezvous may be delayed to May 2000. NEAR is a NASA Discovery mission operated by APL. Lunar Prospector lowered its polar lunar orbit on Dec 19 from 77 x 122 km to 25 x 55 km. In October its orbital inclination was 85 deg, but status reports haven't given this value recently. Hammaguir Query --------------- I'm trying to research the former French launch site CIEES-Hammaguir, in Algeria. Does anyone have a map showing the locations of the four pads at Hammaguir? If so, please contact me. LEO Constellations ------------------ Here is an update on the Iridium, Globalstar and Orbcomm constellations. For Iridium, mappings of NORAD catalog numbers to satellites have been confirmed by a Motorola source. Note that satellite 1997-43C (Iridium SV024) is being tracked as catalog 25105, while satellite 1997-82B (Iridium SV46) is being tracked as catalog 24905, although they were initially cataloged the other way around. Orbital plane info is given as longtiude of ascending node on about Dec 16, followed by plane number. Tail ID is a telephony routing node identifier that is reused - thus there is a new Iridium 11 to replace the one that failed earlier. SV serial number is the production serial of the satellite and is the one unique identifier for the satellite. For Globalstar and Orbcomm, I don't know which of the satellites are currently in service. The Iridium satellites are made by Motorola/Chandler with a Lockheed Martin/Sunnyvale spacecraft bus. The Globalstars are made by Loral/Palo Alto and Alenia/Torino using an LS-400 bus. The Orbcomms are made by Orbital/Germantown using the Microstar bus. NORAD INTL. Tail ID Serial P/min Height/km Inc/deg Plane Notes -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Iridium satellites 24796 1997-020E Iridium 4 SV004 100.40 775 x 780 x 86.40 262.5 4 24795 1997-020D Iridium 5 SV005 100.40 775 x 779 x 86.40 262.5 4 24794 1997-020C Iridium 6 SV006 100.40 774 x 780 x 86.40 262.5 4 24793 1997-020B Iridium 7 SV007 100.40 774 x 781 x 86.40 262.4 4 24792 1997-020A Iridium 8 SV008 100.40 775 x 780 x 86.40 262.5 4 24838 1997-030C Iridium 9 SV009 100.40 775 x 779 x 86.40 294.2 5 24839 1997-030D Iridium 10 SV010 100.40 775 x 779 x 86.40 294.0 5 24842 1997-030G Iridium 11 SV011 100.07 749 x 774 x 86.44 294.6 5 [Not in service] 24837 1997-030B Iridium 12 SV012 100.40 775 x 780 x 86.40 294.2 5 24840 1997-030E Iridium 13 SV013 100.40 775 x 779 x 86.40 294.2 5 24836 1997-030A Iridium 14 SV014 100.40 776 x 778 x 86.39 294.2 5 [Not in service] 24841 1997-030F Iridium 16 SV016 100.40 776 x 779 x 86.40 294.2 5 24869 1997-034A Iridium 15 SV015 100.40 776 x 778 x 86.40 325.8 6 24870 1997-034B Iridium 17 SV017 100.40 776 x 778 x 86.39 325.8 6 24872 1997-034D Iridium 18 SV018 100.40 776 x 778 x 86.39 325.8 6 24871 1997-034C Iridium 20 SV020 100.37 768 x 784 x 86.40 325.7 6 [Failed] 24873 1997-034E Iridium 21 SV021 97.38 626 x 640 x 86.39 310.4 6 [Failed in low orbit] 24907 1997-043E Iridium 22 SV022 100.40 776 x 779 x 86.40 199.3 2 25105 1997-043D Iridium 23 SV023 100.40 776 x 779 x 86.40 199.4 2 24905 1997-043C Iridium 24 SV024 100.40 769 x 785 x 86.40 199.3 2 [Should be 24905, failed] 24904 1997-043B Iridium 25 SV025 100.40 775 x 779 x 86.40 199.4 2 24903 1997-043A Iridium 26 SV026 100.40 776 x 779 x 86.40 199.4 2 24925 1997-048A Iridium MFS 1 97.25 620 x 633 x 86.34 271.9 5 [Dummy satellite] 24926 1997-048B Iridium MFS 2 97.26 620 x 634 x 86.34 272.0 5 [Dummy satellite] 24947 1997-051D Iridium 27 SV027 95.61 542 x 553 x 86.65 223.2 3 [Failed in low orbit] 24948 1997-051E Iridium 28 SV028 100.40 776 x 779 x 86.40 230.9 3 24944 1997-051A Iridium 29 SV029 100.40 776 x 779 x 86.40 230.9 3 24949 1997-051F Iridium 30 SV030 100.40 775 x 779 x 86.40 230.8 3 24950 1997-051G Iridium 31 SV031 100.40 776 x 779 x 86.40 230.9 3 24945 1997-051B Iridium 32 SV032 100.40 776 x 779 x 86.40 230.9 3 24946 1997-051C Iridium 33 SV033 100.40 776 x 778 x 86.40 230.9 3 24965 1997-056A Iridium 19 SV019 100.40 775 x 779 x 86.40 262.4 4 24969 1997-056E Iridium 34 SV034 100.40 775 x 779 x 86.40 262.5 4 24968 1997-056D Iridium 35 SV035 100.40 775 x 779 x 86.40 262.5 4 24967 1997-056C Iridium 36 SV036 100.40 775 x 779 x 86.40 262.4 4 24966 1997-056B Iridium 37 SV037 100.40 775 x 780 x 86.40 262.6 4 25043 1997-069E Iridium 38 SV038 100.40 775 x 779 x 86.39 325.6 6 25042 1997-069D Iridium 39 SV039 100.40 775 x 779 x 86.39 325.8 6 25041 1997-069C Iridium 40 SV040 100.40 776 x 779 x 86.39 325.8 6 25040 1997-069B Iridium 41 SV041 100.40 775 x 779 x 86.39 325.8 6 25039 1997-069A Iridium 43 SV043 100.40 776 x 779 x 86.39 325.8 6 25077 1997-077A Iridium 42 SV042 100.40 775 x 779 x 86.40 325.8 6 25078 1997-077B Iridium 44 SV044 100.40 774 x 780 x 86.39 325.8 6 [Not in service] 25104 1997-082A Iridium 45 SV045 100.40 776 x 779 x 86.40 199.4 2 24905 1997-082B Iridium 46 SV046 100.40 776 x 779 x 86.41 199.4 2 [Should be 25105] 25106 1997-082C Iridium 47 SV047 100.40 776 x 779 x 86.40 199.4 2 25107 1997-082D Iridium 48 SV048 100.40 775 x 780 x 86.40 199.4 2 25108 1997-082E Iridium 49 SV049 100.40 775 x 779 x 86.40 199.4 2 25172 1998-010D Iridium 50 SV050 100.40 775 x 779 x 86.40 294.2 5 25169 1998-010A Iridium 52 SV052 100.40 775 x 779 x 86.40 294.1 5 25173 1998-010E Iridium 53 SV053 100.40 775 x 779 x 86.40 294.2 5 25171 1998-010C Iridium 54 SV054 100.40 775 x 779 x 86.40 294.2 5 25170 1998-010B Iridium 56 SV056 100.40 774 x 780 x 86.39 294.0 5 25262 1998-018A Iridium 51 SV051 99.90 751 x 756 x 86.45 262.5 4 [Not in service] 25263 1998-018B Iridium 61 SV061 100.40 774 x 780 x 86.40 262.5 4 25272 1998-019A Iridium 55 SV055 100.40 775 x 780 x 86.40 230.9 3 25273 1998-019B Iridium 57 SV057 100.40 775 x 779 x 86.40 230.9 3 25274 1998-019C Iridium 58 SV058 100.40 775 x 779 x 86.40 230.9 3 25275 1998-019D Iridium 59 SV059 100.40 775 x 779 x 86.40 230.9 3 25276 1998-019E Iridium 60 SV060 100.40 775 x 779 x 86.40 230.9 3 25285 1998-021A Iridium 62 SV062 100.40 776 x 778 x 86.40 167.9 1 25286 1998-021B Iridium 63 SV063 100.40 775 x 779 x 86.40 167.8 1 25287 1998-021C Iridium 64 SV064 100.40 776 x 779 x 86.40 167.6 1 25288 1998-021D Iridium 65 SV065 100.40 776 x 778 x 86.40 167.9 1 25289 1998-021E Iridium 66 SV066 100.40 773 x 782 x 86.40 167.8 1 25290 1998-021F Iridium 67 SV067 100.40 774 x 780 x 86.40 167.8 1 25291 1998-021G Iridium 68 SV068 100.40 775 x 779 x 86.40 167.8 1 25319 1998-026A Iridium 69 SV069 100.46 777 x 783 x 86.40 199.4 2 [Not in service] 25320 1998-026B Iridium 71 SV071 100.40 775 x 778 x 86.40 199.3 2 [Not in service] 25342 1998-032A Iridium 70 SV070 100.40 775 x 780 x 86.40 167.8 1 25343 1998-032B Iridium 72 SV072 100.40 776 x 779 x 86.40 167.8 1 25344 1998-032C Iridium 73 SV073 100.40 776 x 778 x 86.40 167.8 1 25345 1998-032D Iridium 74 SV074 100.40 775 x 779 x 86.40 167.8 1 25346 1998-032E Iridium 75 SV075 98.63 691 x 694 x 86.55 167.7 1 [Not in service] 25432 1998-048B Iridium 76 SV076 100.40 775 x 779 x 86.40 199.4 2 25431 1998-048A Iridium 3 SV078 100.40 776 x 779 x 86.40 199.4 2 25471 1998-051E Iridium 77 SV077 98.96 707 x 709 x 86.52 325.4 6 [Not in service] 25470 1998-051D Iridium 79 SV079 95.01 494 x 544 x 86.01 316.3 6 [Failed in low orbit] 25469 1998-051C Iridium 80 SV080 100.40 774 x 781 x 86.40 325.7 6 25468 1998-051B Iridium 81 SV081 100.40 775 x 779 x 86.40 325.7 6 25467 1998-051A Iridium 82 SV082 98.96 706 x 711 x 86.52 325.6 6 [Not in service] 25531 1998-066E Iridium 83 SV083 100.40 775 x 779 x 86.40 294.2 5 25530 1998-066D Iridium 84 SV084 98.85 701 x 705 x 86.52 294.1 5 [Raising orbit] 25529 1998-066C Iridium 85 SV085 95.12 512 x 536 x 86.02 291.1 5 [Parking orbit] 25528 1998-066B Iridium 86 SV086 98.86 701 x 706 x 86.52 293.9 5 [Raising orbit] 25527 1998-066A Iridium 2 SV087 95.14 512 x 538 x 85.40 289.1 5 [Parking orbit] 25577 1998-074A Iridium 11 SV088? 97.52 623 x 656 x 86.35 197.0 2 [Parking orbit] 25578 1998-074B Iridium 20 SV089? 97.50 623 x 654 x 86.35 197.2 2 [Parking orbit] -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Globalstar satellites 25162 1998-008A Globalstar FM1 114.08 1411 x 1415 x 52.03 43.9 1 25163 1998-008B Globalstar FM2 114.08 1412 x 1414 x 52.01 43.8 1 25164 1998-008C Globalstar FM3 114.08 1404 x 1422 x 52.01 42.4 1 25165 1998-008D Globalstar FM4 114.10 1391 x 1437 x 52.00 43.6 1 25306 1998-023A Globalstar FM6 114.08 1411 x 1415 x 51.99 90.4 2 25307 1998-023B Globalstar FM8 114.03 1407 x 1415 x 52.00 88.9 2 25308 1998-023C Globalstar FM14 114.08 1411 x 1415 x 52.00 90.2 2 25309 1998-023D Globalstar FM15 114.08 1404 x 1423 x 52.03 88.0 2 - 1998-F05 Globalstar FM5 - Failed to orbit - 1998-F05 Globalstar FM7 - Failed to orbit - 1998-F05 Globalstar FM9 - Failed to orbit - 1998-F05 Globalstar FM10 - Failed to orbit - 1998-F05 Globalstar FM11 - Failed to orbit - 1998-F05 Globalstar FM12 - Failed to orbit - 1998-F05 Globalstar FM13 - Failed to orbit - 1998-F05 Globalstar FM16 - Failed to orbit - 1998-F05 Globalstar FM17 - Failed to orbit - 1998-F05 Globalstar FM18 - Failed to orbit - 1998-F05 Globalstar FM20 - Failed to orbit - 1998-F05 Globalstar FM21 - Failed to orbit -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Orbcomm satellites 23545 1995-017A Orbcomm F1 FM1 99.56 728 x 747 x 69.98 199.1 F 23546 1995-017B Orbcomm F2 FM2 99.56 728 x 747 x 69.98 198.5 F 25112 1997-084A Orbcomm A1 FM5 101.26 812 x 823 x 45.03 297.7 A 25113 1997-084B Orbcomm A2 FM6 101.26 813 x 822 x 45.03 300.7 A 25114 1997-084C Orbcomm A3 FM7 101.26 813 x 822 x 45.03 301.0 A 25115 1997-084D Orbcomm A4 FM8 101.26 813 x 823 x 45.02 300.5 A 25116 1997-084E Orbcomm A5 FM9 101.26 814 x 822 x 45.02 301.0 A 25117 1997-084F Orbcomm A6 FM10 101.26 812 x 823 x 45.02 301.2 A 25118 1997-084G Orbcomm A7 FM11 101.26 813 x 823 x 45.02 301.2 A 25119 1997-084H Orbcomm A8 FM12 101.26 812 x 823 x 45.02 301.2 A 25158 1998-007B Orbcomm G1 FM3 101.46 781 x 874 x 107.99 297.9 G 25159 1998-007C Orbcomm G2 FM4 101.45 783 x 871 x 107.99 298.1 G 25413 1998-046A Orbcomm B5 FM17 101.28 813 x 824 x 45.00 61.0 B 25414 1998-046B Orbcomm B6 FM18 101.28 810 x 827 x 45.00 59.7 B 25415 1998-046C Orbcomm B7 FM19 101.28 809 x 828 x 45.00 61.1 B 25416 1998-046D Orbcomm B8 FM20 101.28 811 x 826 x 45.00 61.2 B 25417 1998-046E Orbcomm B4 FM16 101.28 812 x 825 x 45.00 59.9 B 25418 1998-046F Orbcomm B3 FM15 101.28 812 x 825 x 45.01 60.0 B 25419 1998-046G Orbcomm B2 FM14 101.28 811 x 826 x 45.00 60.4 B 25420 1998-046H Orbcomm B1 FM13 101.27 813 x 824 x 45.00 60.4 B 25475 1998-053A Orbcomm C1 FM21 101.27 811 x 825 x 45.01 181.6 C 25476 1998-053B Orbcomm C2 FM22 101.27 814 x 823 x 45.02 178.0 C 25477 1998-053C Orbcomm C3 FM23 101.27 813 x 823 x 45.02 181.8 C 25478 1998-053D Orbcomm C4 FM24 101.27 814 x 822 x 45.01 181.7 C 25479 1998-053E Orbcomm C5 FM25 101.27 813 x 824 x 45.01 181.5 C 25480 1998-053F Orbcomm C6 FM26 101.27 811 x 825 x 45.01 181.5 C 25481 1998-053G Orbcomm C7 FM27 101.27 813 x 823 x 45.02 181.6 C 25482 1998-053H Orbcomm C8 FM28 101.27 813 x 824 x 45.03 181.7 C -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Table of Recent Launches ----------------------- Date UT Name Launch Vehicle Site Mission INTL. DES. Nov 1 1703 Spartan 201 - Discovery, LEO Astronomy 64C Nov 4 0512 PAS 8 Proton-K/DM3 Baykonur Comsat 65A Nov 6 1337 Iridium 87) Delta 7920-10C Vandenberg SLC2W Comsat 66A Iridium 83) Comsat 66E Iridium 84) Comsat 66D Iridium 85) Comsat 66C Iridium 86) Comsat 66B Nov 10 1930? Spoutnik-41 - Mir, LEO Amateur 62C Nov 20 0640 Zarya Proton-K Baykonur LC81L Station 67A Nov 22 2354 BONUM-1 Delta 7925 Canaveral SLC17B Comsat 68A Dec 4 0835 Endeavour ) Shuttle Kennedy LC39A Spaceship 69A Unity ) Station 69F PMA-1 ) PMA-2 ) Dec 6 0043 Satmex 5 Ariane 42L Kourou ELA2 Comsat 70A Dec 6 0057 SWAS Pegasus XL Vandenberg Astronomy 71A Dec 10 1157 Nadezhda ) Kosmos-3M Plesetsk Navsat 72A Astrid-2 ) Science 72B Dec 11 1845 Mars Climate Orb. Delta 7425 Canaveral SLC17A Mars probe 73A Dec 14 0431 SAC-A Endeavour,LEO Science 69B Dec 15 0209 Mightysat Endeavour,LEO Technol. 69C Dec 19 1130 Iridium 88?) CZ-2C/SD Taiyuan Comsat 74A Iridium 89?) Comsat 74B Dec 22 0108 PAS 6B Ariane 42L Kourou ELA2 Comsat 75A Dec 24 2003 Kosmos-2361 Kosmos-3M Plesetsk Navsat 76A Current Shuttle Processing Status _________________________________ Orbiters Location Mission Launch Due OV-102 Columbia OPF Bay 3 STS-93 Apr 1999 OV-103 Discovery OPF Bay 1 STS-96 May 1999 OV-104 Atlantis VAB Bay 2 STS-101 Aug 1999 OV-105 Endeavour OPF Bay 2 STS-99 Sep 1999 MLP1/RSRM-69/ET-99 VAB Bay 1 STS-93 MLP2/ MLP3/ .-------------------------------------------------------------------------. | 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 | '-------------------------------------------------------------------------'