Jonathan's Space Report No. 413 1999 Dec 5 Cambridge, MA ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Recent Launches --------------- The Mars Polar Lander spacecraft reached Mars on Dec 3. The lander separated from the cruise stage at 1951 UTC and the two Deep Space 2 penetrators, Scott and Amundsen, were scheduled to separate about 20 seconds later. Nothing has been heard from any of the three spacecraft, and it now seems possible that all perished during atmospheric entry and landing. Landing was expected at 2001 UTC at 76.1S 195.3W, with the penetrators landing a few km from each other at 75.0S 196.5W at the same time. Unless one of the probes is heard from, a prospect that fades with each passing day, this is a further hard blow for the JPL team. The lack of telemetry during descent will make it very hard to settle on a detailed cause of failure, and Mars landings are never easy (it's only been done successfully three times - Viking 1 and 2, and Mars Pathfinder). It is not even clear if MPL and the DS2 penetrators separated from the cruise stage successfully. The next Mars Surveyor launch is currently scheduled for March 2001. The French Helios 1B spy satellite was launched from Kourou on Dec 3 into sun-synchronous orbit. The spacecraft is based on the Matra Marconi Space Spot 4 bus. Mass is 2544 kg. The small Surrey Satellite/Alcatel Space Clementine electronic intelligence technology satellite was also deployed from the third stage of the Ariane launch vehicle. Clementine is a followon to the Cerise satellite launched in 1995. The launch vehicle was an Ariane 40, with no strapon boosters, using the small type 02 fairing for the first time since 1996. Helios 1B will be operated by the CNES space agency and the DGA (Delegation Generale de l'Armament). The Orbital Sciences L-1011 Stargazer launch aircraft took off from one of the runways (anyone know which?) at Wallops Flight Facility at about 1751 UTC on Dec 4 and headed out over the Atlantic to launch a Pegasus XL rocket. The drop point was probably in the vicinity of 37.0 deg N, 72.0 deg W. The Pegasus placed seven Orbcomm satellites in orbit. The Pegasus third stage entered a 407 x 726 km x 45.0 deg orbit. Two burns by the HAPS fourth stage led to deployment of the Orbcomms in an 820 x 840 km x 45.0 deg operational orbit. After a third depletion burn the HAPS stage was left in a 372 x 827 km x 41.0 deg orbit. Earlier Orbcomm launches had a stack of eight satellites; it isn't clear why only seven were flown on this mission. The Oldest Spacecraft --------------------- I'm often asked how many active satellites are in orbit - this is a really hard number to derive, but I've recently tried to count them and my best guess is that there are currently between 650 and 800 working Earth satellites (including anything that can still communicate with Earth, even if it is not fully operational) and 18 spacecraft beyond Earth orbit. The oldest spacecraft definitely working are TRW's Pioneer 6, 7 and 8 interplanetary probes; Pioneer 6 is 34 years old. The oldest Earth satellite is probably the Hughes HS-306 satellite ATS 3, in geostationary orbit since 1967. However, the 1966 ITT/US Army Secor geodetic satellite EGRS 7 was reported in 1980 to be still transmitting, so it's just possible it's still around. NATO IIA, a Ford (now Loral) satellite from 1970, is in the stable geostationary location at 105W, and it's not possible to tell whether it is still under control. Here I give a list of the oldest satellites not definitely known to be defunct. I'd be very interested in hearing of definite death dates for any of these, or any active ones I've missed. Satellite Year of Launch Type Operator Status (EGRS 7 1966 ITT Secor US Army Last report 1980) ATS 3 1967 Hughes HS-306 NASA Still working 1990s (NATO IIA 1970 Ford Skynet NATO/USAF At 105W, status unknown) (DSCS II F-1 1971 TRW DSCS 2 USAF At 100-110W since 1979) IMP 8 1973 GSFC IMP NASA Still OK 1998 Skynet IIB 1974 Marconi Skynet UK MoD Still OK 1994 LES 8 1976 Lincon Labs USAF Still OK 1992 LES 9 1976 Lincon Labs USAF Still OK 1992 Marisat 103 1976 Hughes HS-333 INMARSAT Active GOES 2 1977 Ford SMS NOAA Active FLTSATCOM 1 1978 TRW FLTSAT USN Active GOES 3 1978 Ford SMS NOAA Active From the 1980s: FLTSATCOM 4, Comstar D-4, Landsat 4, Intelsat 505, Aurora 1, DSCS III A-1, TDRS 1, Oscar 10, Hilat, Landsat 5, UoSAT 2, Spacenet 1, SBS 4, ERBS, Marecs 2, NATO 3D, Brasilsat 1, Intelsat 510, Anik C1, Gstar 1, Intelsat 511, DSCS III B-4, DSCS III B-5, Morelos 2, Aussat K2, Satcom K2, Mir, Brasilsat 2, Polar Bear, Fltsatcom 7, Kosmos-1809, USA 21, GOES 7, Kvant, Aussat K3, Eutelsat I F4, DSP 5R, Spacenet 3R, IRS 1A, NSS 513, PAS 1, Eutelsat I F-5, Gstar 3, SBS 5, NOAA 11, TDRS 3, USA 33, Astra 1A, Zhongxing 2, Intelsat 515, GPS 14, Akebono, TDRS 4, USA 37, GPS 13, DSP 14, Nadezhda (1989-50A), USA 40, TVSAT 2, GPS 16, Sirius 1, DSCS II F-15, DSCS III A-2, Himawari 4, FLTSATCOM 8, GPS 19, Intelsat 602, Kvant 2, USA 48, GPS 17. In addition, the operating interplanetary spacecraft are: Pioneers 6, 7, 8, 10 and 11; Voyager 1 and 2; ICE; Galileo, Ulysses, SOHO, NEAR, MGS, ACE, Cassini, Deep Space 1 and Stardust; and possibly Sakigake. Table of Recent Launches ----------------------- Date UT Name Launch Vehicle Site Mission INTL. DES. Nov 13 2255 GE 4 Ariane 44LP Kourou ELA2 Comsat 60A Nov 15 0729 MTSAT H-2 Tanegashima Comsat F04 Nov 19 2230 Shenzhou Chang Zheng 2F Jiuquan LC3 Spaceship 61A Nov 22 1620 Globalstar 29 ) Soyuz-Ikar Baykonur LC1 Comsat 62A Globalstar 34 ) Comsat 62B Globalstar 39 ) Comsat 62C Globalstar 61 ) Comsat 62D Nov 23 0406 UHF F/O F10 Atlas 2A Canaveral SLC36B Comsat 63A Dec 3 1622 Helios 1B ) Ariane 40 Kourou ELA2 Imaging 64A Clementine ) Sigint 64B Dec 3 1951 Mars Polar Lander MPL Cruise Stage Lander 01D? Dec 3 1951 Scott Probe ) MPL Cruise Stage Lander 01E? Amundsen Probe) Lander 01F? Dec 4 1853? Orbcomm FM30 ) Pegasus XL/HAPS Wallops Comsat 65A Orbcomm FM31 ) Comsat 65B Orbcomm FM32 ) Comsat 65C Orbcomm FM33 ) Comsat 65D Orbcomm FM34 ) Comsat 65E Orbcomm FM35 ) Comsat 65F Orbcomm FM36 ) Comsat 65G Current Shuttle Processing Status _________________________________ Orbiters Location Mission Launch Due OV-102 Columbia Palmdale OMDP OV-103 Discovery LC39B STS-103 1999 Dec 11 OV-104 Atlantis OPF Bay 3 STS-101 2000 Mar 16 OV-105 Endeavour VAB Bay 1 STS-99 2000 Jan 13 MLP1/ MLP2/RSRM-73/ET-101/OV-103 LC39B MLP3/RSRM-71?/ET?/OV-105 VAB Bay 1 .-------------------------------------------------------------------------. | 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 | '-------------------------------------------------------------------------'