Jonathan's Space Report No. 415 1999 Dec 20 Cambridge, MA ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Shuttle ------- Space Shuttle OV-103 Discovery was launched at 0050 UTC on Dec 20 on Hubble servicing mission SM-3A. At 0058 UTC the external tank ET-101 separated leaving the Orbiter in a 56 x 587 km x 28.5 deg transfer orbit. The OMS 2 burn at 0134 UTC raised the orbit to 313 x 582 km. Hubble is in a 591 x 610 km x 28.5 deg orbit, and Discovery will rendezvous with it on Tuesday. Discovery's payload bay contains: Bay 1-2: External airlock/ODS Bay 7-8: ORU Carrier (Spacelab pallet) Bay 11: Flight Servicing System (FSS) Bay 8 port?: APC carrier with foot restraint Bay 12 port?: APC carrier with HST foot retstraint The ORU Carrier contains the COPE protective enclosure with the three RSU gyros, the new solid state recorder, and the S-band transmitter; the LOPE enclosure with an HST-486 computer and the voltage improvement kit; the ASIPE enclosure with the spare HST-486 and spare RSU; the FSIPE enclosure with the replacement FGS-2 fine guidance sensor; and the NPE enclosure with the New Outer Blanket Layer insulation. The FSS contains the BAPS (Berthing and Positioning System) used to dock with the aft end of the Hubble Space Telescope. Discovery will rendezvous with HST, grapple it with the RMS manipulator arm, and berth it on the BAPS. Astronauts will then make at least three spacewalks to change out the equipment on HST. Finally, Discovery will release the telescope back into orbit. Crew of STS-103 are Curt Brown (Commander), Scott Kelly (Pilot), Steven Smith (Payload Commander), John Grunsfeld, Michael Foale, Claude Nicollier, and Jean-Francois Clervoy (Mission Specialists). Nicollier and Clervoy are European Space Agency astronauts. Recent Launches --------------- NASA's Terra satellite (formerly Earth Observing System EOS AM-1) was launched from SLC-3E at Vandenberg on Dec 18 by a Lockheed Martin Astronautics Atlas 2AS, mission AC-141. This was the first Centaur launched from Vandenberg and the first Atlas to use the new extended length 4.3-m payload fairing. Terra is the first spacecraft in the EOS program, and was built by Lockheed Martin/Valley Forge, who also built the earlier Nimbus series of spacecraft. The spacecraft was placed in a 654 x 684 km x 98.2 deg orbit. The Centaur stage then made a depletion burn and was left in a 355 x 654 km x 98.3 deg orbit. The 4854 kg Terra carries multispectral imagers, a radiation budget instrument, a detector to measure CO and methane pollution, and an instrument to study cloud top and vegetation properties, Space Launch Complex 3-East was originally Launch Complex 1-2 at the Naval Missile Facility, Point Arguello. It was used starting in 1961 for MIDAS and SAMOS launches, and in 1966-68 for SV-5D lifting body launches and an Atlas Burner 2 launch. In 1978 it was reactivated for Atlas E and F launches of Navstar GPS satellites, and from 1983 to 1987 was used for Atlas H launches of the classified Navy triplet ocean surveillance satellites. XMM has safely reached its final orbit. It will be put in safemode on Dec 20 until early January to avoid any Y2K problems caused by ground systems. Instrument checkout will begin in early January. XMM Orbit raising burns: Sep Dec 10 1501 UTC 826 x 113946 km x 38.9 DV-1A Dec 11 1220 UTC 2531 x 114042 km x 38.9 (estimate) DV-1B Dec 11 1413 UTC 4897 x 114002 km x 38.9 DV-2 Dec 13 1225 UTC 6480 x 113990 km x 39.9 DV-3 Dec 15 1210 UTC 7359 x 113975 km x 38.9 DV-4 Dec 16 1130 UTC 7365 x 113774 km x 38.9 (estimate) The DMSP 5D-3 satellite was built by Lockheed Martin/East Windsor (the former RCA), not at Valley Forge (former GE). Apologies for the error, I got confused between it and the Terra launch. 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 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 Dec 10 1432 XMM Ariane 5 Kourou ELA3 Astronomy 66A Dec 11 1830 SACI-2 VLS Alcantara Research F05 Dec 12 1738 DMSP 5D-3 F-15 Titan 23G Vandenberg SLC4W Weather 67A Dec 18 1857 Terra Atlas 2AS Vandenberg SLC3E Rem.Sens. 68A Dec 20 0050 Discovery Space Shuttle Kennedy LC39B Spaceship 69A? Current Shuttle Processing Status _________________________________ Orbiters Location Mission Launch Due OV-102 Columbia Palmdale OMDP OV-103 Discovery LEO STS-103 1999 Dec 20 HST SM-3A OV-104 Atlantis OPF Bay 3 STS-101 2000 Mar 16 ISS OV-105 Endeavour LC39A STS-99 2000 Jan 13 SRTM MLP1/ MLP2/ LC39B MLP3/RSRM-71?/ET?/OV-105 LC39A .-------------------------------------------------------------------------. | 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 | '-------------------------------------------------------------------------'