Jonathan's Space Report No. 398 1999 May 17 Cambridge, MA ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Obituary -------- Russian space historian Maxim Tarasenko (1962-1999) was killed in an automobile accident last week. Maxim was author of the ground-breaking book 'Military Aspects of Soviet Cosmonautics' and a regular contributor to Novosti Kosmonavtiki magazine. He was one of the first Russian historians to present a detailed view of the newly declassified Soviet space program. Maxim will be missed by all of us in the space history community.

(BBC, courtesy James Oberg) Human spaceflight ------------------- Viktor Afanas'ev, Sergey Avdeev and Jean-Pierre Haignere remain on board the Mir complex. The Soyuz TM-29 transport craft and the Progress M-41 cargo ship are docked to the complex. Launch of STS-96 has been delayed to around May 27. Due to hail damage they've rolled the stack back to the VAB to make repairs to the External Tank. The STS-93 stack was rolled out of high bay 1 to make room for STS-96. Launch of STS-93 is no earlier than Jul 22. Recent Launches --------------- China launched the FY-1C (Feng Yun) weather satellite from Taiyuan in Shanxi on May 10 on the first Chang Zheng 4B launch vehicle. The CZ-4B (Long March 4B) is an enhanced version of the CZ-4. FY-1C is in an 849 x 868 x 98.7 deg sun-synchronous orbit. Previous FY launches: FY-1 1988 Sep 6 CZ-4 Taiyuan FY-1B 1990 Sep 3 CZ-4 Taiyuan FY-2 1997 Jun 10 CZ-3 Xichang The Shi Jian 5 research satellite was also carried as a secondary payload to study the radiation belts. FY-1 and SJ-5 are built by the Shanghai Inst. for Satellite Engineering, and the CZ-4 launch vehicle is developed by the Shanghai Bureau of Astronautics. The CZ-4B is a three stage vehicle, with all of the stages using LOX/UDMH engines. The CZ-4A had a four YF-20B engines in the first stage, a YF-22B/YF-23B powered second stage, and two YF-40 engines in the third stage. I'm not sure what modifications were made to the CZ-4B stages, but I gather the changes are modest. Navstar spacecraft GPS SVN 50 (GPS-IIR production number SV-10), awaiting launch by Delta nII from Cape Canaveral, was damaged in a thunderstorm on May 8. Rain leaked into the clean-room on SLC-17A's mobile launch tower. Launch will be delayed while they figure out whether the satellite has been damaged. I discussed Centaur stages in my last report; several sources inform me that the Shuttle Centaur G' stages SC-1 and SC-2 are distinct from the Titan Centaur flight articles. SC-3, the first Centaur G stage, was also under early construction for the Magellan Venus probe but the tank was not completed at the time Shuttle-Centaur was cancelled. I've updated my launch list of Centaurs at http://hea-www.harvard.edu/~jcm/space/misc/centaur.html with a lot of new details. Here's an overview of Centaur types: 3.05-meter diameter standard Centaurs (9.1m): Centaur A F-1 test flight, RL-10A-1 engines Centaur B AC-2 test flight, first orbital model, RL-10A-3 engine Centaur C AC-3 to AC-5 test flights, RL-10A-3 engine Centaur D Single burn version with RL-10A-3-1, AC-6/7/10/11 Centaur D Operational version 1965-1967, with RL-10A-3-3 engine Centaur D-1A Improved version 1967-1972 (RL-10A-3-3 engines) Centaur D-1AR Improved version 1973-1989 (later models with RL-10A-3-3A) Centaur D-1T Titan 3E version 1974-1977 Centaur I Same as D-1AR 1990-1997 3.05-meter diameter stretched Centaur (10m long) Centaur II Stretched version for Atlas II (RL-10A-3-3A) Centaur IIA Stretched version for Atlas IIA/IIAS (RL-10A-4/RL-10A-4-1) Centaur (SEC) Single Engine Centaur for Atlas IIIA (planned, RL-10A-4-1) 3.05-meter diameter stretched Centaur (11.7m long - 12.7 with nozzle ext). Single and dual engine versions (Atlas IIIB and V) Centaur III DEC: 2 x RL10A-4-2 engines Centaur III SEC: 1 x RL10A-4-2, 4.32-meter diameter fat Centaurs: Centaur G Shuttle version, cancelled (RL-10A-3-3A engines) Centaur G' Stretched Shuttle version, cancelled Centaur (Titan 4) Same as G'? 1994+ (RL-10A-3-3A engines) Centaur (TC-23) Derated RL-10A-4-1A engines United Nations Registry ----------------------- I've updated my edited version of the United Nations Registry of Space Objects, at http://hea-www.harvard.edu/~jcm/space/un/un.html and the list of satellites which have not been registered, at http://hea-www.harvard.edu/~jcm/space/un/un_paper1.html Member states of the UN are required to register space objects owned by them; the accuracy and completeness of the information provided is pretty spotty. The United States remains the state with the most errors and omissions in its submissions; Mexico and Brazil are grossly overdue in updating their registrations. The US should be registering INTELSAT's satellites, but does not; the United Kingdom should be registering INMARSAT's satellites, but does not. Since 1991, when the US last failed to register one of its classified satellites, there is no evidence of any state deliberately failing to register a satellite to avoid detection - the omissions seem to be due to sloppiness. I've also updated the launch logs and the geostationary object log on my web site. Table of Recent Launches ----------------------- Date UT Name Launch Vehicle Site Mission INTL. DES. Apr 2 1128 Progress M-41 Soyuz-U Baykonur LC1 Cargo 15A Apr 2 2203 Insat 2E Ariane 42P Kourou ELA2 Comsat 16A Apr 9 1701 DSP F19 Titan 4/IUS Canaveral LC41 Early Warn 17A Apr 12 2250 Eutelsat W3 Atlas 2AS Canaveral LC36A Comsat 18A Apr 15 0046 Globalstar M019 ) Soyuz-U/Ikar Baykonur LC1 Comsat 19A Globalstar M042 ) 19B Globalstar M044 ) 19C Globalstar M045 ) 19D Apr 15 1832 Landsat 7 Delta 7920-10 Vandenberg SLC2W Imaging 20A Apr 16 1030? Sputnik-99 - Mir, LEO Comsat 15C Apr 21 0459 UoSAT-12 Dnepr Baykonur LC109 Test 21B Apr 27 1822 Ikonos 1 Athena 2 Vandenberg SLC6 Imaging F01 Apr 28 2030 ABRIXAS ) Kosmos-3M Kap. Yar LC107? Astronomy 22A Megsat-0 ) Technol. 22B Apr 30 1630 Milstar-2 F1 Titan 4/Cen Canaveral LC40 Comsat 23A May 5 0100 Orion 3 Delta 8930 Canaveral LC17B Comsat 24A May 10 0133 Feng Yun 1C ) CZ-4B Taiyuan Imaging 25A Shi Jian 5 ) Research 25B Current Shuttle Processing Status _________________________________ Orbiters Location Mission Launch Due OV-102 Columbia OPF Bay 1 STS-93 NET Jul 22 OV-103 Discovery LC39B STS-96 May 27 OV-104 Atlantis OPF Bay 3 STS-101 Oct 14 OV-105 Endeavour OPF Bay 2 STS-99 Sep 18 MLP1/RSRM-69/ET-99 Refurb area STS-93 MLP2/RSRM-70/ET-100/OV-103 VAB Bay 1 STS-96 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 | '-------------------------------------------------------------------------'