Jonathan's Space Report

Feb 28, 1989 (No. 5)

As reported last week, the first US launch of the year went off
perfectly.  The Navstar GPS-13 satellite, officially named 'USA-35', has
now circularised its orbit at 20000 km altitude.  The next Navstar/Delta-2
launch is set for April. 

Japan's scientific space agency ISAS (Institute of Space and
Astronautical Sciences) launched the Akebono ('Dawn') satellite from
Kagoshima Space Center on Feb 21 into an elliptical polar orbit.  The
satellite, also known as EXOS-D, will study the formation of aurorae. 

A Japanese commercial communications satellite, JCSAT 1, is set for
launch aboard a European Ariane 4 rocket this week.  The rocket will
also carry Europe's first Operational Meteosat weather satellite into
orbit. 

The space shuttle Discovery is still on target for a mid-March
launch at Kennedy Space Center. A launch date will be set next week.


Other events:

Kosmos-2001, launched Feb 14 by a 'Molniya' booster, is a missile early
warning satellite operated by the PVO (Soviet Air Defence Forces). 

Kosmos-2002, launched Feb 14, is a small military satellite whose
mission is unknown.  The USSR launches several satellites each year in
this 'minor military' category; the small satellites do not maneuver and
reenter after one or two years.  Possible missions include radiation
measurement, atmospheric studies, cloud cover monitoring, communications
security monitoring, and technology development. 

Kosmos-2003 is a GRU (Soviet Military Intelligence) spy satellite, based
on the old Vostok spacecraft.  It was launched on Feb 17 and will
probably land in Kazakhstan on Mar 3. 

Kosmos-2004 was launched on Feb 22. No details yet.

The 75th Soviet Ministry of Communications 'Molniya-1' comsat
was orbited on Feb 15. 

Major launches due in March include Space Shuttle Mission STS-29,
a European Ariane 44LP launch with two comsats, and a Soviet 
Progress cargo freighter.