SPX-526 25 August 1997 SPACEWARN Activities A publication of NASA NSSDC/WDC-A-R&S and the WWAS for ISES/COSPAR (All information in this publication was received between 25 July 1997 and 24 August 1997.) A. List of New International Designations and Launch Dates (UT). (USSPACECOM Catalog numbers are in parentheses.) 1997-044A (24909) SSTI-LEWIS 23 Aug 1997-041A (24895) COSMOS 2345 14 Aug 1997-043E (24907) IRIDIUM 22 21 Aug 1997-040A (24891) PAS 6 07 Aug 1997-043D (24906) IRIDIUM 23 21 Aug 1997-039B (24890) CHRISTA-SPAS 07 Aug 1997-043C (24905) IRIDIUM 24 21 Aug 1997-039A (24889) STS 85 07 Aug 1997-043B (24904) IRIDIUM 25 21 Aug 1997-038A (24886) SOYUZ TM-26 05 Aug 1997-043A (24903) IRIDIUM 26 21 Aug 1997-037A (24883) ORBVIEW 2 01 Aug 1997-042A (24901) AGILA 2 19 Aug 1997-036A (24880) SUPERBIRD-C 28 Jul B. Text of Launch Announcements. 1997-044A SSTI-LEWIS (Small Spacecraft Technology Initiative-Lewis) is an American environment monitoring spacecraft that was launched by an LMLV rocket from Vanderberg AFB at 06:51 UT. The 445 kg spacecraft carries two Earth imagers, HSI (0.4 - 2.5 micron wavelength), and LEISA (1.0 - 2.5 micron) along with an UCB imager (35 - 85 nanometer) for ultraviolet cosmic background. Solar panels generate 600 W of power. Since a few days after launch, the spacecraft has been spinning out of control and with diminishing solar power. Initial orbital parameters were period 90.5 min, apogee 299.5 km, perigee 283.2 km, and inclination 97.6 deg. 1997-043A, IRIDIUM 26, 25, 24, 23, and 22 are American communications 43B, 43C, spacecraft that were launched from Vandenberg AFB by a Delta 2 43D, 43E rocket at 00:38 UT. They join a fleet of 15 other IRIDIUMs launched in previous months, making the current total 22 spacecraft. They enable communications among mobile telephones. Initial orbital parameters of all of them were period 94.8 min, apogee 525 km, perigee 505 km, and inclination 95.0 deg. 1997-042A AGILA 2 is a Philippine geosynchronous spacecraft that was launched by a Long March 3B rocket from Xichang launch center at 01:50 a.m., local time. It carries 30 C-band and 27 Ku-band transponders to provide voice and video communications after parking at 144-E longitude. Solar panels provide a power of 9 kW to enable 190 high fidelity channels and 50,000 simultaneous telephone links. 1997-041A COSMOS 2345 is a Russian military geosynchronous communications spacecraft that was launched by a Proton-K rocket from Baykonur cosmodrome at 20:49 UT. Parking longitude is not available. 1997-040A PAS 6 (PANAMSAT 6) is an American geosynchronous spacecraft that was launched from Kourou in French Guiana by an Ariane 44-LP rocket at 06:46 UT. The 3,420 kg spacecraft carries 36 Ku-band 100 W transponders to provide directly voice and video communications throughout South America, especially to Brazil. 1997-039B CHRISTA-SPAS 2 is a German-American free-flying module that was released from the Shuttle STS 85 to monitor the middle atmospheric constituents (ozone, etc.) by means of UV spectrometers. It was retrieved by the Shuttle after nine days of free flying in the vicinity of the Shuttle. During its free flight about 66 minirockets and balloons were launched by America and Germany to monitor concurrently the same regions of the atmosphere as the spacecraft did. Initial orbital parameters of the spacecraft were close to those of the Shuttle. 1997-039A STS 85 is an American Shuttle spacecraft that was launched from Cape Canaveral at 14:41 UT. Its main mission was to deploy and retrive the CHRISTA-SPAS 2 module, to conduct solar constant experiments through its SOLCON instrument, and to conduct infrared imaging of the atmosphere through its ISIR instrument and to conduct the usual sort of microgravity experiments. Details of the experiments may be accessed through the URL http://www.osf.hq.nasa. gov/shuttle/sts85/. Initial orbital parameters were period 90.4 min, apogee 309 km, perigee 298 km, and inclination 57.0 deg. 1997-038A SOYUZ TM-26 is a Russian spacecraft that ferried cosmonauts and supplies to the MIR space station. It was launched by a Soyuz-U rocket from Baykonur cosmodrome at 15:36 UT. The main mission was to transport two specially trained cosmonauts to repair or salvage the troubled space station. TM-26 docked with MIR at 17:03 UT on 7 August by manual control. The crew repaired the power cable and harness/connectors in the severely damaged SPEKTR module and restored much of the lost power; they also repaired and replaced the oxygen generators in MIR. The hole(s) in that module that caused total depressurization of the module could not be located during their "space walk" inside that module. Repairing or replacing the segments of the solar panels on that module and sealing the hole(s) may be delayed until the next Soyuz mission. Initial orbital parameters were period 92.3 min, apogee 392 km, perigee 385 km, and inclination 51.6 deg. 1997-037A ORBVIEW 2 (formerly known as SEASTAR) is an American ocean monitoring spacecraft that was launched by a Pegasus XL rocket at 20:20 UT from a L-1011 jet plane flying out of Vandenberg AFB. The primary instrument on board is a color scanner, SeaWiFS (Sea-viewing Wide Field of view Sensor) to image phytoplankton growth and fish schools in the coastal areas and oceans. It has a resolution of 1 km and a swath width of 3,000 km. Initial orbital parameters were period 90.7 min, apogee 319 km, perigee 297 km, and inclination 90.7 deg. 1997-036A SUPERBIRD-C is a Japanese geostationary communications spacecraft that was launched by an Atlas 2AS rocket from Cape Canaveral Air Station. It will provide voice and video communications to Japan and nearby countries through its 26 (?) Ku-band transponders after parking over 160-E longitude. C. Spacecraft Particularly Suited for International Participation. 1. Spacecraft with essentially continuous radio beacons on frequencies less than 150 MHz, or higher frequencies if especially suited for ionospheric or geodetic studies. (NNSS denotes U.S. Navy Navigational Satellite System; an asterisk [*] indicates updated or new information since the last issue. Updates or corrections to the list are possible only with information from the user community.) SEE LIST IN SPX-520. THE LIST WILL REAPPEAR ONLY AFTER MAJOR UPDATES TO THE LIST ARE AVAILABLE. 2. Global Positioning System satellites useful for navigational purposes and geodetic studies. ("NNN" denotes no national name. SPACEWARN Bulletin appreciates suggestions to update this list. An asterisk [*] denotes changes in this issue. High precision [< 20 cm] GPS constellation tracking data obtained from the network of about 80 dedicated global stations that are of interest to geodetic study may be obtained through the following services provided by the International Association of Geodesy [IGS]). FTP: igscb.jpl.nasa.gov [directory /igscb] WWW: http://igscb.jpl.nasa.gov/ E-Mail: igscb@cobra.jpl.nasa.gov The standard format of the GPS situation appeared in SPX-518. It will not be repeated since an excellent source of trajectory- and science-related GPS information is at URL http://www.utexas.edu/depts/grg/gcraft/notes/gps/gps.html#DODSystem. It provides many links to GPS-related data bases. The latest member of the GPS fleet is NAVSTAR 43 (1997-035), launched on 23 July 1997. 3. Russian Global Navigational (Positioning) Spacecraft, GLONASS constellation. (SPACEWARN requests updates or additions from readers to this list. An asterisk [*] indicates updates or additions to the list.) All GLONASS spacecraft are in the general COSMOS series. The COSMOS numbers invoked by USSPACECOM have sometimes differed from the numbers (NNNN) associated in Russia. The operating frequencies in MHz are computed from the channel number K. Frequencies (MHz) are L1 = 1602.0 + 0.5625K and L2 = 1246.0 + 0.4375K. The standard format of the GLONASS situation appeared in SPX-515. It will not be repeated in view of the excellent updated source, with the URL http://www.rssi.ru/SFCSIC/glonass.html, maintained by the Coordinational Scientific Information Center (CSIC), Russian Space Forces. 4. Actual decays or landings of payload spacecraft and rocket bodies (R/B) only. No further information is available. Designations Common Name 1997 1997-039A (24889) STS 85 Landed on 19 Aug 1997-041B (24895) R/B PROTON-K 16 Aug 1997-039B (24890) CHRISTA-SPAS 2 Retrieved by STS 85 16 Aug 1997-025A (24717) SOYUZ TM-25 15 Aug 1997-038B (24887) R/B SOYUZ-U 08 Aug 5. Miscellaneous Items. (This section contains information or data that are entered on occasion and may not be repeated in each issue of the SPACEWARN Bulletin.) The Japanese radio astronomy spacecraft, HALCA, has mapped the galactic nucleus of 1156-295 at an angular resolution of 0.0017 seconds of arc, in collaboration with two ground-based antennas in Japan. The network of interferometers at a wavelength of 18 cm had the spacing equal to the apogee of HELCA (21,700 km). NSSDC/WDC-A-R&S is an archival center for science data from many spacecraft. Some data are on line for electronic access. Please contact the Request Office, NSSDC, Code 633, NASA GSFC, Greenbelt, Maryland 20771, U.S.A., for specific information (REQUEST@NSSDCA.GSFC.NASA.GOV). Information on the current status of the instruments on board from the investigators will be most welcomed. Precomputed trajectory files and orbital parameters of many magnetospheric and heliospheric science-payload spacecraft may be FTP'ed from NSSDC's ANON_DIR:[000000.ACTIVE] and its several subdirectories. (See the last page of the bulletin for the access method; a file in the ACTIVE directory named AAREADME.DOC outlines the contents.) It can also be accessed through the WWW URL http://sscop1.gsfc.nasa.gov/ssc.html This HTML also enables executing several codes related to the orbits of many geocentric science payload spacecraft. The codes related to the heliospheric spacecraft trajectories can be executed through the URL http://nssdc/space/helios/heli.html Magnetospheric, planetary, and astronomical science data from many spacecraft may be accessed through links from the URL http://nssdc.gsfc.nasa.gov/ =========================================================================== SPACEWARN Bulletin The bulletin is intended to serve as an international communication medium for the rapid distribution of information on satellites and space probes. The material it contains is based on guidelines in the COSPAR Guide to Rocket and Satellite Information and Data Exchange, COSPAR Transactions #8, December 1972, and various Committee on Space Research (COSPAR) resolutions. Hard copy recipients and electronic accessers are encouraged to disseminate the bulletin to interested individuals and institutions in their regions or countries. All bulletins beginning with January 1991 (SPX-447) are now available on line; the SPX number increases by one for each succeeding month (for example, the January 1993 bulletin is SPX-471). Through DECnet: At the prompt type: copy nssdca::anon_dir:[000000.active.spx]spx.471 Through FTP, at the prompt type: ftp nssdca.gsfc.nasa.gov At the next prompt type: anonymous At the PASSWORD (NSSDCA.GSFC.GOV.ANONYMOUS) prompt hit: return At the next prompt type: get anon_dir:[000000.active.spx]spx.471 spx.471 Other subdirectories in [000000.active] carry many files of interest on science payload spacecraft. The bulletin may also be accessed through the World Wide Web (WWW). The URL is http://nssdc.gsfc.nasa.gov/spacewarn/spacewarn.html. Users are urged to submit their comments and suggestions for the improvement of this bulletin to SPACEWARN Bulletin, World Data Center-A for Rockets and Satellites, Code 633, Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, Maryland 20771, U.S.A. Categories of Spacecraft To improve the effectiveness of international distribution of satellite and space probe information via the SPACEWARN system, spacecraft are identified in categories according to the urgency and detail of information needed by the scientific community as follows: CATEGORY 1: Spacecraft that carry essentially continuous telemetry or radio beacons, usually on frequencies less than 150 MHz. CATEGORY 2: GPS constellation of positioning/navigational spacecraft. CATEGORY 3: GLONASS constellation of positioning/navigational spacecraft. CATEGORY 4: Occasionally, a list of bright, orbiting objects of visual magnitude 4 or brighter. The bulletin also carries launch dates, international IDs, and USSPACECOM catalog numbers, followed by a brief outline of the payload and orbital parameters, re-entry of major objects, and miscellaneous sections. These data are based on launch announcements or on information received from individuals, launching authorities, FBIS and USSPACECOM telexes, and news magazines.