SPX-540 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 1 October 1998 and 31 October 1998.) A. List of New International Designations and Launch Dates (UT). (USSPACECOM Catalog numbers are in parentheses.) 1998-064B (25520) PANSAT 30 Oct 1998-064A (25519) STS 95 29 Oct 1998-063B (25516) GE 5 28 Oct 1998-063A (25515) AFRISTAR 28 Oct 1998-062A (25512) PROGRESS M-40 25 Oct 1998-061B (25509) SEDSAT 1 24 Oct 1998-061A (25508) DEEP SPACE 1 24 Oct 1998-060A (25504) SCD 2 23 Oct 1998-059A (25503) MAQSAT 3 21 Oct 1998-058A (25501) UHF F/O F9 20 Oct 1998-057A (25495) HOT BIRD 5 09 Oct 1998-056B (25492) SIRIUS 3 05 Oct 1998-056A (25491) EUTELSAT W2 05 Oct 1998-055A (25489) USA 140 03 Oct B. Text of Launch Announcements. 1998-064B PANSAT is an American communications spacecraft that was released from STS 95 at 17:20 UT. It will serve to train students at the Naval Postgraduate School. Initial orbital parameters were close to those of STS 95. 1998-064A STS 95 is an American Shuttle spacecraft that was launched from Cape Canaveral at 07:19 UT. It carried resources for 80 microgravity experiments, a mini-communications spacecraft named PANSAT that was released on 30 October 1998 at 17:20 UT, the SPARTAN 201 solar observatory for deployment/recapture (on 1 November/3 November), and seven astronauts. One astronaut is a 77-year-old U.S. Senator (and the first American to orbit, 36 years ago) who will enable the first set of data on microgravity's effect on the aging process; he wrote, "Hopefully, the data will help NASA's medical experts and others to develop insights and set new directions in search to alleviate medical problems that plague astronauts in space as well as the elderly on Earth. Once scientists have had a chance to analyze the data, I'm confident we'll find new avenues of promising research for combatin some of the frailties of old age." (Parade magazine, 25 October 1998) Initial orbital parameters were period 95.8 min, apogee 561 km, perigee 551 km, and inclination 28.5 deg. 1998-063B GE 5 is an American geosynchronous communications spacecraft that was launched to provide voice and video communications to North America. It was launched by an Ariane 44L rocket from Kourou at 22:16 UT. 1998-063A AFRISTAR is a digital radio communications geosynchronous spacecraft that was launched by an Ariane 44L rocket from Kourou at 22:16 UT. It will enable radio communications to North African countries. 1998-062A PROGRESS M-40 is a Russian automatic cargo ship that was launched by a Soyuz-U rocket from Baykonur at 04:15 UT to carry cargo to the MIR station. It carried 7,285 kg of cargo including 400 kg of fuel, 2,500 kg of food, water, and scientific/engineering equipment required for the experiment (Znamia 2.5) to reflect Sun light toward Earth. It docked with MIR on 27 October. It may be the last flight of the Progress series since MIR may be deorbited into the Pacific in mid-1999. Initial orbital parameters were period 89.7 min, apogee 281 km, perigee 235 km, and inclination 51.7 deg. 1998-061B SEDSAT 1 (Students for the Exploration and Development of space) is an American mini-spacecraft that was launched by a Delta 2 rocket from Cape Canaveral. It will obtain images of the Earth and distribute them through the Web from the University of Alabama. It will also serve as a relay for amateur radio communications. Initial orbital parameters were period 101 min, apogee 1,079 km, perigee 547 km, inclination 31.4 deg. 1998-061A DEEP SPACE 1 is an experimental American spacecraft that was sent into deep space by an ion-propulsion engine after being launched by a Delta 2 rocket from Cape Canaveral. The drum-shaped 486 kg probe, which carries 80 kg of ionizable Xenon gas, is aimed to rendezvous with the asteroid 1992-KD in September 1999 and then move on to one or more cometary encounters. Ion propulsion engines require a smaller fuel mass though providing smaller acceleration compared to chemical fuels. 1998-060A SCD 2 is a Brazilian (ground) environmental data relaying mini- spacecraft that was launched by a Pegasus rocket from Cape Canaveral at 00:30 UT. Initial orbital parameters were period 99.9 min, apogee 769 km, perigee 743 km, and inclination 25.0 deg. 1998-059A MAQSAT 3 is a dummy payload to test the performance of the latest model of the Ariane series, Ariane 5. The rocket released an atmospheric re-entry demonstrator (ARD), also. Initial orbital parameters of MAQSAT 3 were period 666 min, apogee 36,612 km, perigee 1,152 km, and inclination 7.0 deg. 1998-058A UHF F/O F9 is an American geosynchronous military communications spacecraft that was launched by an Atlas 2A rocket from Cape Canaveral Air Station. 1998-057A HOT BIRD 5 is a Eutelsat consortium's geosynchronous direct- broadcast communications spacecraft that was launched by an Atlas 2A rocket from Cape Canaveral. It will provide voice and video communications to Europe through 22 Ku-band transponders after parking over 13 deg-E longitude. 1998-056B SIRIUS 3 is a Swedish geosynchronous communications spacecraft that was launched by an Ariane 44L rocket from Kourou at 22:51 UT. The 1,500 kg spacecraft will provide voice and video communications to northern Europe and Scandinavia through 15 Ku-band 44 watt transponders after parking at about 5 deg-E longitude. 1998-056A EUTELSAT W2 is a geosynchronous communications spacecraft of that consortium that was launched by an Ariane 44L rocket from Kourou at 22:51 UT. The 2,900 kg spacecraft will provide direct-to- home voice and video communications to North Africa, the Middle East, and Europe through its 24 (Ku-band?) transponders after parking over 16 deg-E longitude. 1998-055A USA 140 is an American military spacecraft that was launched from Vandenberg AFB by a Taurus rocket. 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 38 (1997-067A), launched on 6 November 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 1998 1998-031A (25340) PROGRESS M-39 20 Oct 1998-052B (22474) R/B Ariane 44LP 26 Oct 1998-038A (25373) COSMOS 2358 22 Oct 1989-052F (20116) R/B Launch vehicle of GORIZONT 18 18 Oct 1998-054B (25486) R/B Molniya-M 14 Oct 1993-046B (22720) R/B Atlas 2 03 Jan 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.) he SOHO spacecraft has now been resuscitated. Nine out of its 12 instruments have also been activated with five of them attaining nominal operation status. 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 emails, and news magazines.