SPACEWARN Bulletin, SPX-578 A publication of NASA NSSDC/WDC for Satellite Information, and the World Warning Agency for Satellites, for COSPAR/ISES. (All information in this publication was received between 1 December 2001 and 31 December 2001.) A. List of New International Designations and Launch Dates (UT). (USSPACECOM Catalog numbers are in parentheses.) COSPAR/WWAS USSPACECOM SPACECRAFT INT.ID CAT. # NAME LAUNCH DATE, UT (2001) ------------------------------------------------------- 2001-058F (27060) PAYLOAD F 28 December 2001-058E (27059) PAYLOAD E 28 December 2001-058D (27058) PAYLOAD D 28 December 2001-058C (27057) PAYLOAD C 28 December 2001-058B (27056) PAYLOAD B 28 December 2001-058A (27055) PAYLOAD A 28 December 2001-057A (27053) COSMOS 2383 21 December 2001-056E (27005) REFLECTOR 10 December 2001-056D (26704) MAROC-TUBSAT 10 December 2001-056C (26703) BADR 2 10 December 2001-056B (26702) KOMPASS 10 December 2001-056A (26701) METEOR-3M 10 December 2001-055B (26998) TIMED 07 December 2001-055A (26997) JASON 1 07 December 2001-054B (26996) STARSHINE 2 16 December 2001-054A (26995) STS 108 05 December 2001-053C (26989) COSMOS 2380 01 December 2001-053B (26988) COSMOS 2381 01 December 2001-053A (26987) COSMOS 2382 01 December B. Text of Launch Information 2001-058A, PAYLOAD A, B, C, D, E, and F are tentative names for the six 058B,058C, satellites that were launched by a Tsiklon 3 rocket from Plesetsk 058D,058E, at 04:09 UT on 28 December. The identification of names of these 058F Russian satellites with the IDs by the USSPACECOM may be delayed for weeks. In the meantime, we have ascertained that three of them are COSMOS spacecraft (COSMOS 2384, COSMOS 2385, and COSMOS 2386) and the other three are GONETS-D1 spacecraft. There have been six GONETS-D1s (GONETS-D1 1, -D1 2, -D1-3, -D1 4, -D1 5, and -D1 6) in orbit, so the latest are likely to carry -D1 7, -D1 8, and -D1 9. All three COSMOS' are Russian military communications spacecraft; the GONETS' are civilian reconnaissance/communications spacecraft to locate and report natural and man-made environmental disasters around the world, and to relay messages from/to mobile telephones, like the earlier six GONETS are doing. The next issue of the Spacewarn Bulletin, SPX.579 may carry the matched names and IDs. The initial orbital parameters of the circular orbits of all six were closely similar: period 114 min, apogee 1,447 km, perigee 1,415 km, and inclination 82.5 deg. 2001-057A COSMOS 2383 is a Russian military spacecraft that was launched by a Tsiklon 2 rocket from Baikonur at 04:00 UT on 21 December 2001. The initial orbital parameters of the circular orbit were period 92.8 min, altitude 410 km, and inclination 65 deg. 2001-056E REFLECTOR is an American microsatellite that was launched by a Zenit rocket from Baikonur at 17:19 UT on 10 December 2001. No additional information is available at this time. The initial orbital parameters were period 105 min, apogee 1,014 km, perigee 985 km, and inclination 99.7 deg. 2001-056D MAROC-TUBSAT is a Moroccan microsatellite that was launched by a Zenit rocket from Baikonur at 17:19 UT on 10 December 2001. It is to test a three-dimensional attitude control system that will be incorporated in a future remote sensing mission. The initial orbital parameters were period 105 min, apogee 1,014 km, perigee 986 km, and inclination 99.7 deg. 2001-056C BADR 2 is a Pakistani microsatellite that was launched by a Zenit rocket from Baikonur at 17:19 UT on 10 December 2001. The 68 kg satellite is intended to ascertain and update the status of ground based receiving/commanding stations, and to test remote sensing CCD instruments. The initial orbital parameters were period 105 min, apogee 1,014 km, perigee 986 km, and inclination 99.7 deg. 2001-056B KOMPASS is a Russian microsatellite that was launch by a Zenit rocket from Baikonur at 17:19 UT on 10 December 2001. It is to explore Earthquake prediction capabilities. The initial orbital parameters were period 105 min, apogee 1,014 km, perigee 987 km, and inclination 99.7 deg. 2001-056A METEOR-3M is a Russian environment/atmosphere monitoring meteorological satellite that was launched by a Zenit rocket from Baikonur at 17:19 UT on 10 December 2001. The initial orbital parameters were period 105 min, apogee 1016 km, perigee 996 km, and inclination 99.7 deg. 2001-055B TIMED (Thermosphere, Ionosphere, Mesosphere Energetics and Dynamics) is an American (NASA) ionospheric research satellite that was launched by a Delta 2 rocket from Vandenberg AFB at 15:07 UT on 7 December 2001. The 587 kg, 400 W, 1.6 m wide, and 1.2 m deep spacecraft carries four instruments: GUVI (Global UltraViolet Imager), SABER (Sounding of the Atmosphere using Broadband Emission Radiometry), SEE (Solar Extreme ultraviolet Experiment) and TIDI, (TImed Doppler Interferometer). The GUVI will monitor auroral and airglow lines with a spatial scanning spectrometer to assess the atomic/molecular composition and temperature profile in the upper atmosphere. The SABER is a 10-channel infrared radiometer to monitor the heat emitted by the upper atmosphere in the 1.27 - 17 micron wavelength band. The SEE will monitor the solar irradiance in the UV and soft X-ray bands. The TIDI will extract the Doppler shift in atomic and molecular lines at four perpendicular directions to infer the prevailing wind speed. More details are available in http://www.timed.jhuapl.edu/. The spacecraft has a data storage capacity of 5 Gbits and will downlink the data mainly over the APL at a rate of 4 Mbits/sec. The initial orbital parameters were period 97.3 min, apogee 628 km, perigee 627 km, and inclination 74.1 deg. 2001-055A JASON 1 is an American-French (NASA-CNES) oceanographic satellite that was launched by a Delta 2 rocket from Vandenberg AFB 15:07 UT on 7 Decemeber 2001. It is intended to supplement and extend the TOPEX/Poseidon mission results by monitoring the sea surface level and wave heights. The 500 kg, 1.0 kW, triaxially-stabilized spacecraft carries five instruments. There are two radar altimeters: the CNES Poseidon-2 Altimeter at 13.65 GHz and a NASA TOPEX Altimeter at 13.6 and 5.3 GHz, both measuring the sea surface with an accuracy of 4.2 cm. The NASA Jason Microwave Radiometer (JMR) enables water vapor measurement along the altimeter path so as to correct the echo time. The CNES DORIS Doppler tracking antenna receives ground signals for precise determination of the satellite altitude after correction for ionospheric delays. The NASA BlackJack GPS receiver provides accurate location of the satellite. Finally, the NASA laser retroreflector array works with ground stations to track the satellite and calibrate/verify the altimeter measurements. The data from JASON 1 will be made available through NASA/JPL and CNES. Data dump will be made over Poker Flats, Alaska, and Wallops Island, Virginia. For more details see http://sealevel.jpl.nasa.gov/ mission/jason-1.html. The initial orbital parameters were period 112 min, apogee 1,340 km, perigee 1,328 km, and inclination 66 deg. 2001-054B STARSHINE 2 is an American, high school educational microsatellite that was launched from STS 108 on 16 December 2001. It was built with the participation of 25,000 students in 26 countries. No further details are available, but it is expected to be very similar to the STARSHINE 3 (2001-043A) that was launched in September 2001. The initial orbital parameters were period 92.1 min, apogee 389 km, perigee 361 km, and inclination 51.6 deg. 2001-054A STS 108 is an American shuttle spacecraft that was launched from Cape Canaveral at 22:19 UT on 5 December 2001. It carried a crew of seven astronauts (one Russian and six American) and three tonnes of food and equipment to the International Space Station (ISS), and docked with it at 19:59 UT on 7 December 2001. It is the twelfth shuttle mission to the ISS, and carried an Italian cargo module that was attached to the Unity module of the ISS. Later the cargo was transferred to the Destiny laboratory. The crew did a spacewalk to install a thermal blanket over the Beta Gimbal Assemblies (BGAs) at the base of the solar panels that are intended to direct the panels sunward at an optimal angle. It carried also a STARSHINE 2 microsatellite for release. In addition, the shuttle carried four GAS (Get Away Special) containers, one with seven experiments from Utah State University students, the second with three experiments from Penn State University students, the third with Swedish Space Corp. experiments, and the fourth with NASA/ Ames experiments. An animal enclosure module carried a few mice and a bird module some quail eggs. The STS landed back in Cape Canaveral at 17:55 UT on 17 December 2001, with the crew that included three astronauts (two Russian and one American) that had spent 129 days on the ISS. The initial orbital parameters were period 92 min, apogee 377 km, perigee 353 km, and inclination 51.6 deg. 2001-053C, COSMOS 2380, 2381, and 2382 are the latest trio to join the 053B, 053A current Russian fleet of GLONASS satellites. They were launched by a Proton-K rocket from Baikonur at 18:00 UT on 1 December 2001. These COSMOS series spacecraft have another model name also: two of them are called Uragan class and the third an enhanced Uragan-M class. According to some reports, the nominally complete fleet of 24 have now only nine fully functional spacecraft. (See Section C-3 for an outline of the GLONASS fleet.) The latest trio has been placed in Plane-1. The initial orbital parameters of all three were similar. Period 675 min, apogee 19,100 km, perigee 19,100 km, and inclination 64.8 deg 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. Updates or corrections to the list are possible only with information from the user community.) THE FULL LIST APPEARED IN SPX 545. (See http://nssdc.gsfc.nasa.gov/ spacewarn/) THE LIST WILL NOT BE REPEATED IN FUTURE ISSUES, UNTIL SIGNIFICANTLY REVISED AGAIN. 2. Global Positioning System satellites useful for navigational purposes and geodetic studies. 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.colorado.edu/geography/gcraft/notes/gps/gps_f.html. It provides many links to GPS-related data bases. 3. Russian Global Navigational (Positioning) Spacecraft, GLONASS constellation. SPACEWARN requests updates or additions from readers 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-545. It will not be repeated in view of the excellent updated source, with the URL http://www.rssi.ru/SFCSIC/, or http://www.rssi.ru/SFCSIC/english.html, maintained by the Coordinational Scientific Information Center (CSIC), Russian Space Forces. The latest addition to the GLONASS fleet are COSMOS 2380, COSMOS 2381, and COSMOS 2382. 4. Visually bright objects. A comprehensive list of visually bright objects with their 2-line orbital elements is available from USSPACECOM, via a NASA URL. Go to Sec C-6 below and, after steps (1) through (6), click on "Special Interest Group Report". Then click on "Visible Interest Satellites", along with "Header and TLE". The list does not provide visual magnitude, but are expected to be brighter than magnitude 5. 5. Actual decays or landings of payload spacecraft and rocket bodies (R/B) only. No further information is available. Designations Common Name Decay Date, 2001 ------------ ----------- ---------- 2000-049E (26501) R/B (Aux) Proton-K 30 Dec 1970-109B (04802) R/B Diamant B 21 Dec 1982-083E (13446) R/B(2) that launched MOLNIYA 3-19 21 Dec 2001-054A (26995) STS 108 landed on 17 Dec 1989-043A (20052) MOLNIYA 3-35 14 Dec 1992-007A (21867) JERS 1 03 Dec 2001-053D (26990) R/B(1) Proton-K 02 Dec 6. 60-day Decay Predictions. The USSPACECOM forecasts and maintains a list of decays of orbiting objects expected in the next 60 days , with fair accuracy. The list may be accessed through a NASA site, http://oig1.gsfc. nasa.gov/scripts/foxweb.exe/app01?, as follows. (1) Click on "OIG Main Page". (2) Click on "Send Message to System administrator", who will provide a login account. (3) After getting an ID and a Password, click on "Registered User Login". (Step (2) is not needed after obtaining an account.) (4) Click on "Continue". (5) Click on "General information". (6) Click on "Reports". (7) Click on "Sixty Day Decay......". The login need is enforced after the 11 September 2001 events. 7. 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.) 8. Related NSSDC resources. NSSDC/WDC for Satellite Information is an archival center for science data from many spacecraft. Many datasets are on-line for electronic access, through the URL, http://nssdc.gsfc.nasa.gov/ For off-line data, 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 elements of many magnetospheric and heliospheric science- payload spacecraft may be obtained from: ftp://nssdcftp.gsfc.nasa.gov/miscellaneous/orbits Other files interest for Earth-centered s/c can be generated thru the URL, http://sscweb.gsfc.nasa.gov/ Codes related to the heliospheric spacecraft trajectories can be executed through the URL, http://nssdc.gsfc.nasa.gov/space/helios/heli.html Descriptions of many spacecraft, experiments and datasets are available through links from http://nssdc.gsfc.nasa.gov/nmc/sc-query.html =========================================================================== 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. 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). The bulletin may be accessed through the World Wide Web (WWW). The URL is http://nssdc.gsfc.nasa.gov/spacewarn/ Users are encouraged to submit their comments and suggestions for the improvement of this bulletin to SPACEWARN Bulletin: WWAS@NDADSB.GSFC.NASA.GOV. 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, news papers, and some Web sites.