[ExI] Fw: Jonathan's Space Report, No. 589
Terry Colvin
fortean1 at mindspring.com
Sun Dec 23 08:01:47 UTC 2007
-----Forwarded Message-----
>From: Planet4589 <owner-jsr at host.planet4589.org>
>Sent: Dec 22, 2007 5:32 AM
>Subject: Jonathan's Space Report, No. 589
>
>Jonathan's Space Report
>No. 589 2007 Dec 21, Somerville, MA
>-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
>Shuttle and Station
>-------------------
>
>The next launch is Shuttle mission STS-122, Station flight 1E, carrying
>the European Columbus module to the Station. Launch will be no earlier
>than 2008 Jan.
>
>Peggy Whitson and Dan Tani made a spacewalk, US EVA-13, on Dec 18. The
>Quest airlock was depressurized at about 0948 UTC and repressurized at
>1646 UTC; the astronauts inspected the malfunctioning solar array
>rotation joint and beta gimbal assembly.
>
>
>Kosmos-2434
>------------
>
>A Globus communications satellite built by NPO PM for the Russian
>Defense Ministry was launched on Dec 9 on a Proton-M/Briz-M and given
>the cover name Kosmos-2434. Previous Globus satellites were given the
>Raduga-1 cover name. The Briz-M probably entered an initial 173 x 173 km
>orbit; it then reached a 273 x 4991 km x 49 deg intermediate orbit, and
>next a 400 x 35815 km x 49 deg geostationary transfer orbit. By Dec 18
>the payload was at 79.6E in a 35569 x 35956 km x 0.1 deg orbit. It's not
>clear what happened to the Briz-M jettisonable propellant tank.
>
>Cosmo 2
>--------------
>
>The second Italian military radar satellite in the Cosmo-Skymed system
>was launched on Dec 9 by a Boeing Delta 7420-10. At second stage first
>cutoff the orbit was 185 x 645 km x 97.8 deg; a second burn at 0325 UTC
>put the satellite in a 620 x 637 km orbit.
>
>Space Command is now calling the satellite Skymed 2, but the Boeing
>launch booklet referred to it as Cosmo.
>
>Radarsat 2
>----------
>
>Canada's Radarsat 2 satellite was launched on Dec 14 by a Russian
>Soyuz-FG/Fregat into a 790 x 798 km x 98 deg orbit. The Soyuz third
>stage was in a 169 x 206 km parking orbit and reentered later the
>same day; the Fregat stage was deorbited after releasing Radarsat.
>
>
>Erratum:
>--------
>In my discussion of the Delta 4 Heavy launch I inadvertently referred
>to the upper stage as a Centaur. Although it uses a similar RL-10 family
>rocket engine, the Delta 4 Second Stage is of course not a Centaur.
>
>A source reports that the orbit of the Nanosat-2 satellite launched in
>Dec 2004 on the first Delta 4 Heavy was 105 x 196 km x 27 deg.
>Nanosat-2, which consisted of two small satellites which remained
>attached to each other, is believed to have reentered less than one hour
>after launch.
>
>Yaogan 3
>--------
>
>As I reported previously, China's new radar satellite Yaogan 3 was
>launched at 2248 UTC on Nov 11. The Yaogan 3 satellite originally
>reached a 456 x 612 km x 97.9 deg orbit and separated from the third
>stage at 2309 UTC on Nov 11. Although China announced that the rocket
>had a new restart capability on the third stage, I can't tell if this
>was used. At first apogee about 2315 UTC on Nov 11, Yaogan used its own onboard
>engine to raise orbit to 613 x 623 km; on Nov 20 and 21 small adjustment
>burns trimmed the orbit to 627 x 629 km.
>
>EPOXI
>-----------
>
>The EPOXI (formerly Deep Impact) probe made a course correction on Nov 1
>to set up for a Dec 31 Earth flyby, and an encounter with comet
>103P/Hartley 2 on 2010 Oct 11, just before the comet reaches perihelion
>at 1.06AU on 2010 Oct 28.
>
>EPOXI will pass 15566 km over Australia at 1930 UTC on Dec 31. The flyby
>will change its solar orbit from 0.98 x 1.64 AU x 0.7 deg to 0.91 x 1.09
>AU x 4.2 deg.
>
>NROL-24
>-------
>
>Atlas V mission AV-015 launched a classified satellite for the US
>National Reconnaissance Office (NRO). The payload for launch NROL-24 has
>been given the cover name USA-198 and is thought to be
>an SDS (Satellite Data System) data relay satellite used to relay
>surveillance imagery and data from low altitude polar orbiting
>NRO spacecraft.
>
>The Centaur entered a low parking orbit and then a deployment orbit of
>261 x 16776 km x 60.0 deg (according to visual observations reported by
>independent sources). This compares with the 267 x 15379 km x 58.0 deg
>deployment orbit of the previous mission in the series, USA 179. The
>payload will use its own on-board propulsion to raise the orbit to
>around 1000 x 39400 km x 63 deg.
>
>Some observers speculated that the SBIRS HEO-2 infrared missile warning
>package and the TWINS-B magnetospheric research package might also be
>aboard, although I believe that next year's NROL-28 mission is a more
>likely fit for these and for the third Interim Polar Adjunct
>communications package.
>
>The first generation SDS satellites were launched by Titan 34B/Agena D
>rockets and deployed directly into 12-hour orbits. Here is a list of
>more recent SDS HEO (highly elliptical orbit) satellites:
>
>SDS HEO Launches
> Parking orbit Deployment orbit
>
>1989-61B USA 40 401 x 502 x 57.0 532 x 8135 x 57.0
>1992-86B USA 89 364 x 380 x 57.0 372 x 7300?x 56.9
>1996-38A USA 125 292 x 300 x 54.9 383 x 14072 x 55.4
>1998-05A USA 137 (CAPRICORN) 191 x 795 x 62.5 Unknown
>2004-34A USA 179 (NROL-1/NEMESIS) 191 x 400 x 58.4 267 x 15379 x 58.0
>2007-60A USA 198 (NROL-24/SCORPIUS) 209 x 262 x 60.0 261 x 16776 x 60.0
>
>Another constellation of NRO spacecraft uses a similar final orbit and
>are thought to be primarily signals intelligence payloads associated
>with the code-name TRUMPET. There were three such launches in 1994-1997.
>A more recent launch may be related; USA 184 also carries the TWINS-A
>and SBIRS HEO-1 payloads. NROL-28 is likely to be similar to USA-184.
>Unlike the SDS launches, these flights deploy their payloads directly
>into the 12-hour orbit.
>
>1994-26A USA 103 200 x 200?x 57 1323 x 39035 x 64.4
>1995-34A USA 112 245 x 255 x 56.1 Unknown
>1997-68A USA 136 (+IPA-1?) 185 x 185 x 55.0 1098 x 39012 x 63.6
>
>2006-27A USA 184 (NROL-22) 193 x 2215 x 62.5 1111 x 37594 x 62.4
> (+TWINS-A/SBIRS-HEO-1/IPA-2?)
>2008? USA ? (NROL-28 + TWINS-B/SBIRS-HEO-2/IPA-3?)
>
>
>GPS 57
>------
>
>The Navstar Global Positioning System GPS space vehicle 57, the 18th
>GPS IIR and 5th upgraded IIR-M, was launched from Cape Canaveral at 2004
>UTC on Dec 20. It reached a preliminary 174 x 203 km x 37.5 deg parking
>orbit at 2014 UTC and was delivered to elliptical transfer orbit at 2114 UTC.
>
>Ariane L530
>-----------
>
>Arianespace launched Ariane 5GS vehicle L530 (flight V180) on Dec 21.
>The EPC core stage reached a 30 x 1730 km x 7.3 deg orbit, reentering
>on the first perigee. The EPS upper stage reached geostationary
>transfer orbit and deployed two telecommunications satellites,
>RASCOM-QAF-1 and Horizons 2.
>
>RASCOM-QAF-1 is a Thales (Cannes) Spacebus 4000B3 with a hybrid Ku/C-band
>payload for RascomStarQAF of Port Louis, Mauritius, a subsidiary of the
>Regional African Satellite Communications Organization (RASCOM) based
>in Cote d'Ivoire. The mission and satellite control centers are
>in Cameroun and Libay; the satellite will provide voice, data and
>internet in Africa.
>
>Horizons 2 is an Orbital Star 2 Ku-band satellite for Horizons Satellite
>Holdings LLC, a joint venture of Intelsat and the Japanese JSAT company.
>
>
>
>Table of Recent (orbital) Launches
>----------------------------------
>Date UT Name Launch Vehicle Site Mission INTL.
> DES.
>Nov 1 0051 SAR-Lupe 3 ) Kosmos-3M Plesetsk LC132/1 Radar 53A
> AIS ) 53B
>Nov 11 0150 DSP 23 Delta 4H Canaveral SLC37B Early Warn 54A
>Nov 11 2248 Yaogan 3 Chang Zheng 4C Taiyuan Radar 55A
>Nov 14 2206 Skynet 5B ) Ariane 5ECA Kourou ELA3 Comms 56B
> Star One C1 ) 56A
>Nov 17 2239 Sirius 4 Proton-M/Briz-M Baykonur LC200/39 Comms 57A
>Dec 9 0015 Kosmos-2434 Proton-M/Briz-M Baykonur LC81/24 Comms 58A
>Dec 9 0231 Cosmo 2 Delta 7420-10 Vandenberg SLC2W Radar 59A
>Dec 10 2205 USA 198 (NROL-24) Atlas V 401 Canaveral SLC41 Comms? 60A
>Dec 14 1317 Radarsat-2 Soyuz-FG/Fregat Baykonur LC31 Radar 61A
>Dec 20 2004 GPS 57 Delta 7925 Canaveral SLC17A Nav 62A?
>Dec 21 2141 Rascom-QAF-1 ) Ariane 5GS Kourou ELA3 Comms 63A?
> Horizons 2 ) Comms 63B?
>
>.-------------------------------------------------------------------------.
>| Jonathan McDowell | phone : (617) 495-7176 |
>| Somerville MA 02143 | inter : jcm at host.planet4589.org |
>| USA | jcm at cfa.harvard.edu |
>| |
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>'-------------------------------------------------------------------------'
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Terry W. Colvin
Ladphrao (Bangkok), Thailand
Pran Buri (Hua Hin), Thailand
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