Jonathan's Space Report No. 335 1997 Sep 23 Cambridge, MA ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Shuttle and Mir --------------- Launch of STS-86 is due for Sep 25. The Mir crew moved briefly to the Soyuz transport on Sep 15 during a close pass by the inert MSTI-2 satellite, which was an SDIO satellite which operated between May and Sep 1994 testing infrared sensors for tracking missile launches. The close pass was reportedly only 500 meters. Recent Launches --------------- Ariane V100 was launched on Sep 23 at 2358 UTC. The rocket was an Ariane 42L model with two PAL liquid strapons. The payload is Intelsat 803, a series 7000 satellite built by Lockheed Martin Telecommunications/East Windsor. It was placed in geostationary transfer orbit and separated from the H-10-3 third stage on Sep 24 at 0018 UTC. Errata ------- OK, OK, I forgot Mars-96 in the list of probes which were meant to go into Mars orbit but did not. Also, it seems that I got the EVA suit info the wrong way round: Foale used the old DMA suit and Solov'yov the new M suit. Also, I omitted Telecom 2D (launch 1996 Aug 8) from the list of Eurostar 2000 satellites. Proton Upper Stages ------------------- A recent article in Novosti Kosmonavtiki clarifies (somewhat) the nomenclature for the family of RKK Energiya's Blok-DM upper stages used by the Proton rocket. There are separate naming schemes for the domestic and commercial versions of the Blok-D, and in particular the Blok DM-2 (with hyphen) is different from the Blok DM2 (with no hyphen)!! So here's a recap of recent launches on the Proton: Domestic launches 1996-005 1996 Jan 25 0956:00 Proton-K/DM-2 Gorizont 1996-010 1996 Feb 19 0819:00 Proton-K/DM-2 Raduga 1996-023 1996 Apr 23 1148:50 Proton-K Priroda 1996-034 1996 May 25 0205 Proton-K/DM-2 Gorizont 1996-058 1996 Sep 26 1850:53 Proton-K/DM-2M Ekspress 12 1996-064 1996 Nov 16 2048:53 Proton-K/D-2 Mars-96 1997-028 1997 Jun 6 1656:54 Proton-K/DM-5 Kosmos-2344 1997-041 1997 Aug 14 2049:14 Proton-K/DM-2 Kosmos-2345 Commercial launches 1996-021 1996 Apr 8 2309:01 Proton-K/DM3 (ILS) Hughes Astra 1F 1996-053 1996 Sep 6 1737:39 Proton-K/DM1 LMT Inmarsat 3 F2 1997-026 1997 May 24 1700:00 Proton-K/DM4 (ILS) Loral Telstar 5 1997-030 1997 Jun 18 1402:45 Proton-K/DM2 Motorola Iridium 1997-046 1997 Aug 28 0033 Proton-K/DM3 (ILS) Hughes PAS 5 1997-051 1997 Sep 14 0136 Proton-K/DM2 Motorola Iridium The various domestic types are: D (11S824) with 11D58 engine and guidance from payload D-1 (11S824M) with 11D58M engine and guidance from payload D-2 (11S824F) with 11D58M engine, guidance from payload, different adapter? DM (11S86) with 11D58M engine and internal guidance system DM-2 (11S861), like DM but with improved guidance DM-2M (11S861-01), like DM-2 but can carry heavier payloads DM-5 (17S40), like DM-2 but for heavier payloads and with different payload adapter design. The different commercial types are: DM1 Variant of domestic DM-2 (11S861) with Saab payload adapter DM2 Variant of domestic DM-5 (17S40) with Iridium dispenser DM3 Variant of domestic DM-2M (11S861-01) with Saab payload adapter DM4 Probably similar to DM3 This is the best info we have right now, but I anticipate that we don't have the full story yet. Table of Recent Launches ------------------------ Date UT Name Launch Vehicle Site Mission INTL. DES. Aug 1 2020 OrbView 2 Pegasus XL Vandenberg Remote sen.37A Aug 5 1536 Soyuz TM-26 Soyuz-U Baykonur LC1 Spaceship 38A Aug 7 1441 Discovery Shuttle Kennedy LC39A Spaceship 39A Aug 7 2227 CRISTA-SPAS OV-103,LEO Remote sen.39B Aug 8 0646 PAS 6 Ariane 4 Kourou ELA2 Comsat 40A Aug 14 2049 Kosmos-2345 Proton-K/DM-2 Baykonur Early Warn 41A Aug 19 1750 Agila 2 CZ-3B Xichang LC2 Comsat 42A Aug 21 0038 Iridium SV022) Delta 7920 Vandenberg SLC2W Comsat 43E Iridium SV023) Comsat 43D Iridium SV024) Comsat 43C Iridium SV025) Comsat 43B Iridium SV026) Comsat 43A Aug 23 0651 Lewis LMLV-1 Vandenberg SLC6 Remote sen. 44A Aug 25 1439 ACE Delta 7920 Canaveral LC17A Space sci. 45A Aug 28 0033 PAS 5 Proton-K/DM3 Baykonur Comsat 46A Aug 29 1502 FORTE Pegasus XL Vandenberg Space sci. 47A Sep 1 1400 Iridium MFS ) CZ-2C Taiyuan Inert 48B Iridium MFS ) Inert 48F Sep 2 2221 Hot Bird 3 ) Ariane 44LP Kourou ELA2 Comsat 49A Meteosat 7 ) Weather 49B Sep 4 1203 GE-3 Atlas IIAS Canaveral LC36A Comsat 50A Sep 14 0136 Iridium SV027 ) Proton-K/DM2 Baykonur Comsat 51 Iridium SV028 ) Comsat 51 Iridium SV029 ) Comsat 51 Iridium SV030 ) Comsat 51 Iridium SV031 ) Comsat 51 Iridium SV032 ) Comsat 51 Iridium SV033 ) Comsat 51 Sep 23 2358 Intelsat 803 Ariane 42L Kourou ELA2 Comsat Current Shuttle Processing Status ____________________________________________ Orbiters Location Mission Launch Due OV-102 Columbia OPF Bay 2 STS-87 Nov 19 OV-103 Discovery OPF Bay 3 STS-91 May 28 OV-104 Atlantis LC39A STS-86 Sep 25 OV-105 Endeavour OPF Bay 1 STS-89 Jan 15 MLP/SRB/ET/OV stacks MLP1/ MLP2/RSRM-61/ET/OV-104 LC39A STS-86 MLP3/ .-------------------------------------------------------------------------. | Jonathan McDowell | phone : (617) 495-7176 | | Harvard-Smithsonian Center for | | | Astrophysics | | | 60 Garden St, MS6 | | | Cambridge MA 02138 | inter : jcm@urania.harvard.edu | | USA | jmcdowell@cfa.harvard.edu | | | | JSR: http://hea-www.harvard.edu/QEDT/jcm/space/jsr/jsr.html | | Back issues: ftp://sao-ftp.harvard.edu/pub/jcm/space/news/news.* | '-------------------------------------------------------------------------'