Jonathan's Space Report No. 380 1998 Nov 26 Cambridge, MA ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Note: I've updated the launch log files at http://hea-www.harvard.edu/~jcm/space/log/ Shuttle and Station ------------------------ The International Space Station era has begun. The launch of the Zarya module was successful on Nov 20 at 0640 UTC. Zarya is the first element of the International Space Station. It was funded by the US and built by Krunichev in Moscow, and will be controlled by RKA/Energiya in Korolev. Krunichev built it under a subcontract from Boeing for NASA, so I imagine that formally NASA is the owner but RKA is the operator. The Zarya derives its design from the TKS spaceship and the 77KS Mir side modules. Zarya is the Funktional'no-Gruzovoy Blok (FGB), serial 77KM No 175-01. It includes a multiple docking adapter, a pressurised cabin section, and a propulsion/instrument section with a rear docking port. Zarya was launched by a three stage Proton-K (8K82K) rocket, serial 395-01, from pad 81L at 5-GIK (the Baykonur cosmodrome). The third stage and Zarya reached orbit 9 min after takeoff. Initial orbit was 176 x 343 km x 51.6 deg. By Nov 25 it had maneuvered to a 383 x 396 km x 51.7 deg orbit, awaiting the launch of Shuttle mission STS-88 which will dock the Unity node to it. Launches of spacecraft in the TKS/77KS series: TKS Mockup 1976 Dec 15 (with Kosmos-881/882) TKS No. 161-01 1977 Jul 17 Kosmos-929, TKS test flight TKS Mockup 1977 Aug 5 (launch failure) TKS Mockup 1978 Mar 30 (with Kosmos-997/998) TKS Mockup 1979 May 22 (with Kosmos-1100/1101) TKS No. 163-01 1981 Apr 25 Kosmos-1267, TKS test docked with Salyut-6 TKS-M No. 164-01 1983 Mar 2 Kosmos-1443, TKS test docked with Salyut-7 TKS-M No. 165-01 1985 Sep 27 Kosmos-1686, module docked with Salyut-7 FSB No. 166-01 1987 Mar 31 Propulsion unit for Kvant module FSB No. 162-01 1987 May 15 Propulsion unit for Skif-DM payload TsM-D No. 171-01 1989 Nov 26 Kvant-2, docked with Mir TsM-T No. 172-01 1990 May 31 Kristall, docked with Mir TsM-O No. 173-01 1995 May 20 Spektr, docked with Mir TsM-I No. 174-01 1996 Apr 23 Priroda, docked with Mir FGB No. 175-01 1998 Nov 20 Zarya, ISS first element USM No. 176-01 Under construction as ISS docking module Meanwhile, Space Shuttle OV-105 Endeavour is on the launch pad ready for mission STS-88 on Dec 3. Crew of STS-88 are: Commander - Col. Robert Cabana, USMC, NASA chief astronaut Pilot - Maj. Frederick Sturckow, USMC/NASA Mission Specialists: Col. Jerry Ross, USAF/NASA, Maj. Nancy Currie, USA/NASA, Dr. James Newman, NASA, and Sergei Krikalyov, RKA. The payload bay contains the following cargo: Sill: RMS arm No. 303 Bay 1-2: Tunnel Adapter 002 Bay 3-4: Orbiter Docking System/External Airlock (Boeing/Palmdale) Bay 7-13: Unity (Node 1) (Boeing/Huntsville) PMA-1 docking adapter (Boeing/Huntingdon Beach), PMA-2 docking adapter (Boeing/Huntingdon Beach) Bay 2 Port: GABA adapter with SAC-A satellite Bay 4 Port: Carrier with PFR spacewalk restraint Bay 4 Stbd: Carrier with Cable Caddy for spacewalks Bay 5? Stbd: Carrier with PFR spacewalk restraint Bay 6 Port: GABA adapter with Mightysat Bay 6? Stbd: Carrier with two TCS laser rendevous sensors Bay 13 Port: GABA adapter with SEM-7 and G-093 canisters Bay 13 Stbd: GABA adapter with IMAX Cargo Bay Camera The PMA-1 and PMA-2 adapters are detachable from Unity, but launched installed. Endeavour will unberth Unity from the bay using the RMS arm, and dock PMA-2 to the Orbiter Docking System. After rendezvous, the axial +Y port of Zarya will be attached to PMA-1. PMA-2 will be used as ISS's main Shuttle docking port; it will be moved from Unity to the Lab module when that is launched. The SAC-A satellite is an Argentine payload which carries an experimental remote sensing camera and a marine life science experiment consisting of a GPS receiver which will track signals from a GPS-equipped whale (yes, a whale). The 60 kg satellite was build by INVAP of Bariloche for CONAE, the Argentine space agency. It will be ejected from an HMDA canister in the payload bay. Mightysat is a small satellite with a mass of about 70 kg, built by Orbital Sciences/McLean. It carries a suite of technology experiments for USAF Phillips Lab. Mightysat and SAC-A share a Hitchhiker avionics box. SEM-7 is a canister with high school experiments; G-093 has a physics experiment for the U. of Michigan. The ISS overview press kit shows a cargo bay view with the 'AMTEC/AWCS' experiments where SEM-7/G-093 should be; in fact, AMTEC and AWCS are technology experiments on the Mightysat payload, although it's not clear if they are mounted on the subsatellite or remain attached to the Shuttle. The new, "improved" (sic) STS press kits themselves have no graphics of the payloads, so I'm not sure of the details of the EVA equipment. Mir --- Padalka and Avdeev made a spacewalk from the Kvant-2 airlock on the Mir complex on Nov 10-11. Hatch open was Nov 10 1924 UTC and hatch closed was Nov 11 0118 UTC according to C. van den Berg. They installed a meteorite detector in preparation for the Leonid shower, and hand-launched the Spoutnik-41 amateur-radio minisatellite at around 1930 UTC (anyone have a better time?). Spoutnik-41 (Spoutnik is the French spelling) is a scale model of the first satellite, PS-1, launched 41 years ago. It carries a small transmitter, and is also designated RS-18. A similar model was launched last year. Sponsors of the satellite are Aero Club de France, AMSAT-France, and the Astronautical Federation of Russia. On that occasion, two flight models were carried to Mir but only one was launched. The second Spoutnik-40 flight model is still aboard Mir. The recent Progress flight carried up yet a third satellite with an improved electronics module. (There was earlier some confusion about whether the RS-18 satellite was a new satellite or was the one stored on Mir since last year; Bernard Pidoux confirms Spoutnik-41 is an entirely new satellite, and the plan to just swap out the electronics module on the other one was abandoned). The second Spoutnik-40 may still be deployed next year. Four other objects from the EVA are being tracked by Space Command. STS-93/AXAF ----------- The solid rocket boosters for mission STS-93 have been stacked on mobile launch plaform MLP-1 in the VAB. The AXAF telescope payload is still in California; launch of STS-93 is now expected in March. Recent Launches --------------- The BONUM-1 satellite was successfully launched by a Boeing Delta 2 on Nov 22. BONUM-1 is a Hughes HS-376HP communications satellite with a Thiokol Star 30 solid apogee motor. The satellite will provide domestic Russian communications for Media Most, a Moscow-based television and media conglomerate, broadcasting 50 channels to western Russia from a position at 36 deg E. Mass is 1426 kg at launch, around 630 kg dry. The HS-376HP is small by today's standards and carries just 8 Ku-band transponders. The Delta 7925-9.5 launch vehicle entered a 157 x 189 km x 29.2 deg parking orbit ten minutes after launch. Two further burns of the second stage raised the orbit to 159 x 1304 km and then 1228 x 1683 km x 26.7 deg. The Thiokol Star 48B solid third stage then boosted BONUM-1 to a 1285 x 36703 km x 19.5 deg geostationary transfer orbit while the second stage made a final depletion burn to lower its orbit to 274 x 1552 km x 25.6 deg, making sure it will reenter quickly. Deep Space 1, in solar orbit, successfully started its ion drive on Nov 24. An initial attempt failed after four minutes on Nov 10. This is the first time ion propulsion has been used as the primary propulsion on a spacecraft. Below is a list of spacecraft thought to have tested electric propulsion systems. I haven't done a proper study of this subject, so this list is incomplete and may have errors - perhaps someone can come up with a better one. It is intended to include ion thrusters, pulsed plasma thrusters and Hall effect thrusters, but exclude the lower efficiency arcjets. The Russians report 15 flights of stationary Hall plasma thrusters since 1971. The XIPS is an 8-cm ion thruster; NSTAR is a 30-cm one. All systems prior to this year were used for experiments only, or for fine orbit control and maintenance. What's new is that DS1 and STEX will actually use their systems for major orbit changes. 1964 Jul 20 SERT (NASA) 30 minute test, suborbital 1964 Aug 29 661A Flight 21-2 (USAF) Suborbital 1964 Dec 21 661A Flight 21-3 (USAF) Suborbital 1965 Apr 3 SNAPSHOT (USAF) (telemetry failed) 1965 Jul 18 3MV-4 No. 3 Test in solar orbit? (USSR) 1968 Aug 10 ATS 4 1969 Aug 12 ATS 5 1970 Feb 4 SERT-2 (NASA) Two thrusters, operated until 1980 1972 Feb 2 Meteor Plasma engine 1974 May 30 ATS 6 Cs ion engine test 1974 Jul 9 Meteor-Priroda 1 Plasma engine 1975 Oct 12 TIP 2 Pulsed plasma thruster 1976 Mar 15 LES-8/LES-9 Pulsed plasma thrusters 1976 Sep 1 TIP 3 Pulsed plasma thruster 1981 Feb 11 ETS-4 (NASDA) Ion thruster 1981 May 15 Nova 1 Pulsed plasma thruster 1984 Oct 12 Nova 3 Pulsed plasma thruster 1987 Feb 1 Kosmos-1818 Plasma-1 SPT 1987 Jul 10 Kosmos-1867 Plasma-2 SPT 1988 Jun 16 Nova 2 Pulsed plasma thruster 1994 Jan 20 Gals 11 SPT-100 plasma thruster 1994 Aug 28 ETS-6 (NASDA) Ion thrusters for NSSK 1995 Nov 17 Gals 12 SPT-100 plasma thruster 1997 Aug 28 PAS 5 HS-601 XIPS for NSSK 1997 Dec 8 Galaxy 8i HS-601 XIPS for NSSK 1998 Aug 30 Astra 2A HS-601 XIPS for NSSK 1998 Oct 3 STEX TAL-D55 plasma thruster Table of Recent Launches ------------------------ Date UT Name Launch Vehicle Site Mission INTL. DES. Oct 3 1004 STEX ) ARPA Taurus Vandenberg 576E Technol. 55A ATEX ) Oct 5 2251 Eutelsat W2 ) Ariane 44L Kourou ELA2 Comsat 56A Sirius 3 ) Comsat 56B Oct 9 2250 Hot Bird 5 Atlas IIA Canaveral SLC36B Comsat 57A Oct 20 0719 UHF F/O F9 Atlas IIA Canaveral SLC36A Comsat 58A Oct 21 1637 ARD ) Ariane 5 Kourou ELA3 Technol. Maqsat 3) Technol. 59A Oct 23 0002 SCD-2 Pegasus Canaveral RW02/20 Rem.Sens. 60A Oct 24 1208 Deep Space 1) Delta 7326 Canaveral SLC17A Probe 61A SEDSAT 1 ) Amateur 61B Oct 25 0414 Progress M-40 Soyuz-U Baykonur LC1 Cargo 62A Oct 28 2216 Afristar ) Ariane 44L Kourou ELA2 Radio com 63A GE 5 ) Comsat 63B Oct 29 1919 Discovery ) Shuttle Kennedy LC39B Spaceship 64A Spacehab ) Laboratory 64A Oct 30 1845 PANSAT - Discovery, LEO Test sat 64B Nov 1 1703 Spartan 201 - Discovery, LEO Astronomy 64C Nov 4 0512 PAS 8 Proton-K/DM3 Baykonur Comsat 65A Nov 6 1337 Iridium 2) Delta 7920-10C Vandenberg SLC2W Comsat 66A Iridium 83) Comsat 66E Iridium 84) Comsat 66D Iridium 85) Comsat 66C Iridium 86) Comsat 66B Nov 10 1930? Spoutnik-41 - Mir, LEO Amateur 62C Nov 20 0640 Zarya Proton-K Baykonur LC81L Station 67A Nov 22 2354 BONUM-1 Delta 7925 Canaveral SLC17B Comsat 68A Current Shuttle Processing Status _________________________________ Orbiters Location Mission Launch Due OV-102 Columbia OPF Bay 3 STS-93 Mar 1999 OV-103 Discovery OPF Bay 1 STS-96 May 1999 OV-104 Atlantis OPF Bay 2 STS-101 Aug 1999 OV-105 Endeavour LC39A STS-88 Dec 3 MLP1/RSRM-69 VAB Bay 1 STS-93 MLP2/ MLP3/RSRM-67/ET-97/OV-105 LC39A STS-88 .-------------------------------------------------------------------------. | Jonathan McDowell | phone : (617) 495-7176 | | Harvard-Smithsonian Center for | | | Astrophysics | | | 60 Garden St, MS6 | | | Cambridge MA 02138 | inter : jcm@cfa.harvard.edu | | USA | jmcdowell@cfa.harvard.edu | | | | JSR: http://hea-www.harvard.edu/~jcm/space/jsr/jsr.html | | Back issues: http://hea-www.harvard.edu/~jcm/space/jsr/back | | Subscribe/unsub: mail majordomo@head-cfa.harvard.edu, (un)subscribe jsr | '-------------------------------------------------------------------------'