Jonathan's Space Report No. 188 1994 Mar 14 ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Apologies to Internet readers for the interruption in posting these reports, which was due to my inability to use our `improved' newsgroup software. Back issues are available from sao-ftp.harvard.edu in directory pub/jcm/space/news, and you can be added to the direct email subscription on request. This version is being posted to sci.space.shuttle since I understand sci.space is defunct and sci.space.news is down. Shuttle ------- The Columbia continues in orbit on mission STS-62; the orbit was lowered slightly on Mar 14. The USMP-2 and OAST-2 primary payloads are functioning well. Meanwhile, Endeavour is being prepared for its next mission, STS-59, and was rolled over to the VAB on Mar 14 where it will be joined to the external tank. Launches -------- The first launch of Orbital Sciences Corp.'s Taurus rocket was successfully carried out on March 13. Payloads for the mission were the P90-5 satellite and Ball's DARPASAT small satellite. The 204 kg DARPASAT will carry out advanced technology demonstrations for the Advanced Research Projects Agency. The 500 kg (?) P90-5 is operated by the USAF Phillips Lab as part of the Space Test Program. Also known as TAOS (Technology for Autonomous Operations Survivability) and STEP 0 (Space Technology Experiments Program), it carries autonomous navigation systems and a GPS receiver, in an attempt to reduce the need for ground controllers. The planned orbit was 520 x 520 km x 105 deg. Taurus was launched from a new pad at Vandenberg which doesn't have a designation yet; I believe it to be in North Vandenberg near the old 576/BMRS/ABRES Atlas launch pads. If any readers have been to Vandenberg and know where the pad is relative to any of the other launch complexes, please get in touch! (VAFB PAO has no clue about this.) The first Taurus used a TU-903 first stage rocket (from the Peacekeeper ICBM), and Orion 50S, Orion 50 and Orion 38 second, third and fourth stage rocket motors (from the first, second and third stages of Pegasus). Future Taurus launches will use the new Castor 120 first stage instead. NASA's latest tether experiment was launched on March 10 at 0340 UTC as a secondary payload on a USAF Navstar GPS navigation satellite launch. The SEDS (Small Expendable Deployer System) 2 is a package attached to the Delta second stage rocket, which is in a 347 x 352 km x 34.9 deg orbit. At 0445 UT the package deployed a 20 km tether to compare actual tether dynamics with theoretical models. Early reports indicate the 23 kg end mass behaved as expected, and unreeled in 1 h 48 min, to a maximum length of 19.8 km. Control algorithms developed at the Center for Astrophysics (plug!) were used to ensure a stable deployment, with the enormous 'pendulum' swinging with an amplitude of less than 4 degrees. Unlike SEDS 1, when the tether was severed after deploy, on this mission the tether remains attached to the Delta rocket. The end mass mini-satellite transmitted for 10 hours. The SEDS 2 tether is visible from the ground by the naked eye (for those at more fortunate latitudes - hope it's visible from Arizona next week while I'm there!). The success of SEDS 2 confirms that tether systems can be used to deploy sensors which require a particular orientation to the local vertical, such as atmospheric composition experiments. (Thanks to Enrico Lorenzini for some of these details). Space Tether experiments to date -------------------------------- Date Spacecraft End mass Tether length deployed 1966 Sep 14 Gemini XI Agena 5006 0.03 km 1966 Nov 13 Gemini XII Agena 5001R 0.03 km 1992 Aug 4 Atlantis TSS-1 0.22 km 1993 Mar 30 Delta 219 SEDS 1 20 km 1993 Jun 26 Delta 221 PMG 0.50 km 1994 Mar 10 Delta 226 SEDS 2 19.8 km Dean Bakeris of NRL has kindly provided more info on the Clementine probe. The lunar orbit insertion burn happened at 1251 UTC on Feb 19 and lasted for 6 minutes; a day later, at 1242 UTC on Feb 20 a second burn was used to reach the operational orbit. It turns out that the orbit I reported last week for NRL's Clementine probe was from the center of the Moon rather than heights above the lunar surface. In the latter, more conventional description, that orbit would be 433 x 2920 km x 89.3 deg. The new elements provided by Dean imply an orbit of 401 x 2952 km x 89.7 deg assuming a 1738 km lunar radius. The ISA (Interstage Adapter) satellite launched with Clementine remains in highly eccentric Earth orbit. It carries a set of space environment experiments. Date Name Launch Vehicle Site Mission INTL. DES. Feb 5 0846 Raduga-1 Proton/DM2 Baykonur LC81 Comsat 08A Feb 7 2147 Milstar DFS 1 Titan 4 Centaur Canaveral LC40 Comsat 09A Feb 8 0830 Shi Jian 4 ) Chang Zheng 3A Xichang Scientific 10A DFH-3 mockup ) 10C? Feb 9 1454 ODERACS A ) GAS can Discovery, LEO Calibration 06B ODERACS B ) 06C ODERACS C ) 06D ODERACS D ) 06E ODERACS E ) 06F ODERACS F ) 06G Feb 9 1932 BREMSAT GAS can Discovery, LEO Scientific 06H Feb 12 0854 Kosmos-2268 ) Tsiklon Plesetsk LC32 Comsat 11A Kosmos-2269 ) Kosmos-2270 ) Kosmos-2271 ) Kosmos-2272 ) Kosmos-2273 ) Feb 18 0756 Raduga Proton/DM2 Baykonur LC81 Comsat 12A Feb 19 2345 Galaxy IR Delta 7925 Canaveral LC17 Comsat 13A Mar 2 0324 Koronas-I Tsiklon Plesetsk LC32 Solar phys 14A Mar 4 1353 Columbia Shuttle Kennedy LC39B Spaceship 15A Mar 10 0340 Navstar GPS 36) Delta 7925 Canaveral LC17 Navsat 16A SEDS 2 ) 16B Mar 13 2232 P90-5 ) Taurus Vandenberg Technology DARPASAT ) Technology? Reentries --------- Feb 4 Ryusei Impacted Pacific Ocean Feb 11 Discovery Landed at KSC Mar 3 Progress M-17 Reentered over Atlantic Current Shuttle Processing Status ____________________________________________ Orbiters Location Mission OV-102 Columbia LEO STS-62 OV-103 Discovery OPF Bay 3 STS-64 OV-104 Atlantis Palmdale OMDP OV-105 Endeavour VAB Bay 3 STS-59 ML/SRB/ET/OV stacks ML1/ ML2/RSRM-37?/ET-63 VAB Bay 3 STS-59 ML3/ .-----------------------------------------------------------------------------. | Jonathan McDowell | phone : (617) 495-7176 | | Harvard-Smithsonian Center for | | | Astrophysics | | | 60 Garden St, MS4 | | | Cambridge MA 02138 | inter : jcm@urania.harvard.edu | | USA | | '-----------------------------------------------------------------------------' ,