Jonathan's Space Report Mar 9, 1990 (no.32) Hi again! Jonathan emerges from a succession of work crises... ---------------------------------------------------- Columbia was launched on mission STS-32 on January 9; it deployed the Syncom IV-5 (Leasat 5) comsat for Hughes Communications. Hughes leases the use of the satellite to the US Navy. Columbia then retrieved the Long Duration Exposure Facility (LDEF) and returned it to Earth. The mission was the longest flight to date (261 hrs 1 min). Columbia is in the Orbiter Processing Facility being prepared for the STS-35 Astro-1 flight, which will make UV and X-ray observations of stars and galaxies, including a few of my favorite quasars. Atlantis was launched on mission STS-36 on March 4; it deployed the AFP-731 imaging and signals intelligence satellite into a 62 degree orbit. This is the highest inclination flight to date in the US piloted space program. (Soviet flights have gone up to 65 degrees). The mission lasted 106 hr 18 min. Atlantis is at Edwards AFB being prepared for return to Kennedy. Discovery is in the Vehicle Assembly Building at KSC, being prepared for the STS-31 mission due for launch Apr 12. This mission will deploy the Hubble Space Telescope. (The Space Telescope Science Institute has held a series of annual "only two years till launch" parties during the past decade; I hope they're having a "one month to launch" party next week! Good luck, folks..) The Mir orbital complex is crewed by Anatoli Solov'yov (Komandir) and Aleksandr Balandin (Bortinzhener), who are unloading the Progress M-3 freighter. The current configuration of Mir is Mir Port 1: Soyuz TM-9 ferry Mir Port 2: Kvant astrophysical module (Port 1) Mir Port 3: Kvant-2 airlock module Mir Port 4: (docking cone ready for Kristall module) Kvant Port 2: Progress M-3 cargo craft Progress M undocked from Port 1 on Dec 1 and was deorbited. Kvant-2 docked on Dec 6 at Port 1 and was rotated to Port 3 on Dec 8; Viktorenko and Serebrov moved Soyuz TM-8 from Port 2 to Port 1 on Dec 12. Progress M-2 was launched on Dec 20 and docked at Port 2 on Dec 22. Viktorenko and Serebrov made EVAs on Jan 8 and Jan 11 from one of the Mir ports to carry out maintenance and upgrades on Kvant; then on Jan 26 they used the new main airlock on Kvant-2 for the first time to carry out preps for the test flights of the SPK (Sredstvo Peredvizheniya Kosmonavtov) manoeuvring unit. The SPK tethered test flights were carried out on Feb 1 and 5. Progress M-2 undocked from Port 2 on Feb 9 and was deorbited over the Pacific. Solov'yov and Balandin were launched in Soyuz TM-9 on Feb 11 and docked at Kvant Port 2 on Feb 13. Viktorenko and Serebrov handed over command of the complex and prepared to return to Soyuz TM-8. TM-8 undocked from Port 1 and landed in the Arkalyk recovery zone on Feb 19. Solov'yov and Balandin flew Soyuz TM-9 round from Kvant Port 2 to Mir Port 1 a few days later. Progress M-3 was launched on Feb 28 and docked at Kvant Port 2 on Mar 3. Sometime in late March, Progress M-3 will undock and the crew will move Soyuz TM-9 back from Port 1 to Kvant Port 2. The Kristall module will then be launched and will dock at Port 1, and then be rotated to occupy Port 4. Progress M-4 will then follow; it may dock at either Port 1 or K-Port 2, depending on whether the crew move Soyuz TM-9 yet again! The LACE and RME satellites launched by Delta 6920 on Feb 14 are SDIO payloads to study the effects of ground-based lasers. USAF Block II NavStar GPS satellites were launched by Delta 6925 on Dec 11 and Jan 24. The first commercial Titan 3 launch ocurred 7 minutes into the new year (GMT) with the launch of the UK Ministry of Defense's Skynet 4A comsat and a commercial Japanese comsat, JCSAT 2 belonging to Japan Communications Satellite Corp. The French SPOT-2 remote sensing satellite was launched on Jan 22 by Ariane V35 into polar orbit. Six "microsat" amateur radio satellites were launched along with SPOT: the University of Surrey's UoSAT 3 and UoSAT 4; AMSAT North America (AMSAT-NA)'s PACSAT; AMSAT-NA and Weber State College's WEBERSAT; AMSAT-NA and AMSAT-Brazil's DOVE (Digital Orbiting Voice Encoder); and AMSAT-LU's LUSAT. (I don't know what LU stands for. Anyone who can enlighten me, please do so!) The loss of Ariane V36 on Feb 22 resulted in the destruction of two Japanese commerical comsats. Superbird B belonged to Japan Space Communications Corp. (do not confuse with JCSAT) , and GE Astro Space's BS-2X had been ordered by NHK television as an interim supplement to NASDA's BS-2 satellites. An as yet unknown malfunction in the Ariane 1st stage caused one main engine to partially fail seconds after launch, and two minutes later the vehicle exploded. The Japanese ISAS space agency launched the MUSES-A space probe on Jan 24. The probe is a technology test which will fly past the Moon and attempt to insert a subsatellite in lunar orbit. The other Japanese space agency, NASDA, launched a marine observation satellite, Momo-2, on Feb 7 with the H-I vehicle. Two small payloads were orbited at the same time: NASDA'S Orizuru space technology experiment which tests deployable structures, and the Japanese amateur radio satellite Fuji-2 (Oscar-20). The Chinasat 3 comsat was launched by Chang Zheng (Long March) 3 on Feb 4 into geostationary orbit. A Molniya-3 comsat was launched on Jan 23; two Raduga comsats were put in geostationary orbit by Proton on Dec 15 and Feb 15. A Nadezhda Transit-class civilian navigation satellite was launched by Kosmos launch vehicle on Feb 27. An Okean oceanographic research satellite was launched by Tsiklon from Plesetsk on Feb 28. Kosmos-2051, launched from Baykonur on Nov 24, is unusual. It appears to be an EORSAT (Electronic intelligence Ocean Recon satellite) for tracking US ships. These satellites are usually placed in a 120 km x 420 km transfer orbit which is circularized the same day at about 405x415 km. Kosmos-2051 went into a 280x420 km orbit, which it slowly raised over the next 3 weeks to the canonical 405x415 km orbit which it is maintaining with occasional small burns. Presumably it suffered a propulsion failure during the launch phase, and the on-board orbit adjust system was used to raise the orbit. This confirms that this class of satellite has two propulsion systems, a conventional apogee motor in addition to the low thrust stationkeeping system. Kosmos-2052, launched by Soyuz from Plesetsk on Nov 30, was a GRU photo recon satellite. It landed on Jan 23 and was replaced by Kosmos-2057. Kosmos-2053, launched by Tsiklon from Plesetsk on Dec 27, is a radar test satellite for the PVO (Soviet Air Defense Force). Kosmos-2054, launched by Proton from Baykonur on Dec 27 into geostationary orbit, is probably a communications satellite of some kind, either technology development or military. Kosmos-2055, launched by Soyuz from Plesetsk on Jan 17, was a Vostok class GRU recon satellite. It landed after 12 days in orbit. Kosmos-2056, launched by Kosmos from Plesetsk on Jan 18, is believed to be a communications relay in low orbit, possibly for the KGB. Kosmos-2057, launched by Soyuz from Plesetsk on Jan 25, is a GRU photo recon satellite with an expected life of 2 months. Kosmos-2058, launched by Tsiklon from Plesetsk on Jan 30, is a GRU signals intelligence satellite. Kosmos-2059, launched by Kosmos from Plesetsk on Feb 6, is probably a small military research satellite. Kosmos-58 reentered on Feb 25; Kosmos-103 reentered on Jan 2; Kosmos-1979 reentered on Dec 25; a Molniya-1 satellite (1979-31A) reentered on Dec 9. (c) 1990 Jonathan McDowell