Jonathan's Space Report No. 398 1999 May 17 Cambridge, MA ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Obituary -------- Russian space historian Maxim Tarasenko (1962-1999) was killed in an automobile accident last week. Maxim was author of the ground-breaking book 'Military Aspects of Soviet Cosmonautics' and a regular contributor to Novosti Kosmonavtiki magazine. He was one of the first Russian historians to present a detailed view of the newly declassified Soviet space program. Maxim will be missed by all of us in the space history community.
(BBC, courtesy James Oberg)
Human spaceflight
-------------------
Viktor Afanas'ev, Sergey Avdeev and Jean-Pierre Haignere remain on board
the Mir complex. The Soyuz TM-29 transport craft and the Progress M-41
cargo ship are docked to the complex.
Launch of STS-96 has been delayed to around May 27. Due to hail damage
they've rolled the stack back to the VAB to make repairs to the External
Tank. The STS-93 stack was rolled out of high bay 1 to make room for STS-96.
Launch of STS-93 is no earlier than Jul 22.
Recent Launches
---------------
China launched the FY-1C (Feng Yun) weather satellite from Taiyuan in
Shanxi on May 10 on the first Chang Zheng 4B launch vehicle. The CZ-4B
(Long March 4B) is an enhanced version of the CZ-4. FY-1C is in an 849 x
868 x 98.7 deg sun-synchronous orbit.
Previous FY launches:
FY-1 1988 Sep 6 CZ-4 Taiyuan
FY-1B 1990 Sep 3 CZ-4 Taiyuan
FY-2 1997 Jun 10 CZ-3 Xichang
The Shi Jian 5 research satellite was also carried as a secondary
payload to study the radiation belts. FY-1 and SJ-5 are built by the
Shanghai Inst. for Satellite Engineering, and the CZ-4 launch vehicle is
developed by the Shanghai Bureau of Astronautics. The CZ-4B is a three
stage vehicle, with all of the stages using LOX/UDMH engines. The CZ-4A
had a four YF-20B engines in the first stage, a YF-22B/YF-23B powered
second stage, and two YF-40 engines in the third stage. I'm not sure
what modifications were made to the CZ-4B stages, but I gather the
changes are modest.
Navstar spacecraft GPS SVN 50 (GPS-IIR production number SV-10),
awaiting launch by Delta nII from Cape Canaveral, was damaged in a
thunderstorm on May 8. Rain leaked into the clean-room on SLC-17A's
mobile launch tower. Launch will be delayed while they figure
out whether the satellite has been damaged.
I discussed Centaur stages in my last report; several sources inform me
that the Shuttle Centaur G' stages SC-1 and SC-2 are distinct from the
Titan Centaur flight articles. SC-3, the first Centaur G stage, was also
under early construction for the Magellan Venus probe but the tank was
not completed at the time Shuttle-Centaur was cancelled.
I've updated my launch list of Centaurs at
http://hea-www.harvard.edu/~jcm/space/misc/centaur.html
with a lot of new details.
Here's an overview of Centaur types:
3.05-meter diameter standard Centaurs (9.1m):
Centaur A F-1 test flight, RL-10A-1 engines
Centaur B AC-2 test flight, first orbital model, RL-10A-3 engine
Centaur C AC-3 to AC-5 test flights, RL-10A-3 engine
Centaur D Single burn version with RL-10A-3-1, AC-6/7/10/11
Centaur D Operational version 1965-1967, with RL-10A-3-3 engine
Centaur D-1A Improved version 1967-1972 (RL-10A-3-3 engines)
Centaur D-1AR Improved version 1973-1989 (later models with RL-10A-3-3A)
Centaur D-1T Titan 3E version 1974-1977
Centaur I Same as D-1AR 1990-1997
3.05-meter diameter stretched Centaur (10m long)
Centaur II Stretched version for Atlas II (RL-10A-3-3A)
Centaur IIA Stretched version for Atlas IIA/IIAS (RL-10A-4/RL-10A-4-1)
Centaur (SEC) Single Engine Centaur for Atlas IIIA (planned, RL-10A-4-1)
3.05-meter diameter stretched Centaur (11.7m long - 12.7 with nozzle ext).
Single and dual engine versions (Atlas IIIB and V)
Centaur III DEC: 2 x RL10A-4-2 engines
Centaur III SEC: 1 x RL10A-4-2,
4.32-meter diameter fat Centaurs:
Centaur G Shuttle version, cancelled (RL-10A-3-3A engines)
Centaur G' Stretched Shuttle version, cancelled
Centaur (Titan 4) Same as G'? 1994+ (RL-10A-3-3A engines)
Centaur (TC-23) Derated RL-10A-4-1A engines
United Nations Registry
-----------------------
I've updated my edited version of the United Nations Registry
of Space Objects, at
http://hea-www.harvard.edu/~jcm/space/un/un.html
and the list of satellites which have not been registered, at
http://hea-www.harvard.edu/~jcm/space/un/un_paper1.html
Member states of the UN are required to register space objects owned by
them; the accuracy and completeness of the information provided is
pretty spotty. The United States remains the state with the most errors
and omissions in its submissions; Mexico and Brazil are grossly overdue
in updating their registrations. The US should be registering INTELSAT's
satellites, but does not; the United Kingdom should be registering
INMARSAT's satellites, but does not. Since 1991, when the US last
failed to register one of its classified satellites, there is no
evidence of any state deliberately failing to register a satellite to
avoid detection - the omissions seem to be due to sloppiness.
I've also updated the launch logs and the geostationary
object log on my web site.
Table of Recent Launches
-----------------------
Date UT Name Launch Vehicle Site Mission INTL.
DES.
Apr 2 1128 Progress M-41 Soyuz-U Baykonur LC1 Cargo 15A
Apr 2 2203 Insat 2E Ariane 42P Kourou ELA2 Comsat 16A
Apr 9 1701 DSP F19 Titan 4/IUS Canaveral LC41 Early Warn 17A
Apr 12 2250 Eutelsat W3 Atlas 2AS Canaveral LC36A Comsat 18A
Apr 15 0046 Globalstar M019 ) Soyuz-U/Ikar Baykonur LC1 Comsat 19A
Globalstar M042 ) 19B
Globalstar M044 ) 19C
Globalstar M045 ) 19D
Apr 15 1832 Landsat 7 Delta 7920-10 Vandenberg SLC2W Imaging 20A
Apr 16 1030? Sputnik-99 - Mir, LEO Comsat 15C
Apr 21 0459 UoSAT-12 Dnepr Baykonur LC109 Test 21B
Apr 27 1822 Ikonos 1 Athena 2 Vandenberg SLC6 Imaging F01
Apr 28 2030 ABRIXAS ) Kosmos-3M Kap. Yar LC107? Astronomy 22A
Megsat-0 ) Technol. 22B
Apr 30 1630 Milstar-2 F1 Titan 4/Cen Canaveral LC40 Comsat 23A
May 5 0100 Orion 3 Delta 8930 Canaveral LC17B Comsat 24A
May 10 0133 Feng Yun 1C ) CZ-4B Taiyuan Imaging 25A
Shi Jian 5 ) Research 25B
Current Shuttle Processing Status
_________________________________
Orbiters Location Mission Launch Due
OV-102 Columbia OPF Bay 1 STS-93 NET Jul 22
OV-103 Discovery LC39B STS-96 May 27
OV-104 Atlantis OPF Bay 3 STS-101 Oct 14
OV-105 Endeavour OPF Bay 2 STS-99 Sep 18
MLP1/RSRM-69/ET-99 Refurb area STS-93
MLP2/RSRM-70/ET-100/OV-103 VAB Bay 1 STS-96
MLP3/
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