Jonathan's Space Report No. 374 draft 1998 Oct 5 Cambridge, MA ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Editorial --------- I have updated the satellite catalog http://hea-www.harvard.edu/~jcm/space/log/satcat.txt and released a major new product - the master log of all orbital launches, with as many launch times, launch vehicle serial numbers, pads, etc. as I've been able to dig up. This is at http://hea-www.harvard.edu/~jcm/space/log/launch.html It includes a 1Mb text file about 180 columns wide, launchlog.txt. Those of you who love this kind of dataset (you know who you are), please feed back any errors you find. Orbital Launch Sites -------------------- As part of preparing the launch log, I've come up with a revised list of orbital launch sites. I apologize for the mixed use of (degrees minutes) and decimal degrees in the latitudes and longitudes. The abbreviations on the left are my own. Note that Baykonur and Plesetsk have changed their designations over the years. I've counted San Marco as a mobile sea launch complex, since that was its original design even though they never got around to moving it. --- Fixed Launch Sites --- CC Cape Canaveral, Florida 28 27N 80 32W KSC Kennedy Space Center, Florida 28 27N 80 32W SPFL Spaceport Florida, Cape Canaveral, Florida 28 28N 80 32W PA Point Arguello, California (later S Vandenberg) 34 37N 120 35W V Vandenberg AFB, California 34 38N 120 32W WI Wallops Island, Virginia 37 50N 75 29W NIIP-5 5NIIP, Baykonur, Kazakstan 45 38N 63 16E GIK-5 5GIK, Kosmodrom Baykonur, Kazakstan 45 38N 63 16E NIIP-53 Plesetsk, Archangel'sk, Rossiya 65 42N 40 21E GIK-1 Plesetsk, Archangel'sk, Rossiya 65 42N 40 21E GNIIP Plesetsk (Strategic Rocket Forces), Rossiya 65 42N 40 21E GTsP-4 Kapustin Yar, Astrachan', Rossiya 48 31N 45 48E GIK-2 Svobodniy-18, Amurskaya, Rossiya 51.7N 128.0E ALCA Alcantara, Maranhao, Brasil 02 17S 44 23W CSG Centre Spatial Guyanais, Kourou, Guiane 05 12N 52 44W HMG Hammaguir, Algerie 30 54N 03 05W JQ Jiuquan, Nei Monggol Zizhiqu, Zhong Guo (China) 41.1N 100.3E KASC Kagoshima, Kyushu, Nihon (Japan) 31 15N 131 04E MUSU Musudan, Hamgyong Namdo, Choson (N Korea) 40.5N 129.5E PALB Palmachim AFB, Israel 31.9N 34.7E SHAR Sriharikota, Andhra Pradesh, India 13.8N 80.3E TNSC Tanegashima, Osumi-Shoto, Nihon (Japan) 30.4N 131.0E TYSC Taiyuan, Shanxi, Zhong Guo (China) 37.8N 111.5E WOO Woomera, South Australia 31 06S 136 48E XSC Xichang, Sichuan, Zhong Guo (China) 28.1N 102.3E --- Launch Takeoff Points for Air Drop Launch Vehicles --- EAFB Edwards AFB, California 34.5N 117.5W GAN Gando AFB, Gran Canaria 27.6N 15.2W NOTS Naval Ordnance Test Station, China Lake, California 35.4N 117.4W V Vandenberg AFB, California 34 38N 120 32W WI Wallops Island, Virginia 37 50N 75 29W KSC Kennedy Space Center, Florida 28 27N 80 32W --- Launch Sites for Mobile (Air, Sea) Launch Vehicles --- BLA Barents Sea Launch Area, Murmansk, Rossiya 35.3E 69.3N DZGC Drop Zone, Gran Canaria 27.0N 15.3W DZSB Drop Zone, Point Mugu Santa Barbara Channel 34.0N 120.0W DZWI Drop Zone, Wallops Island 37.0N 72.0W MFWA Drop Zone, Mayport, Florida, Warning Area 29N? 79W? PAWA Drop Zone, Point Arguello Warning Area 36.0N 123.0W SMLC San Marco Launch Complex, Indian Ocean, Kenya 02 56S 40 13E Shuttle and Mir --------------- The next Shuttle mission is STS-95, with orbiter OV-103 Discovery. Errata ------- The Orbcomm launch on Sep 23 was at 0506 UTC, not 1706 UTC as I said in last week's text. PAS 3R is over the Atlantic at 44W, not over the Indian Ocean; I confused it with Measat 1 which was launched at the same time. Recent Launches --------------- * Kosmos-2361? A satellite was launched on Sep 28 for the Russian Defence Ministry and reported as a Kosmos satellite; it would then be Kosmos-2361. Usually, Kosmos satellites launched on the 8K78M launch vehicle are Oko-class early warning satellites built by Lavochkin, but these are launched with arguments of perigee around 312 degrees, and the new launch has an argument of perigee of 280 degrees, a characteristic fingerprint of Molniya communications satellites. The NASA OIG bulletin board is reporting the satellite as a Molniya-1. It's possible that the satellite is a failed Molniya-1, or that TASS messed up and gave out the wrong name. The 8K78M (Molniya-M) launch vehicle placed Kosmos-2361 and the Blok-L fourth stage in low 208 x 384 km parking orbit from Plesetsk. The Blok-L burn then delivered the payload to a 12-hour, 419 x 40708 km x 62.8 deg elliptical orbit. * Orbital Sciences launches STEX An Orbital Science ARPA Taurus rocket placed the STEX (Space Technology EXperiments) satellite in orbit on Oct 3. The STEX satellite was built by Lockheed Martin Astronautics (Denver) for the National Reconnaissance Office. STEX's main experiments are provided by the Naval Research Lab, including Hall Effect electric thrusters derived from Russian technology and a 6 kilometer tether experiment, a follow-on to the earlier TIPS satellite. STEX also carries experimental solar arrays and batteries. STEX entered a 665 km orbit with an inclination of 85 degrees. It has also been designated USA 140. The ATEX advanced tether experiment consists of two end masses connected with a 6 km polyethelyne tether. The upper end mass will be deployed with the lower end mass remaining attached to STEX, for a series of dynamics experiments. Later, the lower end mass will separate from STEX and the ATEX end masses will form a free-flying pair as a distinct satellite. The ARPA Taurus rocket uses a TU-904 solid motor as its first stage; the stage is the first stage of the Peacekeeper ICBM. The regular Taurus uses a commercial variant of the stage, the Castor 120. The second and third stages are Alliant Orion 50 solid motors, like the first and second stages of Orbital's winged Pegasus launch vehicle. The fourth stage is an Orion 38, the same as the Pegasus third stage. This was the third Taurus launch, and like the others was carried out from complex 576-East at Vandenberg Air Force Base. Taurus launches: 1 ARPA Taurus 1994 Mar 13 STEP M0 2 Taurus 1998 Feb 10 GFO/Orbcomm 3 ARPA Taurus 1998 Oct 3 STEX/ATEX * Ariane launches Eutelsat W2 and Sirius 3 On Oct 5 Ariane mission V111 launched two European comsats. V111 used the Ariane 44LP version with two liquid and two solid strapons. Eutelsat W2 is an Alcatel Spacebus 3000B2, with 32 Ku-band transponders. It will be stationed at 16E, replacing Eutelsat II F2. It is owned by the European Telecommunications Satellite Organization (Eutelsat). W2 was originally intended for launch on Ariane 5, but after the loss of W1 in a ground accident Eutelsat didn't want to risk flying W2 on a test mission. Sirius 3 is a small comsat for NSAB, the Swedish `Nordiska Satellite' consortium. NSAB aren't ready to use Sirius 3 yet, so they are leasing it to Eutelsat's main rival, SES-Astra, for a year. It will be stationed at 28E for Astra services and then moved to 5E to provide services to Sweden. The Hughes HS-376HP satellite has 15 Ku-band transponders. It carries a Thiokol Star 30 solid apogee motor. Table of Recent Launches ------------------------ Date UT Name Launch Vehicle Site Mission INTL. DES. Sep 8 2113 Iridium SV77) Delta 7920 Vandenberg SLC2 Comsat 51E Iridium SV79) Comsat 51D Iridium SV80) Comsat 51C Iridium SV81) Comsat 51B Iridium SV82) Comsat 51A Sep 9 2029 Globalstar FM5 ) Zenit-2 Baykonur Comsat F05 Globalstar FM7 ) Comsat F05 Globalstar FM9 ) Comsat F05 Globalstar FM10) Comsat F05 Globalstar FM11) Comsat F05 Globalstar FM12) Comsat F05 Globalstar FM13) Comsat F05 Globalstar FM16) Comsat F05 Globalstar FM17) Comsat F05 Globalstar FM18) Comsat F05 Globalstar FM20) Comsat F05 Globalstar FM21) Comsat F05 Sep 16 0631 PAS 7 Ariane 44LP Kourou Comsat 52A Sep 23 0506 Orbcomm FM21 ) Pegasus XL/HAPS Wallops I Comsat 53A Orbcomm FM22 ) Comsat 53B Orbcomm FM23 ) Comsat 53C Orbcomm FM24 ) Comsat 53D Orbcomm FM25 ) Comsat 53E Orbcomm FM26 ) Comsat 53F Orbcomm FM27 ) Comsat 53G Orbcomm FM28 ) Comsat 53H Sep 28 2341 Molniya-1T? Molniya-M Plesetsk Early Warn 54A Oct 3 1004 STEX ) ARPA Taurus Vandenberg 576E Technol. 55A ATEX ) Oct 5 2251 Eutelsat W2 ) Ariane 44LP Kourou ELA2 Comsat 56A Sirius 3 ) Comsat 56B Current Shuttle Processing Status _________________________________ Orbiters Location Mission Launch Due OV-102 Columbia OPF Bay 3 STS-93 Jan ? OV-103 Discovery LC39B STS-95 Oct 29 OV-104 Atlantis OPF Bay 2 STS-96 May 13 OV-105 Endeavour OPF Bay 1 STS-88 Dec 3 MLP2/RSRM-68/ET-98/OV-103 LC39B STS-95 .-------------------------------------------------------------------------. | 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 | '-------------------------------------------------------------------------'