Jonathan's Space Report<br />No. 492 2003 Jan 13, Cambridge, MA<br />-------------------------------------------------------------------------------<br /><br /><br />Editorial<br />---------<br /><br /><br />Apologies for the non-appearance of JSR during the past month; I've been<br />busy with other things but I now hope to resume normal irregular service.<br /><br /><br />Shuttle and Station<br />--------------------<br /><br /><br />At 2005 UTC on Dec 2 Endeavour undocked from the Station with the<br />Expedition 5 crew aboard. Shortly afterwards, at 2205, the US Air Force MEPSI<br />experiment was launched from a canister in the payload bay. MEPSI is<br />pair of 1 kg picosatellites connected by a tether and is a prototype for<br />a miniature inspector satellite.<br /><br /><br />After several days of bad weather delays, Endeavour landed on KSC runway<br />33 at 1937:12 UTC on Dec 7.<br /><br /><br />The next Shuttle launch is STS-107, a research mission using orbiter<br />OV-102 Columbia. The mission was delayed from last year; here I repeat<br />the payload details from JSR 483. Masses are guesswork.<br /><br /><br />STS-107 payload bay manifest<br />----------------------------<br /> Mass (kg)<br />Bay 1 Tunnel Adapter 500?<br />Bay 2-3 Tunnel 800?<br />Bay 4-7 Spacehab RDM 8000?<br />Bay 10 FREESTAR MPESS 2000?<br />Keel 11 OARE 53<br />Bay 12-13 EDO pallet 3200?<br /> ------<br />Total 14553?<br /><br /><br />The Spacehab Research Double Module is making its first flight. It<br />carries a selection of microgravity experiments including the<br />Combustion Module 2 racks, the Vapor Compression Distillation rack which<br />is a prototype for a Station water recycling system, a centrifuge, a<br />refrigerator/freezer, and three Animal Enclosure Modules carrying a<br />total of 13 rats. Educational experiments include an ant colony,<br />spiders, bees and Medaka fish. The RDM is pressurized and connected to<br />the cabin by the Tunnel and the Tunnel Adapter (which has a hatch that<br />could be used for emergency spacewalks).<br /><br /><br />The FREESTAR (Fast Reaction Experiments Enabling Science Technology<br />Applications and Research) is a Hitchhiker science payload managed by<br />NASA-Goddard. FREESTAR uses an MPESS cross-bay bridge and is a followon<br />to the USMP series. It carries the Critical Viscosity of Xenon<br />experiment, as well as an ozone spectrometer, a detector to study solar<br />radiation output, and an Israeli experiment with UV and IR cameras to<br />study dust and aerosols in the atmosphere in the Mediterraean and the<br />Sahara. An Israeli astronaut, Col. Ilan Ramon, will be flying on the<br />mission.<br /><br /><br />The OARE is an acceleration measuring package installed in the bottom of<br />the payload bay. The EDO (Extended Duration Orbiter) pallet contains<br />hydrogen and oxygen tanks used to generate electricity for the long<br />duration mission.<br /><br /><br />Recent Launches<br />---------------<br /><br /><br />The Astra 1K satellite was deorbited on Dec 10 over the Pacific. The<br />satellite had been stranded in low orbit after an upper stage failure.<br /><br /><br />The first Ariane 5ECA launch, V517, ended in failure on Dec 11 when the<br />first stage Vulcain 2 engine nozzle failed three minutes after launch<br />because of a leak in the cooling system. The vehicle reached an apogee<br />of about 140 km and then fell back towards the Atlantic, destroyed by<br />range safety seven minutes after launch.<br /><br /><br />The Ariane 5ECA uses slightly enhanced EAP solid boosters, a stretched<br />EPC first stage with a new Vulcain 2 engine, and an entirely new ESC-A<br />upper stage. The ESC-A is a derivative of the Ariane 4 upper stage but<br />with the liquid hydrogen tank from the Ariane 5G first stage. It uses<br />the HM7 engine.<br /><br /><br />The payloads aboard the Ariane 5ECA were Stentor and Hot Bird 7. Hot<br />Bird 7 was a 3300 kg Eurostar 2000+ satellite for Eutelsat with a<br />Ka-band communications payload. Stentor was an experimental French<br />communications technology satellite using the Alcatel Spacebus 3000 bus<br />with Eurostar 3000 components. It carried an S400 liquid apogee engine<br />as well as SEP and Fakel electric xenon thrusters; the communications<br />payload included Ku-band and EHF transponders. Mass was 2210 kg.<br /><br /><br />TDRS J was launched on Dec 5 by Lockheed Martin Atlas IIA flight AC-144.<br />It became TDRS 10 on reaching operational orbit. The TDRS satellites<br />provide data relay services for NASA; TDRS 10 is the last of three<br />Boeing 601 class satellites which supersede the original TRW TDRS<br />series. Mass is 1514 kg dry, 3189 full. <br /><br /><br />The Japanese NASDA space agency's Midori-2 (ADEOS II) earth observing<br />satellite was launched on Dec 14 from Tanegashima on an H-2A-202 with a<br />type 5S fairing. This was the first sun-synchronous launch of the H-2A,<br />which launched southbound and made a single burn of the second stage to<br />reach an 804 x 806 km x 98.7 deg orbit. ADEOS-II carries a microwave<br />radiometer, imagers, a sea wind speed sensor, and other remote sensing<br />instruments.<br /><br /><br />Secondary payloads ejected from the H-2A second stage were WEOS (Whale<br />Earth Observing Satellite) for the Chiba Insitute of Technology, FedSat<br />for Australia, and Mu-Lab-Sat for NASDA. WEOS relays data from<br />transmitters attached to whales; the 58 kg Fedsat carries a<br />magnetometer, a GPS navigation experiment, a UHF/Ka band communications<br />experiment, and an experimental computer. The 54 kg Mu-Lab-Sat<br />(Micro-Lab-Sat) tested the separation mechanism for the Selene moon<br />probe subsatellites.<br /><br /><br />Arianespace launched the penultimate Ariane 44L with the NSS-6 satellite<br />for New Skies (the commercial Intelsat spinoff) on Dec 17. NSS-6 is a<br />Lockheed Martin A2100AX with a launch mass of 4575 kg and a Ku and Ka<br />band communications payload. The satellite reached geostationary<br />orbit in late December.<br /><br /><br />ISC Kosmotras launched a Dnepr rocket on Dec 20 from Baykonur. The Dnepr<br />is a refurbished Yuzhnoe R-36M2 ballistic missile. The second stage of<br />the Dnepr fell in the Pacific while the third stage reached orbit 11 min<br />after launch and deployed six satellites. The main payload on this<br />flight was an inert mockup of both the TransOrbital Trailblazer lunar<br />probe payload and its attached solid motor, probably with a total mass<br />of at least 200 kg and a size around 2m long. Five much smaller<br />satellites were also carried, each with a mass of around 10 kg: the<br />Saudisat 1C test satellite for King Abdulaziz City for Science and<br />Technology; the Latinsat-A and Latinsat-B communications relays for<br />Aprize Argentina, a spinoff of Virginia-based Aprize Satellite and<br />SpaceQuest; the Unisat-2 technology satellite from the University of<br />Roma/La Sapienza, and the Rubin-2 technology satellite for OHB/Carlo<br />Gavazzi Space. The satellites were placed in 630 x 670 km x 64.6 deg<br />orbits, while the Dnepr third stage ended up in a 600 x 1004 km x 64.6<br />deg orbit.<br /><br /><br />A US-KS Oko early warning satellite built by NPO Lavochkin was launched<br />on Dec 24 by a TsSKB-Progress Molniya-M rocket with a BL upper stage.<br />The satellite, named Kosmos-2393 after launch, is in a 545 x 39717 km x<br />62.8 deg orbit.<br /><br /><br />Uragan-M satellites 791, 792 and 793 were launched on Dec 25 and named<br />Kosmos-2394, 2395 and 2396. The satellites form part of the GLONASS<br />navigation system. They were launched on a Krunichev Proton-K rocket<br />with an Energiya Blok DM-2 upper stage, the first use of the DM series<br />since the failure with Astra 1K. The Proton-K third stage and the DM<br />upper adapter entered a 162 x 185 km x 64.9 deg orbit at 0748 UTC; they<br />were not cataloged by Space Command and must have reentered rapidly. The<br />DM stage fired at 0840 UTC to enter a 196 x 19137 km x 64.6 deg transfer<br />orbit and then again at 1132 UTC to circularize the orbit at apogee. The<br />three Uragan-M satellites separated between 1135 and 1211 UTC. Two SOZ<br />ullage motors separated from the DM at the beginning of its second burn.<br />The Uragan-M satellites are built by PO Polyot (Omsk).<br /><br /><br />China launched Shenzhou 4 at 1640 UTC on Dec 29. This is the fourth<br />automated test flight of the Soyuz-like Shenzhou spaceship, and it is<br />expected that the next flight will carry China's first astronauts. SZ-4<br />carried two dummy astronauts with equipment to monitor the life support<br />system. The spacecraft was placed in a 198 x 331 kmx 42.4 deg orbit,<br />which was raised to 330 x 337 km x 42.4 deg at 2335 UTC on Dec 29. The<br />orbital module separated on Jan 5 to operate independently in orbit, and<br />shortly afterwards at about 1026 UTC the main spacecraft fired its<br />deorbit engine for a landing in Inner Mongolia at 1116 UTC.<br /><br /><br />International Launch Services' first commercial launch of the Krunichev<br />Proton-M/Briz-M on Dec 29 placed the Nimiq 2 satellite in orbit for<br />Telesat Canada. Nimiq 2 is a Lockheed Martin A2100AX satellite with<br />Ku-band and Ka-band communications transponders for television and<br />broadband data, and has a launch mass of 3600 kg. <br /><br /><br />The Proton-M is an uprated version of the standard Proton-K; the Briz-M<br />stage, also built by Krunichev, is used in place of the old Energiya DM<br />stage. The Proton-M was launched at 2316 UTC on Dec 29 and put the<br />Briz/Nimiq stack on a suborbital trajectory at 2326 UTC. The Briz first<br />burn lasted from 2327 to 2338 UTC and put it in a 213 x 213 km x 51.5<br />deg parking orbit. The second Briz burn was from 0016 to 0043 UTC on Dec<br />30 and the planned intermediate orbit was about 608 x 17142 km x 49.6<br />deg. At this point the DTB auxiliary propellant tank separated; it has<br />not been cataloged by Space Command. A third Briz burn from 0045 to 0050<br />UTC raised apogee to geostationary altitude, with a 946 x 35783 x 49.0<br />deg orbit according to Space Command elements. The fourth burn from 0551<br />to 0558 UTC put the combination in a 7904 x 35886 km x 16.5 deg transfer<br />orbit. Briz-M separated at 0610 UTC and the Nimiq satellite started<br />using its own liquid apogee engine to raise its orbit, reaching<br />geostationary altitude of 35779 x 35789 km x 0.1 deg sometime between<br />Jan 3 and Jan 10.<br /><br /><br />The Coriolis satellite was launched on Jan 6. Coriolis is mission P98-2<br />in the USAF Space Test Program, and carries two instruments which may be<br />used in the joint civil/military NPOESS weather satellite program. The<br />Naval Research Lab's Windsat polarimetric radiometer measures microwave<br />radiation to study the strength and direction of ocean surface winds;<br />the Solar Mass Ejection Imager uses a precisely calibrated camera to<br />take pictures of solar eruptions which can affect the ionosphere. <br />Coriolis is a Spectrum Astro SA-200HP spacecraft with a mass of 745 kg<br />plus 82 kg of hydrazine propellant.<br /><br /><br />Coriolos was launched aboard Titan II G-4 from Vandenberg at 1419 UTC on<br />Jan 6. The Titan second stage main engine shut down at 1424 UTC in a 219<br />x 824 km orbit; small thrusters on the second stage fired near apogee at<br />1514 UTC to raise the orbit to 278 x 827 km, and Coriolis then<br />separated. By Jan 11 its own propulsion system had raised the orbit to<br />489 x 849 km x 98.7 deg.<br /><br /><br />NASA's ICESAT satellite was launched on Jan 13 by a Boeing Delta 7320-10.<br />The two-stage Delta entered a 185 x 597 km x 94.0 deg transfer orbit<br />11 min after launch, and then circularized the orbit 1 hr after<br />launch to 586 x 594 km x 94.0 deg. ICESAT separated, followed by<br />the RH-DPAF adapter cone, and finally the CHIPSat astronomy satellite.<br /><br /><br />ICESAT is part of NASA's Earth science program and was orginally EOS<br />Laser ALT-1. It carries the GLAS Geoscience Laser Altimeter System, a<br />1-meter telescope with a laser for lidar observations of the Earth and<br />in particular the Arctic and Antarctic ice sheets. ICESAT is a Ball<br />BCP-2000 spacecraft with a mass of 300 kg.<br /><br /><br />CHIPSat is a NASA University Explorer (UNEX) mission, led by UC Berkeley<br />and carrying the Cosmic Hot Interstellar Plasma instrument.<br />CHIPS has a 5 x 26 degree feild of view and will obtain spectra of<br />the diffuse EUV background in the 90-260 Angstrom range. One of the<br />key goals is to find out which spectral lines dominate the emission<br />from hot gas in the solar neighbourhood. CHIPSat was built by SpaceDev<br />and has a mass of 60 kg.<br /><br /><br />Leon van Speybroeck<br />-------------------<br /><br /><br />I am sad to report the death on Dec 25 of Leon van Speybroeck, the<br />scientist who designed the remarkable X-ray telescopes aboard the<br />Einstein and Chandra observatories. Leon, who had the office just across<br />the corridor from me, was a key figure in the development of X-ray<br />astronomy, perhaps not as famous as he should have been because of his<br />gentle, self-effacing modesty. He had just won the Rossi Prize, and was<br />to speak at the January AAS meeting in Seattle, but unexpectedly fell<br />ill in early December. He's a big loss to astronomy, a very smart guy,<br />and one of the nicest people I've known.<br /><br /><br />Table of Recent Launches<br />-----------------------<br /><br /><br />Date UT Name Launch Vehicle Site Mission INTL.<br /> DES.<br /><br /><br />Nov 20 2239 Eutelsat W5 Delta 4M+(4,2) Canaveral SLC37B Comms 51A<br />Nov 24 0049 Endeavour ) Shuttle Kennedy LC39A Spaceship 52A<br /> P1 ) Station module<br />Nov 25 2304 Astra 1K Proton-K Baykonur LC81/23 Comms 53A<br />Nov 28 0607 AlSAT-1 ) Kosmos-3M Plesetsk LC132/1 Imaging 54A<br /> Mozhaets ) Technology 54B<br /> Rubin-3-DSI ) Technology 54C<br />Dec 2 2205 MEPSI - Endeavour, LEO Technology 52B<br />Dec 5 0242 TDRS 10 Atlas IIA Canaveral SLC36 Comms 55A <br />Dec 11 2221 Stentor ) Ariane 5ECA Kourou ELA3 Comms F03<br /> Hot Bird 7 ) Comms F03<br />Dec 14 0131 Midori 2 ) H2A-202 Tanegashima Rem.Sensing 56A<br /> WEOS ) Rem.Sensing 56C<br /> FedSat ) Technology 56B<br /> MuLabSat ) Technology 56D<br />Dec 17 2304 NSS 6 Ariane 44L Kourou ELA2 Comms 57A<br />Dec 20 1700 Trailblazer ) Dnepr Baykonur LC109 Dummy 58E<br /> Latinsat A ) Comms 58H<br /> Latinsat B ) Comms 58B<br /> Saudisat 1C ) Comms 58C<br /> Unisat-2 ) Technology 58D<br /> Rubin-2 ) Technology 58A<br />Dec 24 1220 Kosmos-2393 Molniya-M Plesetsk LC16/2 Early warn 59A<br />Dec 25 0737 Kosmos-2394 ) Proton-K/DM-2 Baykonur LC81/23 Navigation 60A<br /> Kosmos-2395 ) 60B<br /> Kosmos-2396 ) 60C<br />Dec 29 1640 Shenzhou 4 Chang Zheng 2F Taiyuan Spaceship 61A<br />Dec 29 2316 Nimiq 2 Proton-M/Briz-M Baykonur LC81/24 Comms 62A<br />Jan 6 1419 Coriolis Titan II Vandenberg SLC4W Environment 01A<br />Jan 13 0045 ICESAT ) Delta 7320-10 Vandenberg SLC2W Environment 02A<br /> CHIPSat ) Astronomy 02B<br /> <br />Current Shuttle Processing Status<br />_________________________________<br /> <br />Orbiters Location Mission Launch Due <br /> <br />OV-102 Columbia LC39A STS-107 2003 Jan 16 Spacehab<br />OV-103 Discovery OPF Maintenance<br />OV-104 Atlantis OPF STS-114 2003 Mar 1 ISS ULF1<br />OV-105 Endeavour OPF STS-115 2003 May 23 ISS 12A<br /><br /><br />.-------------------------------------------------------------------------.<br />| Jonathan McDowell | phone : (617) 495-7176 |<br />| Harvard-Smithsonian Center for | |<br /><br /><br />| Astrophysics | |<br />| 60 Garden St, MS6 | |<br />| Cambridge MA 02138 | inter : jcm@cfa.harvard.edu |<br />| USA | jmcdowell@cfa.harvard.edu |<br />| |<br />| JSR: http://hea-www.harvard.edu/~jcm/space/jsr/jsr.html |<br />| Back issues: http://hea-www.harvard.edu/~jcm/space/jsr/back |