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Questions/comments about the content of these pages should be directed to: The World Warning Agency for Satellites, wwas@nssdca.gsfc.nasa.gov National Space Science Data Center, Mail Code 633 NASA Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, MD 20771 |
| 01 October 1999 |
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1999-054A (25929) RESURS F-1M 28 September 99
1999-053A (25924) LMI-1 26 September 99
1999-052A (25922) Telstar 7 25 September 99
1999-051A (25919) Ikonos 2 24 September 99
1999-050A (25913) Echostar 5 23 September 99
1999-049D (25910) Globalstar M058 22 September 99
1999-049C (25909) Globalstar M055 22 September 99
1999-049B (25908) Globalstar M050 22 September 99
1999-049A (25907) Globalstar M033 22 September 99
1999-048A (25902) Foton 12 09 September 99
1999-047B (25897) Yamal 102 06 September 99
1999-047A (25896) Yamal 101 06 September 99
1999-046A (25894) Mugungwa 3 (Koreasat 3) 04 September 99
| 1999-054A | RESURS F-1M is a Russian natural resources satellite that was launched from Plesetsk. It carried (retrievable?) cameras to image natural resources on Russian territory. (Note, there has already been a RESURS F-1M 1997-072A which had re-entered 19 days after launch. The additional suffix, if any, for the latest one could not be ascertained.) Initial orbital parameters were period 88.6 min, apogee 219 km, perigee 174 km, and inclination 82.3 deg. |
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| 1999-053A | LMI-1 (Lockheed-Martin Intersputnik) is a US-Russian geosynchronous communications spacecraft that was launched by a Proton-K rocket from Baikonur at 22:30 UT. It will provide voice and video broadcast with its total of 44 high power transponders in the C- and Ku-bands to several countries between central Europe and Southeast Asia after parking over 75 deg-E longitude. The jointly owned LMI corporation has plans to launch a total of 15 such satellites. |
| 1999-052A | Telstar 7 is an American geosynchronous communications spacecraft that was launched by an Ariane 44LP rocket from Kourou at 06:29 UT. The 3,800 kg spacecraft carries 24 C-band (37 W) and 24 Ku-band (100 W) transponders to provide voice and video transmissions to North and Central America after parking over 129 deg-W longitude. |
| 1999-051A | Ikonos 2 is an American (privately owned) imaging satellite that was launched by an Athena 2 rocket at 18:22 UT from Vandenberg AFB. Its one-meter resolution images will be marketed under the brand name of Carterra about two or three months after launch. (Until its launch, the highest resolution of marketed images had been from the Indian IRC-1C and IRS-1D with a resolution of 5.8 meters.) Initial orbital parameters of Ikonos 2 were period 98.4 min, apogee 682 km, perigee 678 km, and inclination 98.2 deg. |
| 1999-050A | Echostar 5 is an American geosynchronous communications spacecraft that was launched by an Atlas 2AS-Centaur rocket from Cape Canaveral at 06:02 UT. The 3,200 kg spacecraft will provide 150 audio/video channels direct-to-home in North America after parking over 110 deg-W longitude. |
| 1999-049A, 1999-049B, 1999-049C, 1999-049D |
Globalstars M033, M050, M055, and M058 are the latest to join the American fleet of low orbit satellites that enable links between fixed or mobile phones located far away from cellular networks. With these four, the operational fleet has now 40 satellites. They were launched by a Soyuz-U booster from Baikonur at 14:33 UT. The eventual fleet of 52 (48 + 4 spares?) satellites will be monitored by a global network of 19 ground stations. Eight more Globalstars are due for Soyuz-U launches in October/November 1999. Initial orbital parameters of all four were similar: period 105 min, apogee 1000 km, perigee 900 km, and inclination 52 deg. |
| 1999-048A | Foton 12 is a Russian retrievable research spacecraft that was launched by a Soyuz-U booster at 18:00 UT from Plesetsk. It carried resources for microgravity experiments from Germany, France, Sweden and other countries. The 240 kg module completed the experiment and soft landed near Russian-Kazakh border on 24 September. More details of the package and results may be seen thru http://www.estec.esa.int/spaceflight/foton. The initial orbital parameters were period 90.5 min, apogee 378 km, perigee 216 km, and inclination 62.8 deg. |
| 1999-047A, 1999-047B | Yamal 101 and Yamal 102 are Russian geosynchronous satellites that were launched by a Proton-K rocket from Baikonur at 16:36 UT. They are intended to serve the gas industry (Gasprom company) which had hitherto been serviced by the Gorizont fleet of satellites. (Problems with the onboard resouces on Yamal 101 had been reported at the start of the operational phase and, probably, repaired later.) Yamal 101 will be parked over 49 deg-E, and 102 over 90 deg-E. |
| 1999-046A | Mugungwa 3, also known as Koreasat 3, is a South Korean geosynchronous satellite that was launched by an Ariane 42P rocket from Kourou at 10:34 UT. It will replace Koreasat 1 that has been operational since August, 1995. |
Note: The full list appeared in SPX 545. The list will not be repeated in future issues until significantly revised again.
High precision (<20 cm) GPS constellation tracking data obtained from the network of about 80 dedicated global stations that are of interest to geodetic study may be obtained through the following services provided by the International Association of Geodesy (IGS)
FTP: igscb.jpl.nasa.gov [directory /igscb]
WWW: http://igscb.jpl.nasa.gov/
E-mail: igscb@cobra.jpl.nasa.gov
The standard format of the GPS situation appeared in SPX-518. It will not be repeated since an excellent source of trajectory- and science-related GPS information is at http://www.utexas.edu/depts/grg/gcraft/notes/gps/gps.html#DODSystem It provides many links to GPS related databases.
The latest member of the GPS fleet is NAVSTAR 38 (1997-067A), launched on 6 November 1997.
All GLONASS spacecraft are in the general COSMOS series. The COSMOS numbers (nnnn) invoked by USSPACECOM have often differed from the numbers (NNNN) associated in Russia; when different, the USSPACECOM COSMOS numbers are shown in parentheses. The corresponding GLONASS numbers are Russian numbers, followed by the numbers in parentheses that are sometimes attributed to them outside Russia.
The operating frequencies in MHz are computed from the channel number K. Frequencies (MHz) = 1602.0 + 0.5625K and L2 = 1246.0 + 0.4375K.
The standard format of the GLONASS situation appeared in SPX-515. It will not be repeated in view of the excellent updated source at: http://www.rssi.ru/SFCSIC/english.html maintained by the Coordinational Scientific Information Center (CSIC),Russian Space Forces.
Designations Common Name 1999 1999-010E (25761) R/B Upper stage of Proton-K 02 Sep 1999-047C (25898) R/B Proton-K 07 Sep 1999-012E (25653) R/B Soyuz-U 10 Sep 1993-068B (22878) R/B Delta 2 18 sep 1999-048A (25902) FOTON 12 Landed on 24 Sep 1999-049F (25912) R/B Upper stage of Soyuz-U 24 Sep 1999-048B (25903) R/B Soyuz-U 25 Sep 1999-053B (25925) R/B Proton-K 28 Sep 1999-054B (25930) R/B that launched RESURS F-1M 30 Sep
The following old decays have now been certified:
Designations Common Name 1999 1996-013C (23804) R/B Delta 2 02 Dec 1996 1978-044C (10857) R/B Delta 1 23 Oct 1991 1977-048F (10409) R/B Delta 1 26 Mar 1983 1976-017C (08702) R/B Delta 1 27 Nov 1982 1974-094E (09530) R/B Thorad-Delta 1 04 Nov 1976 1968-116B (05978) R/B Delta 1 26 Jun 1973
The names of 1999-029A, 1999-029B, and 1999-029C that were launched by an Indian PSLV rocket were reported in SPX 547 as IRS-P4/OCEANSAT, KITSAT 3, and TUBSAT, based on the ejection sequence reported by ISRO. However, USSPACECOM continues to list the names as KITSAT 3, TUBSAT, and OCEANSAT. To avoid confusion, we now recommend the USSPACECOM designations: KITSAT 3 (1999-029A), TUBSAT (1999-029B), and IRS-P4/OCEANSAT (1999-029C)
Mars Climate Orbiter (1998-073A) has, presumably, crashed on the surface of Mars instead of orbiting from an altitude of 145 km. An orbit maneuver thruster was fired at about 09:00 UT on 23 September 1999. Radio communication failed at 21:30 UT, soon after the approaching altitude was ascertained to be as low as 60 km. Among the speculations are: (a) that there was poor awareness of the manufacturer's use the so-called "British" system of lb-foot units for the thrusters and NASA/JPL's use of the (metric) kg-m system for igniting/controlling the thrusters; and, (b) the craft probably did not crash, but could have escaped tangentially as a mute solar orbiter. The MCO was to act as a relaying platform for the Mars Polar Lander probe (1999-001A) which is expected to touch down on 3 December 1999.
NSSDC/WDC R&S Greenbelt is an archival center for science data from many spacecraft.
Many space physics datasets are on-line for electronic access through:
http://nssdc.gsfc.nasa.gov/space/
For off-line data, please contact the Request Office, NSSDC, Code 633, NASA GSFC, Greenbelt, Maryland 20771, U.S.A., for specific information (request@nssdca.gsfc.nasa.gov). Information on the current status of the instruments on board from the investigators will be most welcomed. Precomputed trajectory files and orbital parameters of many magnetospheric and heliospheric science-payload spacecraft may be accessed via anonymous FTP from NSSDC. (See About the SPACEWARN Bulletin for access method; a file in the active directory named AAREADME.TXT, outlines the contents.)
Other files interest for Earth-centered spacecraft can be generated thru the URL,
http://sscweb.gsfc.nasa.gov/
Programs related to the heliospheric spacecraft trajectories can be executed
through the URL,
http://nssdc.gsfc.nasa.gov/space/helios/heli.html
Magnetospheric, Planetary, and Astronomical science data from many spacecraft
may be accessed through links from the URL:
http://nssdc.gsfc.nasa.gov/
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Questions/comments about the content of these pages should be directed to: The World Warning Agency for Satellites, wwas@nssdca.gsfc.nasa.gov National Space Science Data Center, Mail Code 633 NASA Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, MD 20771 |