All information in this publication was received between 1 October 2001 and 31 October 2001.
COSPAR/WWAS USSPACECOM SPACECRAFT LAUNCH
INT.ID CAT. # NAME DATE (2001)
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2001-050A (26970) Molniya 3 25 October
2001-049C (26959) BIRD 2 22 October
2001-049B (26958) PROBA 1 22 October
2001-049A (26957) TES 22 October
2001-048A (26955) Soyuz TM-33 21 October
2001-047A (26953) Quickbird 2 18 October
2001-046A (26948) USA 162 11 October
2001-045A (26936) Raduga 1-6 06 October
2001-044A (26934) USA 161 05 October
| 2001-050A | Molniya 3 is a Russian military communication satellite that was launched by a Molniya-M rocket from Plesetsk at 11:34 UT on 25 October 2001. The initial orbital parameters were period 736 min, apogee 40,658 km, perigee 646 km and inclination 62.9°. |
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| 2001-049C | BIRD 2 (Bispectral InfraRed Detector 2) is a German, 94 kg minisatellite that was launched by a PSLV-C3 rocket from Sriharikota in southeast Indian coast at 04:53 UT on 22 October 2001. It is a technology demonstrator to help design a major remote sensing array of infrared detectors. Initial orbital parameters were period 96 min, apogee 580 km, perigee 551 km, and inclination 97.8°. |
| 2001-049B | PROBA 1 (PRoject for On-Board Autonomy, 1) is a Belgian, 94 kg minisatellite that was launched by a PSLV-C3 rocket from Sriharikota in southeast Indian coast at 04:53 UT on 22 October 2001. It carries a radiation detector, a debris impact monitoring instrument, and a remote sensing camera for performance assessment. Initial parameters were period 97 min, apogee 677 km, perigee 553 km, and inclination 97.9°. |
| 2001-049A | TES (Technology Experiment Satellite) is an Indian remote sensing and photo-reconnaissance satellite that was launched by a PSLV-C3 rocket from the Sriharikota High Altitude Range (SHAR) at Sriharikota in the southeast Indian coast at 04:53 UT on 22 October 2001. This is the fifth consecutive successful launch of the 294 tonne PSLV rocket, and the second launch with multiple satellites. The 1,108 kg satellite carries a one-meter resolution panchromatic camera. Initial parameters of the Sun-synchronous orbit were period 96 min, apogee 579 km, perigee 551 km, and inclination 97.8°. |
| 2001-048A | Soyuz TM-33 is a Russian astronaut-transporting spacecraft that was launched by a Soyuz-U rocket from Baikonur at 08:59 UT on 21 October 2001. It carried two Russian and one French astronauts to the International Space Station (ISS). It docked with the ISS at 10:00 UT on 23 October. This new crew spent eight days on the ISS, and returned on the older Soyuz TM-32 at 03:59 UT on 31 October. The new Soyuz will remain docked as a lifeboat craft for the current crew of three (two Russian and one American) astronauts. Initial orbital parameters were period 92.4 min, apogee 399 km, perigee 388 km, and inclination 51.6°. |
| 2001-047A | Quickbird 2 is an American, privately-owned Earth-imaging satellite that was launched by a Delta 2 rocket from Vandenberg AFB at 18:51 UT on 18 October 2001. It will be operational after a few months of calibration and "ground-truth" checkouts to market high resolution images. The 1.0 tonne satellite is reported to be capable of images with a resolution as small as 0.6 meter, though the standard products will be coarser. Unlike the comparable quality images from IKONOS images, some of which are currently marketed exclusively to the US military, all Quickbird 2 images may be available in the open market. The initial orbital parameters were period 93.8 min, apogee 464 km, perigee 460 km, and inclination 97.2°. |
| 2001-046A | USA 162 is an American military satellite that was launched by an Atlas 2AS-Centaur rocket from Cape Canaveral at 14:32 UT on 11 October 2001. It belongs to the National Reconnaissance Office (NRO). Based only on the launching site, some reports carry the inference that the mission may be to relay data from imaging satellites, probably after reaching a geosynchronous orbit. The NRO is now on the web, http://www.nro.gov/. |
| 2001-045A | Raduga 1-6 is a Russian geosynchronous military communications satellite that was launched by a Proton-K rocket from Baikonur at 16:45 UT on 6 October 2001. |
| 2001-044A | USA 161 is an American military visual/radar imaging satellite that was launched by a Titan 4B rocket from Vandenberg AFB at 21:21 UT on 5 October 2001. The 13 tonne (with fuel) satellite belongs to the National Reconnaissance Office (NRO) within its fleet of Earth Imaging System (EIS) satellites. A BBC website reported a resolution of 10 cm in the images. (The commonly used name for the EIS satellites is Advanced Keyhole.) The first member of the EIS fleet was USA 144 (1999-028A), launched in May 1999. |
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 400 dedicated global stations that are of interest to geodetic study may be obtained through the following services provided by the International GNSS Service (IGS). The IGS is a service of the International Association of Geodesy (IAG).
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 SPACEWARN Bulletin No. 518.
It will not be repeated since an excellent source of trajectory- and science-related GPS
information is at:
http://www.colorado.edu/geography/gcraft/notes/gps/gps_f.html
It provides many links to GPS related databases.
All GLONASS spacecraft are in the general Cosmos series. The Cosmos numbers 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 last appeared in SPACEWARN Bulletin No. 545. It will not be repeated in view of the excellent updated source at: http://www.glonass-ianc.rsa.ru/ maintained by the Information-Analytical Center (IAC), Russian Space Agency.
See http://www.space-track.org/perl/bulk_files.pl. Users must register. Conditions apply.
Designations Common Name Decay Date (2001) 2001-017A (26749) SOYUZ TM-32 Landed on 31 Oct 1994-082E (23430) R/B (Aux) Proton 27 Oct 2001-047B (26954) R/B Delta 2 25 Oct 2001-048B (26956) R/B Soyuz-U 22 Oct 2001-020B (26771) R/B Delta 2 21 Oct 1983-030B (13985) R/B Delta 18 Oct 2001-033B (26881) R/B Titan 4 13 Oct 1995-068H (23743) R/B (Aux) Proton-K 13 Oct 1971-059B (05328) R/B that launched METEOR 9 13 Oct 2001-022A (26775) COSMOS 2377 10 Oct 2001-045B (26937) R/B Proton-K 09 Oct 2001-024B (26825) R/B Ariane 44L 09 Oct 2001-043E (26933) R/B Athena 1 06 Oct 1992-082F (22250) R/B (Aux) Proton 02 Oct 1990-103B (20960) R/B Delta 2 01 Oct 1996-019C (23835) R/B that launched NAVSTAR 37 (USA 117) 29 Sep 1994-030F (23117) R/B Proton-K/DM-2 29 Sep
See http://www.space-track.org/perl/60day_decay_predict.pl. Users must register for access. Conditions apply
Mars Odyssey (2001-014A) attained a Martian orbit on 24 October 2001, after a Delta-V maneuver. Its highly elliptical orbit will undergo aerobraking during the next few months to enable a mapping mission with a circular orbit at 400 km altitude for a duration of 917 Earth-days. After that mission, it will act as a communications relay for future missions.
NSSDC/WDC for Satellite Information 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 690.1,
NASA GSFC, Greenbelt, Maryland 20771, U.S.A., for specific information
(nssdc-request@listserv.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 obtained from:
http://nssdcftp.gsfc.nasa.gov/miscellaneous/orbits/
Other files of interest for Earth-centered spacecraft can be generated via the URL,
http://sscweb.gsfc.nasa.gov/
Programs related to the heliospheric spacecraft trajectories can be executed
through the URL:
http://cohoweb.gsfc.nasa.gov/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/nmc/
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