SPACEWARN
Bulletin
A monthly publication of the National Space Science Data Center/World Data Center for Satellite Information
No. 582                                                                                                                            01 May 2002

SPACEWARN Activities

All information in this publication was received between 1 April 2002 and 30 April 2002.

A. List of New International Designations and Launch Dates (UTC).

USSPACECOM Catalog numbers are in parentheses.
  COSPAR/WWAS USSPACECOM  SPACECRAFT              LAUNCH
    INT.ID    CAT. #      NAME                   DATE (UT)
  --------------------------------------------------------
   2002-020A    (27416)  Soyuz TM-34         25 April 2002
   2002-019A    (27414)  NSS 7               16 April 2002
   2002-018A    (27413)  STS 110             08 April 2002
   2002-017A    (27409)  Cosmos 2388         01 April 2002

B. Text of Launch Announcements.

2002-020A Soyuz TM-34 is a Russian passenger transportation craft that was launched by a Soyuz-U rocket from Baikonur at 06:26 UT on 25 April 2002. It carried one Russian and one Italian astronaut, and a South African tourist to the International Space Station (ISS). The tourist will do some biology experiments also, as he carried a live rat and sheep stem cells. All three will return in the same Soyuz after an eight-day mission. The initial orbital parameters were period 92.4 min, apogee 393 km, perigee 383 km, and inclination 51.63°.
2002-019A NSS 7 (New Skies Satellite 7) is a European geosynchronous communications satellite that was launched by an Ariane 44LP rocket from Kourou at 23:01 UT on 16 April 2002. The 4.7 tonne satellite will provide video and internet services to North America and Europe through its 36 C-band and 36 Ku-band transponders after parking over 21.5° W longitude. It replaces NSS-K (to be abandoned) and NSS 803 (to be moved over to the Pacific).
2002-018A STS 110 is an American shuttle spacecraft that was launched from Cape Canaveral at 20:44 UT on 8 April 2002. It carried a crew of seven American astronauts to the International Space Station where it docked at 16:06 UT on 9 April. The crew installed on the ISS a 13 meter, 13.5 tonne, initial segment of a long truss, and overlaid a railroad track. But the test drive of a 885 kg car on the track was not successful. It stopped after moving 5 meters, and commands to move further proved unsuccessful. Speculation has been that weightlessness of the train engendered poor electrical contact with the track. Eventually the truss and the railing will be extended to 110 meters. In addition to that primary mission, the shuttle had transported to the station 290 biological samples prepared by high school students, as part of NASA's education outreach program. The 11-day mission ended when it returned to Earth on 19 April. The initial orbital parameters of the shuttle were period 88.3 min, apogee 225 km, perigee 155 km, and inclination 51.6°.
2002-017A Cosmos 2388 is a Russian military communications satellite that was launched from Plesetsk by a Molniya-M rocket at 22:07 UT. It was the 220th launch by a Molniya-M of which 213 have proved successful. The initial orbital parameters were period 718 min, apogee 39,852, perigee 518 km, and inclination 62.9°.

C. Spacecraft Particularly Suited for International Participation

  1. Spacecraft with essentially continuous radio beacons on frequencies less than 150 MHz, or higher frequencies if especially suited for ionospheric or geodetic studies. (NNSS denotes U.S. Navy Navigational Satellite System. Updates or corrections to the list are possible only with information from the user community.)

    Note: The full list appeared in SPX 545. The list will not be repeated in future issues until significantly revised again.

  2. Global Positioning System satellites useful for navigational purposes and geodetic studies.

    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.

  3. Russian Global Navigational (Positioning) Spacecraft, GLONASS constellation. (SPACEWARN requests updates/additions from readers to this list.)

    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.

    The latest addition to the GLONASS fleet are Cosmos 2380, Cosmos 2381, and Cosmos 2382.

  4. Visually bright objects.

    See http://www.space-track.org/perl/bulk_files.pl. Users must register. Conditions apply.

  5. Actual decays/landings of payload spacecraft and rocket bodies (R/B) only. No further information is available.
    Designations         Common Name                  Decay Date (2002)
    
    2002-020B (27417)  R/B Soyuz-U                            26 Apr
    2001-054B (26996)  STARSHINE 2                            26 Apr
    1998-042A (25389)  TUBSAT N                               22 Apr
    2001-045F (26941)  R/B (Aux)                              20 Apr
    2002-018A (27413)  STS 110                 Landed back    19 Apr
    1999-065H (25987)  R/B Pegasus                            19 Apr
    1996-061A (24645)  HETE/SAC-B/PEGASUS (unseparated)       07 Apr
    1993-054B (22780)  R/B (1) Delta 2                        05 Apr
    2002-014A (27397)  SHENZHOU 3                             01 Apr
    
  6. 60-day Decay Predictions.

    See http://www.space-track.org/perl/60day_decay_predict.pl. Users must register for access. Conditions apply

  7. Miscellaneous Items. (This section contains information/data that are entered on occasion and may not be repeated in each issue of the SPACEWARN Bulletin.)

  8. Related NSSDC resources.

    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/

SPACEWARN Bulletin index About the SPACEWARN Bulletin About Spacecraft Categories NSSDC home page

Questions/comments about the content of these pages should be directed to:
The World Warning Agency for Satellites, wwas@mail630.gsfc.nasa.gov
National Space Science Data Center, Mail Code 633
NASA Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, MD 20771

Dr. Edwin Bell, II
NASA Official: Dr. David R. Williams
V1.0, 30 April 2002
Last updated: 05 March 2003, EVB II