All information in this publication was received between 1 July 2002 and 31 July 2002.
COSPAR/WWAS USSPACECOM SPACECRAFT LAUNCH
INT.ID CAT. # NAME DATE (UT)
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2002-037A (27470) Cosmos 2392 25 July 2002
2002-036B (27465) Cosmos 2391 08 July 2002
2002-036A (27464) Cosmos 2390 08 July 2002
2002-035B (27461) N-STAR 3 05 July 2002
2002-035A (27460) STELLAT 5 05 July 2002
2002-034A (27457) CONTOUR 03 July 2002
| 2002-037A | Cosmos 2392 (also known as Arkon) is a Russian military reconnaissance satellite that was launched by a Proton-K rocket from Baikonur at 15:13 UT on 25 July 2002. The 2.6 tonne (with fuel) satellite carries a high-resolution imager with a 1.6 meter mirror telescope to provide images at a resolution of one meter. The images will be distributed for sale by a Russian company. The initial orbital parameters were period 120 min, apogee 1,834 km, perigee 1,507 km, and inclination 63.5°. |
|---|---|
| 2002-036A, 2002-036B | Cosmos 2390 and Cosmos 2391 Cosmos 2391 and Cosmos 2390 are Russian military communications satellites that were launched by a Cosmos-3M rocket from Plesetsk at 06:36 UT on 8 July 2002. (These 200 kg satellites are reported to belong to the "Strela-3 class" of satellites.). The initial orbital parameters of both were close: period 115.7 min, apogee 1,507 km perigee 1467 km, and inclination 82.5°. |
| 2002-035B | N-STAR 3 is a Japanese geostationary communications spacecraft that was launched (along with STELLAT 5) by an Ariane 5 rocket from Kourou at 23:22 UT on 5 July 2002. The 1,625 kg (with fuel), 1,400 W triaxially-stabilized satellite will provide mobile telephony, data transfer and maritime communications to Japan and neighboring area through its S- and C-band transponders after parking over 135° E longitude. |
| 2002-035A | STELLAT 5 is a European geostationary communications spacecraft that was launched (along with N-STAR 3) by an Ariane 5 rocket from Kourou at 23:22 UT on 5 July 2002. It will provide television and two-way Internet services to Europe, North Africa and Middle East through its 35 Ku-band and 10 C-band transponders after parking over 5° W longitude. |
| 2002-034A | CONTOUR
(Comet Nucleus Tour) is an American (NASA) heliospheric
spacecraft that was launched by a Delta 2 rocket from Cape Canaveral
at 06:47 UT on 3 July 2002. The 970 kg spacecraft will remain in Earth-orbit
until about 15 August 2002, when it will begin the heliospheric
voyage to meet at least two comets, Comet
Encke on 12 November 2003, and Comet Schwassmann-Wachmann 3 (SW3)
on 19 June 2006, at a distance of 100 km from each nucleus. Before
each encounter, it will undergo a speed boost by an Earth swingby.
It carries four instruments to image the comets and analyze the
emitted dust and gaseous material.
CRISP (Contour Remote Imager/Spectrograph) is a 12 kg, 36 W instrument. It will provide one panchromatic and nine color images of the comets at frequent intervals, through its 10-cm aperture, 68-cm focal length telescope. It will also provide UV spectra in 256 channels. CFI (Contour Forward Imager) is a 4 kg, 2 W instrument that will scan and provide images of far-away comets, to be imaged later by CRISP at close range. NGIMS (Neutral Gas Ion Mass Spectrometer) is a 9 kg, 23 W instrument that will analyze the gaseous emissions from the cometary coma. CIDA (Comet Impact Dust Analyzer) is a Time-of-Flight (ToF) ion mass spectrometer that will measure the mass distribution of the impacting dust particles. More details of the mission and the experiments are available in http://www.contour2002.org/, and /nmc/spacecraftDisplay.do?id=2002-034A. The Principal Investigator for all the CONTOUR experiments is Joseph Veverka of Cornell University, Ithaca, NY. The Project Manager is Edward Reynolds of the Applied Physics Lab/JHU, Laurel, MD. The initial parameters of the geocentric phase are period 2,482 min, apogee 108,498 km, perigee 183 km, and inclination 30.2°. |
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.
The latest addition to the GLONASS fleet are Cosmos 2380, Cosmos 2381, and Cosmos 2382.
See http://www.space-track.org/perl/bulk_files.pl. Users must register. Conditions apply.
Designations Common Name Decay Date (2002) 2002-037B (27471) R/B(1) Proton-K 26 July 1999-072A (26040) COSMOS 2367 20 July 2000-042C (26904) PICOSAT 7&8 (Tethered) 11 July 2002-034B (27458) R/B(1) Delta 2 06 July 2002-022B (27425) R/B Delta 2 02 July 2002-007B (27381) R/B Ariane 44L 01 July 2001-034B (26885) R/B(1) Delta 2 01 July
See http://www.space-track.org/perl/60day_decay_predict.pl. Users must register for access. Conditions apply
It appears that there is no national or international organization that defines the various alphabetically designated Communication and Broadcasting frequency bands. One of the extant lists has the following coverages. The Spacewarn Bulletin would appreciate input from the reader community to update the coverage status. (wwas@nssdca.gsfc.nasa.gov)
L-Band 1.35-1.70 GHz
S-Band 1.70-2.30 GHz; 2.30-2.70 GHz
C-Band 3.40-4.20 GHz; 4.40-5.00 GHz; 5.725-8.40 GHz
Ku-Band 10.00-13.25 GHz; 14.00-15.40 GHz
K-Bnad 17.30-24.05 GHz
Ka-Band 25.25-31.80 GHz
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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