SPACEWARN
Bulletin
A monthly publication of the National Space Science Data Center/World Data Center for Satellite Information
No. 597                                                                                                                               01 Aug. 2003

SPACEWARN Activities

All information in this publication was received between 1 July 2003 and 31 July 2003.

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)
  ---------------------------------------------------------
   2003-033A    (27852)  Rainbow 1             17 July 2003
   2003-032A    (27849)  Mars Explorer Rover-B 08 July 2003
   2003-031J    (27848)  Cubesat XI-IV         30 June 2003
   2003-031H    (27847)  CANX 1                30 June 2003
   2003-031G    (27846)  AAU Cubesat           30 June 2003
   2003-031F    (27845)  Quakesat              30 June 2003
   2003-031E    (27844)  CUTE 1                30 June 2003
   2003-031D    (27843)  MOST                  30 June 2003
   2003-031C    (27842)  DTUSAT                30 June 2003
   2003-031B    (27841)  Mimosa                30 June 2003
   2003-031A    (27840)  Monitor-E/Breeze      30 June 2003

B. Text of Launch Announcements.

2003-033A Rainbow 1 is an American geostationary communications satellite that was launched by an Atlas 5 rocket from Cape Canaveral at 23:45 UT on 17 July 2003. The 4.3 tonne satellite will provide direct-to-home television services in the contiguous United States through its several transponders. Parking longitude is not available.
2003-032A Mars Explorer Rover-B, also known as MER-B and as Opportunity, is an American (NASA) planetary mission that was launched by a Delta 2 rocket from Cape Canaveral at 03:18 UT on 8 July 2003. It is an exact copy of MER-A (2003-027A, in SPX.596), and carries the same set of instruments. It will arrive at Mars on 25 January 2004, a few weeks after the arrival of MER-A. The landing site for MER-B is known as Meridiani Planum, located about halfway around the planet from the site for MER-A. The project management, and investigation team will be the same as for MER-A.
2003-031J Cubesat XI-IV is a Japanese nanosatellite that was launched by a Rokot rocket from Plesetsk at 14:15 UT on 30 June 2003. With a mass of one kilogram, it carries an 80 mW beacon at 436.8475 MHz. Initial orbital parameters were period 101.4 min, apogee 831 km, perigee 821 nbsp;km, and inclination 98.7°.
2003-031H CANX 1 is a Canadian (University of Toronto) students-built, photo-imaging nanosatellite that was launched by a Rokot rocket from Plesetsk at 14:15 UT on 30 June 2003. Initial orbital parameters were period 101.4 min, apogee 830 km, perigee 817 km, and inclination 98.7°.
2003-031G AAU Cubesat is a Danish (Aalborg University) student-built photo-imaging nanosatellite that was launched by a Rokot rocket from Plesetsk at 14:15 UT on 30 June 2003. Initial orbital parameters were period 101.4 min, apogee 830 km, perigee 818 km, and inclination 98.7°.
2003-031F Quakesat is an American photo-imaging nanosatellite that was launched by a Rokot rocket at 14:15 UT on 30 June 2003. It is equipped with an earthquake detection instrument. Initial orbital parameters were period 101.4 min, apogee 833 km, perigee 821 km, and inclination 98.7°.
2003-031E CUTE 1 is a Japanese (Tokyo Institute of Technology) one kilogram nanosatellite that was launched by a Rokot rocket from Plesetsk at 14:15 UT on 30 June 2003. It carries a 100 mW beacon at 436.8375 MHz. Initial orbital parameters were period 101.4 min, apogee 831 km, perigee 819 km, and inclination 98.7°.
2003-031D MOST is a Canadian (CSA) astronomy satellite that was launched by a Rokot rocket from Plesetsk at 14:15 UT on 30 June 2003. The 65 x 65 x 30 cm, 51 kg satellite carries a 60 cm aperture reflecting telescope to monitor the brightness variations in a star caused by soundwaves on its surface, or from reflections from an orbiting planet. Because of its light weight and low cost, it has been dubbed as Humble Telescope. The Principal Investigator is Jaymie Matthews of the University of British Columbia. For more information, see http://www.space.gc.ca/asc/eng/csa_sectors/space_science/astronomy/most.asp. Initial orbital parameters were period 101.4 min, apogee 832 km, and perigee 819 km, and inclination 98.7°.
2003-031C DTUsat is a Danish (Danish Technological University) nanosatellite that was launched by a Rokot rocket from Plesetsk at 14:15 UT on 30 June 2003. It will image stars. Initial orbital parameters were period 101.4 min, apogee 830 km, perigee 818 km, and inclination 98.7°.
2003-031B Mimosa is a Czech minisatellite that was launched by a Rokot rocket from Plesetsk at 14:15 UT on 30 June 2003. The 66 kg satellite is nearly spherical with 28 sides and carries a microaccelerometer to monitor the atmospheric density profile by sensing the atmospheric drag. Initial orbital parameters were period 96.3 min, apogee 844 km, perigee 316 km, and inclination 96.8°.
2003-031A Monitor-E/Breeze is a Russian mockup of a Monitor-E(arth) satellite that remained unseparated from the Breeze-KM upper stage. Initial orbital parameters were period 100.1 min, apogee 833 km, perigee 696 km, and inclination 98.7°.

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.

    The latest addition to the fleet is Navstar 51 (GPS 2R-8), 2003-005A.

  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.

  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 (2003)
    
    2003-029B (27835)  R/B Molniya-M                       30 Jul
    1996-048B (24283)  R/B Long March                      03 Jul
    1971-052B (07282)  R/B that launched COSMOS 426        01 Jul
    
  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, 31 July 2003
Last updated: 02 September 2003, EVB II