SPACEWARN Activities

All information in this publication was received between 1 February 2004 and 29 February 2004.

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)
  ----------------------------------------------------------------
   2004-005A   (28163)   Cosmos 2405              18 February 2004
   2004-004A   (28158)   USA 176                  14 February 2004
   2004-003A   (28154)   AMC 10 (GE 10)           05 February 2004

B. Text of Launch Announcements.

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 53, 2003-058A.

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 (2004)
   
   2003-030B (27839)  R/B Pegasus                       22 February
   2003-014B (27719)  R/B Atlas 3B/Centaur              12 February
   1988-022D (18983)  R/B(2) that launched MOLNIYA 1-72 23 January
   

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/