SPACEWARN Activities

2007-057A

Sirius 4 is a Swedish geostationary communications spacecraft that was launched by a Proton-M rocket from Baikonur at 22:40 UT on 17 November 2007. (It is also listed as SES Sirius 4, by prefixing the operating company's name). The 4.4 tonne (with fuel) craft carries 52 Ku-band and two Ka-band transponders to provide direct-to-home (DTH) TV and internet services to Europe and sub- Saharan Africa after parking over 5.0° E longitude.

2007-056B

Skynet 5B is a British geostationary military communications satellite that was launched by an Ariane 5 rocket from Kourou at 22:06 UT on 14 November 2007. The 4.7 tonne craft will also service NATO needs through X-band transmissions. No further details are available.

2007-056A

Star One C1 is a Brazilian geostationary communications satellite that was launched by an Ariane 5 rocket from Kourou at 22:06 UT on 14 November 2007. The 4.1 tonne (with fuel) craft carries 28 C-band and 16 Ku-band transponders to provide direct-to-home (DTH) voice, video, and internet services to Brazil and neighboring countries after parking over 65° W longitude. It carries a single X-band transponder also for military use. It will replace the aging Brazilsat B2.

2007-055A

Yaogan 3 is a Chinese (PRC) remote sensing craft that was launched by a Long March rocket from Taiyuan Satellite Launch Center (TSLC) on 11 November 2007. It carries imaging equipment to assess crop yields and to monitor potential natural catastrophes. The initial orbital parameters were period 97.3 min, apogee 629 km, perigee 628 km, and inclination 97.8°.

2007-054A

USA 197, also known as DSP 23, is an American geostationary military craft that was launched by a Delta 4 rocket on 11 November 2007. The 2.4 tonne craft carries infrared detectors to warn of rocket launches, like the entire fleet of DSP satellites that are deployed. No further information is available.

2007-053A

Sar Lupe 3 is a German military radar reconnaissance craft that was launched by a Kosmos-3M rocket from Plesetsk on 01 November 2007. The 720 kg craft carries a X-band and S-band transmitters to provide one-meter resolution images. It is the third of an eventual five-craft constellation. The initial orbital parameters were period 94.2 min, apogee 495 km, perigee 466 km, and inclination 98.2°.

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 60, 2007-047A.

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.

According to CSIC the latest additions to the fleet are 2007-052A, 2007-052B, and 2007-052C.

Visually bright objects.

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

Actual decays/landings of payload spacecraft and rocket bodies (R/B) only. No further information is available.

Designations         Common Name                  Decay Date (2007)

2004-036B (28418)    R/B GSLV                        24 November
1992-085D (22258)    R/B(2) Molniya                  23 November
2007-050A (32272)    STS 120 Landed on               07 November
2006-047C (29512)    R/B Delta 2                     01 November

60-day Decay Predictions.

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

Miscellaneous Items.

This section contains information or data that are entered on occasion and may not be repeated in each issue of the SPACEWARN Bulletin.

The following are the revised names of the three Glonass satellites that were launched on 26 October 2007. Their Glonass numbers remain unascertained. Cosmos 2433 (2007-052A), Cosmos 2432 (2007-52B) and Cosmos 2431 (2007-053C)

The following are the official names of the four Globalstar craft that were launched on 20 October 2007 (They were listed as Globalstar-A, Globalstar-B, Globalstar-C, and Globalstar-D.): Globalstar-M067 (2007-048A), Globalstar-M070 (2007-048B), Globalstar-M066 (2007-048C), and Globalstar-M068 (2007-048D).

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/