SPACEWARN Activities

2009-041F,
  2009-041D

AprizeSat 3 and AprizeSat 4, two 12 kg American communications satellites will provide tracking and data monitoring services for companies with remote or mobile assets. They were launched on a Dnepr rocket from Baikonur on 29 July 2009 at 18:46 UT.

2009-041E

Nanosat 1B, a testbed for the Spanish space agency, was launched on a Dnepr rocket from Baikonur on 29 July 2009 at 18:46 UT. The 50-cm diameter, 22 kg satellite will demonstrate basic space technologies.

2009-041C

DMC 2, a UK 96.5 kg remote sensing satellite also known as UK-DMC 2, was launched on a Dnepr rocket from Baikonur on 29 July 2009 at 18:46 UT. The satellite will gather wide-angle, medium-resolution images. DMC 2 joins the international Disaster Monitoring Constellation (DMC), a fleet of small Earth-watching satellites designed to provide quick-response imagery to emergency managers worldwide. DMC images are also used for mapping, urban planning, and resource management.

2009-041B

DubaiSat 1, a 190 kg remote sensing satellite of the United Arab Emirates, was launched on a Dnepr rocket from Baikonur on 29 July 2009 at 18:46 UT. The satellite carries an optical imaging camera with a black-and-white resolution of about 2.5 m and a color resolution of 5 m. The data will be used for urban development, scientific research, telecommunications, transportation, construction and mapping applications, as well as for forecasting, water quality research and engineering tests.

2009-041A

Deimos 1, a Spanish 90 kg remote sensing satellite, was launched on a Dnepr rocket from Baikonur on 29 July 2009 at 18:46 UT. The satellite will gather wide-angle, medium-resolution images. Deimos 1 joins the international Disaster Monitoring Constellation (DMC), a fleet of small Earth-watching satellites designed to provide quick-response imagery to emergency managers worldwide. DMC images are also used for mapping, urban planning, and resource management.

2009-040A

Progress-M 67, an unmanned resupply craft for the International Space Station, launched on a Soyuz-U rocket on 24 July 2009 at 10:57 UT from Baikonur. Cargo on-board included 2.3 tonnes of propellant, water, oxygen and dry goods including spare parts, scientific equipment and parcels. The docking with the ISS took place on 29 July 2009 at 11:12 UT under manual control when the automated system placed the craft in the wrong orientation.

2009-039B

Sterkh 1 is a civilian search and rescue beacon relay satellite launched as a secondary payload on a Kosmos 3M rocket from Plesetsk on 21 July 2009 at 03:57 UT. The satellite is part of Russia's contribution to the COSPAS-SARSAT international satellite system. The 160 kg satellite will detect distress beacon signals from land, sea and air, determine their location, and relay the information to emergency officials.

2009-039A

Cosmos 2454 is a Russian military satellite launched on a Kosmos 3M rocket from Plesetsk on 21 July 2009 at 03:57 UT.

2009-038E,
  2009-038F

ANDE 2, the Atmospheric Neutral Density Experiment  2, is a pair of microsatellites (Castor and Pollux) launched from Cape Canaveral on STS 127 on 15 July 2009 at 22:03 UT and deployed from the payload bay of the shuttle on 30 July 2009 at 17:22 UT. The mission objective is to measure the density and composition of the rarified atmosphere at low-Earth orbit while being tracked from the ground. The data will be used to better predict the movement and decay of objects in orbit. The two spherical satellites are each 48 cm in diameter but have different masses (25 and 50 kg). Because of the difference in mass, the satellites will drift apart over time. Observing the satellites' position will provide a study on spatial and temporal variations in atmospheric drag associated with geomagnetic activity. The surface of both spheres contains an embedded array of sensors including 30 retroreflectors, six laser diodes for tracking, and six photovoltaic cells for determining orientation and spin rate. Both spheres also have thermal monitor systems. The lighter satellite is Pollux and the heavier is Castor. The Castor spacecraft carries active instruments: a miniature wind and temperature spectrometer to measure atmospheric composition, cross-track winds, and neutral temperature; a Global Positioning Sensor; and an electrostatic analyzer to monitor plasma density spacecraft charging.

2009-038B

DRAGONSat, the Dual RF Astrodynamic GPS Orbital Navigator Satellite, is a pair of picosatellites (AggieSat 2 and PARADIGM/BEVO 1) launched from Cape Canaveral on STS 127 on 15 July 2009 at 22:03 UT and deployed from the payload bay of the shuttle on 30 July 2009 at 12:33 UT. The mission of DRAGONSat is to provide data useful for the independent rendezvous of spacecraft in orbit using GPS data. Each satellite is a 13 cm cube weighing about 3 kg. The satellites will collect several orbits of position data from both hemispheres by testing a new NASA GPS receiver (DRAGON) aboard the satellites, and then downlink the data to a ground station.

2009-038A

STS 127 is an American shuttle craft carrying seven astronauts launched from Cape Canaveral on 15 July 2009 at 22:03 UT. The shuttle docked with the International Space Station (ISS) on 17 July 2009 at 17:47 UT. The primary objective of this 16 day mission was to install the final components of the Japanese Kibo module to the ISS. During five spacewalks, astronauts installed and equipped the new component to the Kibo and replaced aging batteries and installed spare parts on the ISS. The shuttle also delivered a new crew member to the ISS and returned another to Earth. The STS 127 mission concluded with a landing at Cape Canaveral on 31 July 2009 at 14:48 UT.

2009-037A

RazakSat, a Malaysian remote sensing satellite, was launched on a Falcon 1 rocket from Kwajalein on 14 July 2009 at 03:35 UT. The 180 kg satellite carries a 2.5-m resolution panchromatic imager and a 5-m resolution color imager. The data will be used for land management, resource development and conservation, forestry and fish migration.

2009-036A,
  2009-036B,
  2009-036C

Cosmos 2451, Cosmos 2452, and Cosmos 2453 are Russian military satellites launched on a Rockot/Breeze KM rocket from Plesetsk on 06 July 2009 at 01:26 UT.

 

2009-035A

TerreStar 1 is an American communications satellite launched on an Ariane 5 rocket from Kourou on 01 July 2009 at 17:52 UT. TerreStar 1 has a mass of approximately 6,910 kg, and an 18 m deployable reflector. From a geostationary orbit at 111° W, the satellite will provide North American customers voice, data and video transmission services via handheld devices. The satellite has a design lifetime of 15 years.

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 GPS 2R-20(M) (2009-014A).

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 IAC the latest additions to the fleet are 2008-067A, 2008-067B, and 2008-067C.

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 (2009)

2009-038A(35633)     STS 127                           31 July
2009-040B(35642)     SL-4 R/B                          28 July
2009-022A(34871)     COSMOS 2450                       27 July
2004-052B(28506)     SL-14 R/B                         14 July
2009-024A(34905)     PROGRESS-M 02M                    13 July
1990-084A(20813)     MOLNIYA 3-39                      08 July

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.

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/