SPACEWARN Activities

2010-006A

Intelsat 16 (IS 16), a commercial communications satellite, was launched from Baikonur on a Proton-M rocket with a Breeze M upper stage on 12 February 2010 at 00:39 UT. The spacecraft was placed into a geosynchronous orbit at 58°W longitude. IS 16 carries 24 Ku-band transponders and will provide direct-to-home programming to customers in Mexico and Brazil.

2010-005A

SDO, the Solar Dynamics Observatory, was launched from Cape Canaveral on an Atlas 5 rocket on 11 February 2010 at 15:23 UT. SDO will observe the Sun from a 28.5° inclination geosynchronous orbit allowing continuous contact with a ground station at White Sands, NM. SDO carries three instruments to study the Sun at high time and spatial resolution: the Helioseismic and Magnetic Imager (HMI), the Atmospheric Imaging Assembly (AIA), and the Extreme Ultraviolet Variability Experiment (EVE). HMI will use rapid-cadence magnetic field measurements to study the structure and dynamics of the solar interior and measure magnetic field directions to help determine when and where solar flares and coronal mass ejections are likely to occur. AIA is an array of four telescopes that will gather very high resolution images of the Sun every 10 s across eight wavelength bands. EVE will monitor variations in the Sun's extreme UV output. These emissions can disrupt satellite communications and navigation systems. Data from the SDO instruments will support the development of improved space weather forecast models.

2010-004A

STS-130 was an American shuttle craft carrying six astronauts, hardware and a module for the International Space Station. It launched from Cape Canaveral on 08 February 2010 at 09:14 UT. The craft docked with the ISS on 10 February 2010 at 05:06 UT. The mission objectives included installation of the Tranquility module, with its attached cupola, to the ISS Unity module, as well as the transfer of supplies, hardware and experiments to the ISS. The STS-130 mission completed with a landing at Cape Canaveral on 22 February 2010 at 03:20 UT.

2010-003A

Progress-M 04M, a Russian unmanned supply vessel for the International Space Station, was launched on a Soyuz rocket from Baikonur on 03 February 2010 at 03:45 UT. The spacecraft carried out an automated docking to the ISS Zvezda module on 05 February 2010 at 04:25 UT. The spacecraft carried to the ISS over 2,500 kg of equipment, food, propellant, oxygen and air.

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-21(M) (2009-043A).

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 2009-070A, 2009-070B, and 2009-070C.

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 (2010)

2010-004A(36394)     STS-130                        22 February
2008-059B(33445)     PSSC                           17 February
2010-003B(36362)     SL-04 R/B                      05 February

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 Bediou satellite (2010-001A) launched 16 January 2010 and originally reported in SPx 675 as Compass G2 should have been listed as Compass G1.

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/