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Questions/comments about the content of these pages should be directed to: The World Warning Agency for Satellites, wwas@nssdca.gsfc.nasa.gov National Space Science Data Center, Mail Code 633 NASA Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, MD 20771 |
| 01 December 2000 |
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COSPAR/WWAS USSPACECOM SPACECRAFT LAUNCH
INT.ID CAT. # NAME DATE (2000)
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2000-077A (26626) Sirius 3 30 Nov
2000-076A (26624) Anik F1 21 Nov
2000-075C (26621) Munin 21 Nov
2000-075B (26620) SAC-C 21 Nov
2000-075A (26619) EO 1 21 Nov
2000-074A (26617) Quickbird 1 20 Nov
2000-073A (26615) Progress-M1 4 16 Nov
2000-072D (26611) STRV 1D 16 Nov
2000-072C (26610) STRV 1C 16 Nov
2000-072B (26609) Amsat P3D (Amsat Oscar 40)16 Nov
2000-072A (26608) PAS 1R 16 Nov
2000-071A (26605) Navstar 49 (USA 154) 10 Nov
| 2000-077A | Sirius 3 (also known as SD-Radio 3) is an American geosynchronous radio satellite that was launched by a Proton-K rocket from Baikonur at 19:59 UT. The 3.9 tonne satellite carries 100 channels in the 2.320-2.325 GHz band to relay music, news, and entertainment directly to motorists in America. There are also 90 dedicated ground-based relay stations in dense urban areas that will rebroadcast the signals. This launch completes the planned fleet of three satellites which will become operational in January 2001. Reception requires installation of a special radio, or purchase of one of the upscale automobiles pre-equipped with the receiver. The geosynchronous orbit of Sirius 3 has a high inclination of 63.3 degrees (same as Sirius 1 and Sirius 2 have). |
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| 2000-076A | Anik F1 is a Canadian geosynchronous communications spacecraft that was launched by an Ariane 44L rocket from Kourou at 23:56 UT. The 4.7 tonne (with fuel), 17.5 kW spacecraft carries 36 C-band and 48 Ku-band transponders to provide direct-to-home (DTH) digital telecommunications to all locations in Canada, USA, and the Caribbean after parking over 107.3 deg-W longitude. |
| 2000-075C | Munin is a Swedish auroral research nanosatellite that was launched by a Delta 2 rocket at 13:24 UT from Vandenberg AFB. The 6 kg, cubical spacecraft with solar cells covering all sides is a student-built spacecraft, and carries a combined electron-ion spectrometer and a solid state detector for high energy particles. Also on-board is a miniature CCD camera to image auroras. Only the interesting data over auroral passes will be captured, compressed, and stored in a 2 MB memory for downloading during Kiruna (Sweden) passes. Initial orbital parameters were period 110 min, apogee 1,794 km, perigee 693 km, and inclination 95.4 deg. |
| 2000-075B | SAC-C is an International (Argentina plus USA, France, Italy, Denmark, and Brazil) satellite that was launched by a Delta 2 rocket at 13:24 UT from Vandenberg AFB. Its mission is to remotely-sense vegetation, wetlands, and ecosystem in four wavelength bands covering 0.4-1.75 microns, with a spatial resolution of 1 km. The orbital planes of SAC-C, EO 1, Landsat 7 (1999-020A), and Terra (1999-068A) are closely coplanar, with a given site being successively visited by each spacecraft within an hour of each other. Also on-board is the GOLPE (GPS OccuLtation and Passive reflection Experiment) with a GPS receiver receiving signals from the GPS fleet (a) directly, (b) after reflection from Earth's surface, and (c) after the signals traversed the dense atmosphere and ionosphere tangentially. These tangentially penetrating signals carry phase change information which may be utilized in deriving the atmospheric density/temperature structures, and the ionospheric electron density profiles. It carries a Helium Magnetometer also. More details are available through http://orbis.conae.gov.ar/sac-c/. Initial orbital parameters were period 98.7 min, apogee 701 km, perigee 682 km, and inclination 98.2 deg. |
| 2000-075A | EO 1 (Earth Observing mission 1) is the first spacecraft in the American New Millennium Program (NMP) and was launched by a Delta 2 rocket from Vandenberg AFB at 13:24 UT. The 573 kg spacecraft carries three well-developed instruments (and seven technology-test items) to image Earth's surface in numerous wavelength bands. The Hyperion is a grating-imaging spectrometer and will image the surface in 220 spectral bands covering 0.4-2.5 micron wavelengths at a resolution of 30 meters. It is expected to provide better crop estimates, and better mineral resource areas than are being provided by Landsat 7. The Advanced Land Imager (ALI) is a wide field (15 deg x 1.26 deg) reflective optics telescope that will provide images in 10 wavelength bands covering 0.4-2.4 microns with a spatial resolution of 30 meters. It is designed to produce images that are directly comparable to the ones from the ETM+ (Enhanced Thematic Mapper Plus) instrument on board Landsat 7, and thus provide continuity of data. The third instrument, LAC (LEISA Atmospheric Corrector) covers the 0.890-1.600 micron wavelength IR band by means of a wedged etalon filter and three arrays (256 x 256) of In-Ga detectors, each array covering a five deg swath width with a spatial resolution of 250 meters. It will aid in correcting the data from the other instruments for water vapor and cirrus cloud variations. Among the new technology test/demonstration items is the XPAA (X-band Phased Array Antenna) with 64 elements powered by a 160 W transmitter that sends data at a rate of 105 MB per second. Additional information on EO 1 can be obtained from http://eo1.nasa.gov/Technology/Documents/InstrumentOverview.html. The initial orbital parameters were period 98.7 min, apogee 700 km, perigee 690 km, and inclination 98.21 deg. |
| 2000-074A | Quickbird 1 is an American remote-sensing and imaging spacecraft that was launched from Plesetsk cosmodrome by a Cosmos-3 rocket at 23:00 UT. The spacecraft could not be sighted or commanded after the first orbit. A report has it that the second stage did not complete its burn, or that the nose cone may not have been ejected. It re-entered the atmosphere on the next day. |
| 2000-073A | Progress-M1 4 is a Russian automatic cargo delivery spacecraft that was launched by a Soyuz-U rocket from Baikonur at 01:33 UT. It carried 1.8 tonnes of material, food, water, clothes and other necessities for the three-man crew now in the International Space Stations (ISS). It made a guided docking with the nadir port in the Zarya module at 03:48 UT on 18 November after an unsuccessful attempt at automatic docking. Initial orbital parameters were period 92 min, apogee 379 km, perigee 372 km, and inclination 51.57 deg. |
| 2000-072C, 2000-072D | STRV 1C and STRV 1D are two British microsatellites that were launched by an Ariane 5 rocket from Kourou at 01:07 UT. The 100 kg spacecraft carry technology-test devices such as lithium ion batteries, a new communications system that allows a high degree of security, and a GPS receiver. Initial orbits of both were similar: period 708 min, apogee 39,269 km, perigee 615 km, and inclination 6.4 deg. |
| 2000-072B | Amsat P3D (also known as Phase 3-D, and as Amsat Oscar 40) is an international amateur radio spacecraft (of the German organization, AMateur radio SATellites) that was launched by an Ariane 5 rocket from Kourou at 01:07 UT. The 400 kg, 250 W spacecraft is the largest amateur-support spacecraft, carrying 5 receivers (in the HF, VHF/UHF, L, S, and C bands) and seven transmitters (in the HF, K, VHF/UHF, S, and X bands). Also carried on-board are some experimental instruments such as two cosmic ray monitors named TDE, and CPE, two wide-angle cameras in the SCOPE unit available for the amateurs to command their images from locations of interest, a passive ionospheric "sounder" to scan the 0.5 to 30.0 MHz band so as to derive the electron densities in the upper part of the ionosphere, and a GPS-receiver to locate the spacecraft position. Initial orbital parameters were period 708 min, apogee 39,269 km, perigee 615 km, and inclination 6.4 deg. |
| 2000-072A | PAS 1R (PanAmSat 1R) is an American geosynchronous communications spacecraft that was launched by an Ariane 5 rocket from Kourou at 01:07 UT. The 1,200 kg, 15 kW spacecraft carries 36 C-band and 36 Ku-band transponders to provide direct-to-home (DTH) digital video and internet services to Europe and the Americas after parking over 45 deg-W longitude. |
| 2000-071A | Navstar 49 (USA 154) is an American navigational satellite in the GPS fleet that was launched by a Delta 2 rocket at 17:14 UT from Vandenberg AFB. More details on the GPS fleet may be accessed from Section C-2 below. Initial orbital parameters were period 724.3 min, apogee 20,498 km, perigee 20,177 km, and inclination 55.1 deg. |
In SPX 564, we had tentatively matched the three Cosmos/Glonass spacecraft with International IDs and Catalog numbers. The latest message from the USSPACECOM confirms our matching:
COSPAR/WWAS USSPACECOM SPACECRAFT LAUNCH
INT.ID CAT. # NAME DATE (2000)
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2000-063A (26564) Cosmos 2374 (Glonass 783) 13 Oct
2000-063B (26565) Cosmos 2375 (Glonass 787) 13 Oct
2000-063C (26566) Cosmos 2376 (Glonass 788) 13 Oct
Note: The full list appeared in SPX 545. The list will not be repeated in future issues until significantly revised again.
High precision (<20 cm) GPS constellation tracking data obtained from the network of about 80 dedicated global stations that are of interest to geodetic study may be obtained through the following services provided by the International Association of Geodesy (IGS)
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 SPX-518. It will not be repeated since an excellent source of trajectory- and science-related GPS information is at http://www.utexas.edu/depts/grg/gcraft/notes/gps/gps.html#DODSystem It provides many links to GPS related databases.
The latest addition to the GPS fleet is the NAVSTAR 49 (2000-071A).
An e-mail communication from Richard B. Langley is available which provides a status of the Navstar GPS Constellation as of 21 November 2000.
All GLONASS spacecraft are in the general COSMOS series. The COSMOS numbers (nnnn) 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 appeared in SPX-545. It will not be repeated in view of the excellent updated source at: http://www.rssi.ru/SFCSIC/english.html maintained by the Coordinational Scientific Information Center (CSIC),Russian Space Forces.
The latest addition to the Glonass fleet are Cosmos 2374 (2000-063A), Cosmos 2375 (2000-063B) and Cosmos 2376 (2000-063C) that were launched on 13 October 2000. See Sec. A above.
Designations Common Name Decay Date (2000) 1996-010E (23824) R/B Proton-K 23 Nov 2000-074A (26617) QUICKBIRD 21 Nov 2000-058A (26552) COSMOS 2373 14 Nov 1989-078A (20255) MOLNIYA 1-76 11 Nov 1997-067C (25032) NAVSTAR 44 R/B (PAMD) 10 Nov 1997-075C (25069) Ariane 44P 07 Nov 1995-039D (23635) R/B Molniya-M 03 Nov 2000-070B (26604) R/B Soyuz-U 01 Nov 2000-044A (26461) PROGRESS M1-3 01 Nov 1995-008A (23501) COSMOS 2306 30 Oct
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 633, NASA GSFC, Greenbelt, Maryland 20771, U.S.A., for specific information (request@nssdca.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 accessed via anonymous FTP from NSSDC. (See About the SPACEWARN Bulletin for access method; a file in the active directory named AAREADME.TXT, outlines the contents.)
Other files interest for Earth-centered spacecraft can be generated through the URL,
http://sscweb.gsfc.nasa.gov/
Programs related to the heliospheric spacecraft trajectories can be executed
through the URL,
http://nssdc.gsfc.nasa.gov/space/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/sc-query.html
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Questions/comments about the content of these pages should be directed to: The World Warning Agency for Satellites, wwas@nssdca.gsfc.nasa.gov National Space Science Data Center, Mail Code 633 NASA Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, MD 20771 |