 |
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 April 2001 |
|---|
All information in this publication was received between 1 March 2001 and 31 March 2001.
COSPAR/WWAS USSPACECOM SPACECRAFT LAUNCH
INT.ID CAT. # NAME DATE (2001)
-------------------------------------------------------
2001-012A (26724) XM 2 18 Mar
2001-011B (26720) BSat 2A 08 Mar
2001-011A (26719) Eurobird 08 Mar
2001-010A (26718) STS 102 08 Mar
| 2001-012A | XM 2 (better known as XM Rock) is an American geosynchronous radio broadcast satellite that was launched by a Zenit 3SL rocket from the Sea Launch Platform on the equatorial Pacific ocean at 22:33 UT. The 4.7 tonne (with fuel), 18 kW satellite carries two transmitters (3 kW each) in the S-band to relay 100 channels of digital quality music uplinked in the X-band from one or more ground stations, after parking over 115 deg-W longitude. (It will be accompanied by XM Roll due to be launched in May 2001.) The investors include several auto manufacturers who will be equipping the special receivers in their models. |
|---|---|
| 2001-011B | BSat 2A is a Japanese geosynchronous communications spacecraft that was launched by an Ariane 5 rocket from Kourou at 22:51 UT. The 1.3 tonne (with fuel) satellite will be parked over 110 deg-E longitude to provide direct-to-home voice, video and internet communications. |
| 2001-011A | Eurobird is the 18th member of the European Eutelsat consortium's geosynchronous constellation that was launched by an Ariane 5 rocket from Kourou at 22:51 UT. It carries 24 Ku-band transponders to provide broad bandwidth and high power direct-to-home transmissions to enable digital entertainment and internet connections. The three tonne (with fuel) satellite will be parked over 28.5 deg-E longitude, replacing the aging Copernicus (presumably, an alternative name for Kopernikus (DFS 3), 1992-066A) |
| 2001-010A | STS 102 is an American shuttle spacecraft that was launched from Cape Canaveral at 11:42 UT. It carried a crew of seven astronauts (six American and one Russian). The primary mission was to deliver a multi-rack Italian container (Leonardo MultiPurpose Logistics Module, LMPLM) to the Destiny Module of the International Space Station, ISS. It docked with the ISS at 05:34 UT on 9 March. The 6.4 m x 4.6 m cylindrical LMPLM delivered new equipment to Destiny, and retrieved used/unwanted equipment, and trash back to the shuttle. The crew did a few spacewalks to install a platform on the ISS to support a Canadian robot arm when it arrives next month. The STS 102 left behind three of the astronauts (two American and one Russian) and brought back the three astronauts (one American and two Russian) who had been inhabiting the ISS for about four and a half months, when it landed at Cape Canaveral at 07:31 UT on 21 March. |
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 Navstar 50 (2001-004A).
An e-mail communication from Richard B. Langley is available which provides a status of the Navstar GPS Constellation as of 24 March 2001.
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.
A comprehensive list of visually bright objects with their two-line orbital elements is available from USSPACECOM, via a NASA URL, http://oig1.gsfc.nasa.gov/files/visible.tle. The list, however, does not include visual magnitudes, but are expected to be brighter than magnitude 5.
Designations Common Name Decay Date (2001) 1997-063A (25013) STEP M4 31 Mar 1994-016C (23029) R/B that launched NAVSTAR 36 27 Mar 1992-079C (22233) R/B that launched NAVSTAR 28 24 Mar 2000-003B (26059) R/B Long March 3A 23 Mar 1986-017A (16609) MIR, maneuvered to crash in S-Pacific 23 Mar 2001-010A (26718) STS 102 Returned to Edwards AFB 21 Mar 2000-036F (26399) R/B Proton-K (Aux.Mot) 16 Mar 2000-004B (26062) OCS 05 Mar 1994-014A (23019) CORONA I 04 Mar 1993-011A (22521) ASTRO D (ASUKA) 02 Mar 2001-008B (26714) R/B Soyuz-U 28 Feb 1995-037K (23631) R/B Proton-K (Aux.Mot) 28 Feb 2000-069B (26600) R/B Long March 3A 19 Feb
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
|
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 |