SPACEWARN Activities

2004-029A

Double Star 2, also known as Explorer 2 and as Tan Ce 2 (TC 2) , is a European-Chinese (PRC) (ESA-CNSA) satellite that was launched by a Long March 2C rocket from Taiyuan Satellite Launching Center at 07:05 UT on 25 July 2004. This joint mission is similar to the equatorial orbiter, Double Star 1, except that Double Star 2 is a polar orbiter. The Project Scientist for Double Star 2 is Philippe Escoubet of ESA/ESTEC. Details of the mission are available in http://sci.esa.int/science-e/www/area/index.cfm?fareaid=70. The initial orbital parameters were period 695 min, apogee 38,567 km, perigee 662 km, and inclination 90.1°. Following are the instruments on board:

NUADU (NeUtral Atom Detection Unit) measures the energetic neutral atoms created by collision of energetic ions with the ambient, cold neutral atoms. Of interest are the energetic neutral atoms coming out of the "Ring Current" belt in the magnetosphere. The Principal Investigator is S. McKenna Lawlor, National University of Ireland, Kildare, Ireland.

FGM (FluxGate Magnetometer) is located at the end of a 3.5 meter boom and can sample the field at a rate of 67 samples/s. The Principal Investigator is T. Zhang, IWF, Austria.

PEACE (Plasma Electron And Current Experiment) will count the population of low/medium energy electrons by measuring the number of electron impacts at each energy level and each direction. The Principal Investigator is A. Fazakerley, MSSL, Dorking, UK.

LEID (Low Energy Ion Detector): The Principal Investigators are Q. Ren and J. B. Cao, CSSAR, China. No further information is available.

LFEW (Low Frequency Electromagnetic Wave detector): The Principal Investigators are Z. Wang and J. B. Cao, CSSAR, China. No further information is available.

HEED (High Energy Electron Detector): The Principal Investigator is W. Zhang and J. B. Cao, CSSAR, China. No further information is available.

HEPD (High Energy Proton Detector): The Principal Investigators are J. Liang and J. B. Cao, CSSAR, China. No further information is available.

HID (Heavy Ion Detector): The Principal Investigators are Y. Zhai and J. B. Cao, CSSAR, China. No further information is available.

(CSSAR stands for Center for Space Science and Applied Research of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing.)

2004-028A

Cosmos 2409 is a Russian military satellite that was launched by a Cosmos-3M rocket from Plesetsk at 17:46 UT on 22 July 2004. Initial orbital parameters were period 104.7 min, apogee 1,007 km, perigee 951 km, and inclination 83°. [Naming this satellite as Cosmos 2409, helps implicitly to correct the name of 2004-021A as Cosmos 2408. As was reported in SPX 608, it had been named Cosmos 2406 erroneously.]

2004-027A

Anik F2 (Anik meaning "little brother" in the Inuit language) is a Canadian geostationary communications satellite that was launched by an Ariane 5 rocket from Kourou at 00:44 UT on 18 July 2004. The 5.95 tonne (with fuel), 16 kW, 7.3 m x 3.8 m x 3.4 m size satellite carries 24 30-W C-band, 40 127-W Ku-band, and 50 90-W transponders to provide broadband and telemedicine to northern US states and Canada after parking over 111.1°W longitude. It carries a xenon ion propulsion system for orbit trims when needed.

2004-026A

Aura is an American (NASA) remote sensing satellite that was launched by a Delta 2 rocket from Vandenberg AFB at 10:02 UT on 15 July 2004. The 2.97 tonne, 4.6 kW, 2.7 m x 2.3 m x 6.9 m size satellite will monitor ozone and related molecules in the stratosphere and troposphere, as an extension of the previous observations by UARS and TOMS missions. The Project Scientist is Mark Schoeberl of GSFC/NASA. Initial orbital parameters were period 98.5 min, apogee 688 km, perigee 684 km, and inclination 98.2°. It carries the following four monitoring instruments. More details are available in http://aura.gsfc.nasa.gov/instruments.

HIRDLS (HIgh Resolution Dynamics Limb Sounder) is passive radiometer that aims at the Earth limb to determine the vertical and horizontal distributions of ozone, water vapor, carbon dioxide, methane, nitrogen oxides, nitric acid, and CFCs through infrared emissions in 21 channels covering 6.12-17.76 mm wavelengths.

MLS (Microwave Limb Sounder) mainly aims at the vertical and horizontal distributions of ozone-depleting molecules in the lower stratosphere. It is again a limb scanner, operating in five frequency bands. The 118 GHz band will probe the temperature and pressure profile; the 190 GHz band will probe water vapor, and nitric acid; the 240 GHz band will primarily address the ozone and CO populations; the 640 GHz band will cover nitrous acid, HCl, CIO, BrO, and sulfur dioxide; and the 2.5 THz will monitor the OH population.

OMI (Ozone Monitoring Instrument) will monitor the backscattered solar radiation by ozone in the visible and UV bands, in 740 wavelength channels. It will extend the observations by similar instruments on TOMS and NIMBUS satellites since 1970.

TES (Tropospheric Emission Spectrometer) is a high resolution imaging Fourier transform spectrometer covering the 3.2-15.4 micrometer band. It can be oriented as a nadir-looking (at a spatial resolution of 0.53 km x 5.3 km), or limb-looking instrument (with a height resolution of 2.3 km).

2004-025K

Amsat-Echo, also known as Amsat Oscar-E, is an American amateur communications microsatellite satellite (10 kg) that will relay amateur transmissions. It was launched by a Dnieper booster from Baikonur at 07:45 UT on 29 June 2004. The initial orbital parameters were period 100 min, apogee 817 km, perigee 697 km, and inclination 98.3°.

2004-025H

Unisat 3 is an Italian, "scientific" microsatellite (12 kg). It was launched by a Dnieper booster at 07:45 UT on 29 June 2004. Initial orbital parameters were period 99.8 min, apogee 800 km, perigee 698 km and inclination 98.3°.

2004-025G

Latinsat-C, also known as Aprizesat 1, is an Argentinian microsatellite (12 kg) that will relay radio channels from fixed and mobile transmitters. It was launched by a Dnieper booster from Baikonur at 07:45 UT on 29 June 2004. The initial orbital parameters were period 99.5 min, apogee 766 km, perigee 699 km, and inclination 98.3°.

2004-025F

Saudisat 2 is a Saudi Arabian communications microsatellite (35 kg) that was launched by a Dnieper booster from Baikonur at 07:45 UT on 29 June 2004. Initial orbital parameters were period 99.1 min, apogee 735 km, perigee 699 km, and inclination 98.3°.

2004-025E

Saudicomsat 2 is a Saudi Arabian communications microsatellite (12 kg) that was launched by Dnieper booster from Baikonur at 07:45 UT on 29 June 2004. Initial orbital parameters were period 99.6 min, apogee 783 km, perigee 699 km, and inclination 98.3°.

2004-025D

Saudicomsat 1 is a Saudi Arabian communications microsatellite (12 kg). It was launched by a Dnieper booster from Baikonur at 07:45 UT on 29 June 2004. Initial orbital parameters were period 99.3 min, apogee 750 km, perigee 699 km, and inclination 98.3°.

2004-025C

DEMETER (Detection of ElectroMagnetic Emissions Transmitted from Earthquake Regions) is a French minisatellite (125 kg) that will monitor the Electromagnetic activity in the ionosphere during and after earthquakes. It was launched by a Dnieper booster at 07:45 UT on 29 June 2004. It carries probes for electric fields (0-3 MHz) and magnetic fields (10 Hz-18 kHz), a plasma analyzer, a Langmuir probe, and a particle detector. The initial orbital parameters were period 99 min, apogee 722 km, perigee 697 km, and inclination 98.3°.

2004-025B

Celestis 04/SL-24 is just a monitor that was attached to the final stage of the Russian Dnieper booster (SL-24) to log the performance of that stage. They were launched by a Dnieper booster at 07:45 UT on 29 June 2004. The orbital parameters were period 103.8 min, apogee 1,194 km, perigee 679 km, and inclination 98.2°.

2004-025A

Latinsat-D, also known as Aprizesat 2, is an Argentinian microsatellite (12 kg) that will relay radio channels from fixed and mobile transmitters. It was launched by a Dnieper booster at 07:45 UT on 29 June 2004. The initial orbital parameters were period 98.8 min, apogee 712 km, perige 685 km, and inclination 98.3°.

Spacecraft with essentially continuous radio beacons on frequencies less than 150 MHz, or higher frequencies if especially suited for ionospheric or geodetic studies.

NNSS denotes U.S. Navy Navigational Satellite System. Updates or corrections to the list are possible only with information from the user community.

Note: The full list appeared in SPX 545. The list will not be repeated in future issues until significantly revised again.

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 54, 2004-009A.

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.

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 (2004)

2003-032C (27851)  R/B Delta 2                      25 July
1996-041C (23955)  R/B Navstar 38 (PAM-D)           15 July
1998-070B (25559)  R/B Ariane 42L                   13 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/