National Aeronautics and Space Administration
SPACEWARN
Bulletin
A monthly publication of the National Space Science Data Center/World Data Center for Satellite Information
No. 632
01 July 2006

SPACEWARN Activities

All information in this publication was received between 01 June 2006 and 30 June 2006.

A. List of New International Designations and Launch Dates (UTC).

  COSPAR/WWAS USSTRATCOM  SPACECRAFT              LAUNCH
    INT.ID    CAT. #      NAME                   DATE (UT)
  ----------------------------------------------------------------
   2006-027A    29249    USA 184                28 June 2006
   2006-026A    29247    Cosmos 2421            25 June 2006
   2006-025A    29245    Progress-M 57          24 June 2006
   2006-024C    29242    USA 189                21 June 2006
   2006-024B    29241    USA 188                21 June 2006
   2006-024A    29240    USA 187                21 June 2006
   2006-023A    29236    Galaxy 16              18 June 2006
   2006-022A    29230    KazSat 1               17 June 2006
   2006-021A    29228    RESURS DK-1            15 June 2006

B. Text of Launch Announcements.

2006-027A
USA 184 is an American military reconnaissance satellite that was launched by a Delta 4 rocket from Vandenberg AFB at 03:33 UT on 28 June 2006. It is reported to have been developed and controlled by the NRO.
2006-026A
Cosmos 2421 is a Russian military satellite that was launched by a Tsiklon 2 rocket from Baikonur at 04:00 UT on 25 June 2006. The initial orbital parameters were period 92.7 min, apogee 418 km, perigee 404 km, and inclination 65.1°.
2006-025A
Progress-M 57 is a Russian automatic cargo craft that was launched by a Soyuz-U rocket from Baikonur at 15:08 UT on 24 June 2006. It carried three tonnes of food, fuel, water, air and scientific equipment to the International Space Station after docking with its PIRS module at 16:30 UT on 26 June. In anticipation, the previously docked Progress-M 55 was evicted and deorbited to let it burn out. Initial orbital parameters of Progress-M 57 were period 88.6 min, apogee 245 km, perigee 193 km, and inclination 51.7°.
2006-024A,  2006-024B,  2006-024C
USA 187, USA 188, and USA 189 are three American military (DARPA/NRL) micro-satellites that were launched by a Delta 2 rocket from Cape Canaveral at 21:34 UT. From the information available in some websites, this MiTEx (Micro-satellite Technology Experiment) program actually consists of only two of these three objects, the third being an advanced technology launcher that will send the two to the geostationary orbit from the elliptical transfer orbit. No further details are available.
2006-023A
Galaxy 16 is an American (PanAmSat Corp.) geostationary communications satellite that was launched by a Zenit 3SL rocket from the floating platform, Odyssey on the equatorial pacific ocean at 154° W longitude at 07:50 UT on 18 June 2006. The 4.6 tonne (with fuel) satellite carries 24 C-band and 24 Ku-band transponders to provide standard TV and HDTV to all parts of North America, after parking over 99° W longitude.
2006-022A
KazSat 1 is Kazakhstan's first geostationary communications satellite that was launched by a Russian Proton-K rocket from Baikonur at 22:44 UT on 17 June 2006. The 1.4 tonne (with fuel) satellite carries 12 Ku-band transponders to provide voice and video communications throughout Kazakhstan, Central Asia, the Caucasus, and parts of Russia.
2006-021A
RESURS DK-1 is a Russian civilian remote sensing craft that was launched by a Soyuz-U rocket from Baikonur at 08:00 UT on 15 June 2006. The 6.8 tonne (with fuel) satellite carries imaging instruments to enable one-meter resolution black & white images or two-meter resolution in color. Unlike earlier missions which captured images on a film and dropped the canisters over Russia, this satellite will downlink the data over selected Russian stations. The status of natural resources, natural disasters, sea-ice conditions, and polar weather will be promptly available to national and international organizations, as well as to private commercial customers. The satellite also carries an Italian cosmic ray monitor, and a Russian instrument to identify probable electromagnetic precursors of earthquakes. The initial orbital parameters were period 94 min, apogee 585 km, perigee 356 km, and inclination 69.9°.

C. Spacecraft Particularly Suited for International Participation

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 57, 2005-038A.

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 (2006)

2004-020A (28350)    COSMOS 2405                       16 June
2005-047A (28906)    PROGRESS-M 55                     19 June

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/

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