National Aeronautics and Space Administration
SPACEWARN
Bulletin
A monthly publication of the National Space Science Data Center/World Data Center for Satellite Information
No. 644
01 July 2007

SPACEWARN Activities

All information in this publication was received between 01 June 2007 and 30 June 2007.

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

  COSPAR/WWAS USSTRATCOM  SPACECRAFT              LAUNCH
    INT.ID    CAT. #      NAME                   DATE (UT)
  ----------------------------------------------------------------
   2007-029A    31792     Cosmos 2428          29 June 2007
   2007-028A    31789     Genesis 2            28 June 2007
   2007-027A    31701     USA 194              15 June 2007
   2007-026A    31698     Terra SAR-X          15 June 2007
   2007-025A    31601     Ofeq 7               10 June 2007
   2007-024A    31600     STS 117              08 June 2007
   2007-023A    31598     COSMO-SkyMed 1       08 June 2007
   2007-022A    31595     Cosmos 2427          07 June 2007

B. Text of Launch Announcements.

2007-029A
Cosmos 2428, also known as Tselina, is a Russian Military spacecraft that was launched by a Zenit-2M rocket from Baikonur at 10:00 UT on 29 June 2007. The initial orbital parameters were period 102 min, apogee 834 km, perigee 824 km, and inclination 71°.
2007-028A
Genesis 2 is an American (Bigelow Aerospace Corp.) inflatable craft that was launched by a Dnepr 1 rocket (a modified SS-18 ICBM) from Yasney in Orenburg region at 15:02 UT on 28 June 2007. The 1.9 m diameter, 1.36 tonne craft was inflated to a diameter of 3.8 m after launch. It is a technology demonstrator envisioning an affordable space tourism market. It carried photos and other mementoes from fee-paying customers that could, in turn, be digitally photographed by 22 cameras on-board and televised to the company's website. The initial orbital parameters were period 96 min, apogee 540 km, perigee 533 km, and inclination 64.5°.
2007-027A
USA 194, also listed as NROL-30, is an American military satellite that was launched from Cape Canaveral by an Atlas 5 rocket at 15:12 UT on 15 June 2007. It is owned and controlled by the National Reconnaissance Office (NRO). The USSTRATCOM does not distribute orbital parameters/elements for classified missions.
2007-026A
Terra SAR-X is a German (DLR) Synthetic Aperture Radar that was launched by a Dnepr rocket from Baikonur at 02:14 UT on 15 June 2007. It will map the Earth and oceans at a rate of one million square-km/day, provide scientific data such as sea ice coverage, vegetation/crop estimates, and military reconnaissance information, all at 1.0 m resolution. The initial orbital parameters were period 95 min, apogee 510 km, perigee 507 km, and inclination 97.5°.
2007-025A
Ofeq 7 is an Israeli, 30 kg military reconnaissance microsatellite that was launched by a Shavit rocket westward (retrograde) from its coast at 23:40 UT on 10 June 2007. The initial orbital parameters were period 93.7 min, apogee 575 km, and perigee 339 km, and inclination 141.8°.
2007-024A
STS 117 is an American shuttle spacecraft that was launched from Cape Canaveral at 23:38 UT on 08 June 2007. It carried seven American astronauts and tonnes of material to the International Space Station (ISS). It docked with the ISS at 19:38 UT on 10 June. The crew made four spacewalks to install two trusses (S3/S4) totalling 16 tonnes, to install two more solar panels on the ISS, and to repair the damaged insulation on the tail section of the shuttle. The trusses will enable installation of Japanese and European modules on the ISS. The new solar panels are reported to be the cause of a break-down of the mission-critical Russian computers which were soon repaired by ground commands. STS 117 undocked from the ISS at 14:42 UT on 19 June. Landing was delayed by an extra day due to bad weather at Cape Canaveral, until it could land on Edwards AFB in California at 19:49 UT on 22 June. The return included six of those seven astronauts plus another astronaut who had been in the ISS for over six months. The initial orbital parameters were period 91.4 min, apogee 354 km, perigee 334 km, and inclination 51.6°.
2007-023A
COSMO-SkyMed 1 is an Italian Earth-imaging Synthetic Aperture Radar that was launched by a Delta 2 rocket from Vandenberg AFB at 02:34 UT on 08 June 2007. The 1.7 tonne, 3.6 kW craft is the first of a four-satellite constellation, and carries an X-band (9.6 GHz) radar. The swath width is variable and provides images at a resolution between three to 100 meters. Further details of the mission can be found at: http://directory.eoportal.org/pres_COSMOSkyMedConstellationof4SARSatellites.html. The initial orbital parameters were period 97 min, apogee 623 km, perigee 622 km, and inclination 97.9°.
2007-022A
Cosmos 2427 is a Russian military craft that was launched by a Soyuz-U rocket from Plesetsk at 18:00 UT on 07 June 2007. The initial orbital parameters were period 89 min, apogee 297 km, perigee 170 km and inclination 67°.

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 SPACEWARN Bulletin No. 545. The list will not be repeated in future issues until significantly revised.

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 59, 2006-052A.

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 CSIC the latest additions to the fleet are 2006-062A, 2006-062B, and 2006-062C.

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 (2007)

1963-014K (02360)    WESTFORD NEEDLE                  27 June
2007-024A (31600)    STS 117 Landed on                22 June
2002-042A (27515)    USERS (Service Module)           15 June
2007-022B (31596)    R/B Soyuz-U                      13 June
2007-020E (31575)    R/B Soyuz-Fregat                 03 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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