SPACEWARN Bulletin, SPX-638 A publication of NASA NSSDC/WDC for Satellite Information, and the World Warning Agency for Satellites, for COSPAR/ISES. (All information in this publication was received between 1 December 2006 and 31 December 2006.) A. List of New International Designations and Launch Dates (UT). (USSTRATCOM, formerly USSPACECOM, Catalog numbers are in parentheses.) COSPAR/WWAS USSTRATCOM SPACECRAFT INT.ID CAT. # NAME LAUNCH DATE, UT ----------------------------------------------------------------------- 2006-063A 29678 COROT 27 December 2006 2006-062C 29672 COSMOS NNNC 25 December 2006 2006-062B 29671 COSMOS NNNB 25 December 2006 2006-062A 29670 COSMOS NNNA 25 December 2006 2006-061A 29668 MERIDIAN 24 December 2006 2006-060A 29658 SAR LUPE 1 19 December 2006 2006-059A 29656 KIKU 8 18 December 2006 2006-058B 29654 GENESAT 1 16 December 2006 2006-058A 29653 TACSAT 2 16 December 2006 2006-057A 29651 USA 193 14 December 2006 2006-056A 29648 MEASAT 3 11 December 2006 2006-055A 29647 STS 116 11 December 2006 2006-054B 29644 AMC 18 08 December 2006 2006-054A 29643 WILDBLUE 1 08 December 2006 2006-053A 29640 FENGYUN 2D 08 December 2006 B. Text of Launch Information 2006-063A COROT is a French astronomical satellite, with major participation by ESA and other European astronomers, that was launched by a Soyuz 2 rocket from Baikonur at 14:23 UT on 27 December 2006. The 650 kg craft carries a 27 cm aperture telescope to scan the optical brightness of about 100,000 stars in the Galaxy. Every 512 seconds it will monitor about 10,000 stars through a set of four CCD arrays in the focal plane. Every 150 days, it will aim at a different field of view, to complete the mission in 2.5 years. The brightness of a star will drop by one percent or less when a planet transits in front of it. Another cause of brightness variation is stellar, acoustic seismic waves that culminate in patches of dimness/brightness on the photosphere due to standing waves. The COROT mission is believed to provide enough information so that a future such mission can distinguish the rocky (and potentially life-sustaining) planets among them. COROT is reported to be an acronym for COnvection ROtation and planetary Transit. The Project Scientist is Malcolm Fridlund of ESA. The initial orbital parameters were period 103 min, apogee 884 km, perigee 872 km, and inclination 90 deg. 2006-062A, COSMOS NNNA, COSMOS NNNB, and COSMOS NNNC are three navigational 062B,062C satellites in the Russian GLONASS fleet that were launched by a Proton-K rocket from Baikonur at 20:18 UT on 25 December 2006. Until this launch the fleet consisted of 11 operational craft plus five that were often switched off. The full operational fleet of 24 craft is expected to be completed by 2009 with GLONASS-K models, developed with participation of the Indian Space Agency, ISRO. Though an 18-craft fleet is sufficient for operation in Russia, a fleet of 24 is needed for global coverage. The initial orbital parameters of the three were similar: period 674 min, apogee 19,037 km, perigee 19,020 km, and inclination 64.8 deg. (Their usual COSMOS numbers and GLONASS numbers remain unascertained.) 2006-061A MERIDIAN is a Russian communications satellite that was launched by a Soyuz-2 booster from Plesetsk at 08:34 UT on 24 December 2006. It will provide links for aircraft and ships in the North Sea area to the coastal stations, as well as between locations in Siberia and the Russian Far East. The initial orbital parameters were period 727 min, apogee 39,670 km, perigee 979 km, and inclination 62.8 deg. 2006-060A SAR LUPE 1 is a German military satellite that was launched by a Cosmos-3M rocket from Plesetsk at 14:00 UT on 19 December 2006. The 720 kg (dry mass) craft carries a Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) for providing all-weather, one-meter resolution images anywhere in the world. The mission is a German contribution to the joint Franco- German undertaking for mutual exchange of reconnaissance information. The initial orbital parameters were period 94 min, apogee 506 km, perigee 467 km, and inclination 98.2 deg. 2006-059A KIKU 8, also known by its prelaunch name of ETS 8, is a Japanese geostationary, engineering test satellite that was launched by a H-2A rocket from Tanegashima Space Center at 06:32 UT on 18 December 2006. The 5.8 tonne (with fuel) craft carries solar panels and a pair of large wire-mesh antennas, one for transmitting and the other for receiving. The two 28 m x 25 m antennas will enable hand-held phones to communicate with another in S-band, after parking over 146 deg-E longitude. 2006-058B GENESAT 1 is an American (NASA-Ames) nanosatellite that was launched by a Minotaur rocket from Wallops Island in Virginia State at 12:00 UT on 16 December 2006. The 10 kg craft carries E. Coli bacteria to monitor the effect of space radiation by protein-sensing optical instruments. After a few days of this "Astrobionics" experiment, the craft will be turned over to the students in California to track it. The initial orbital parameters were period 92.9 min, apogee 420 km, perigee 413 km, and inclination 40 deg. 2006-058A TACSAT 2 is an American military (AFRL) minisatellite that was launched by a Minotaur rocket from Wallops Island in Virginia State at 12:00 UT on 16 December 2006. The 375 kg, 550 W satellite carries a 50 cm aperture telescope to provide images of any selected spot on Earth, as demanded by troop commanders in battle fields, in three visible wavelength bands. It is housed on a 3-axis stabilized platform with a pointing accuracy of 0.15 deg. The images will be down-loaded over the China Lake facility in California. The craft also carries several technology validation experiments. Initial orbital parameters were period 92.9 min, apogee 424 km, perigee 413 km, and inclination 40 deg. 2006-057A USA 193 is an American military satellite that was launched from Vandenberg AFB at 21:00 UT on 14 December 2006. It is a highly classified craft, owned and operated by the National Reconnaissance Office (NRO). No further details are available. 2006-056A MEASAT 3 is a Malaysian geostationary communications spacecraft that was launched by a Proton-M rocket from Baikonur at 11:30 UT on 11 December 2006. The 4.9 tonne (with fuel), 10.8 kW craft carries 24 C-band and 24 Ku-band transponders to provide direct-to-home reception of voice, video and internet services to about 100 countries between 50 deg-E and 150 deg-E, on either side of the equator after parking over 91.5 deg-E longitude. 2006-055A STS 116 is an American (NASA) shuttle spacecraft that was launched from Cape Canaveral at 01:47 UT on 10 December 2006. It carried a crew of seven (five Americans and two Europeans) to the International Space Station (ISS) to do some major repairs and installations. It docked with the ISS on 11 December. The crew disconnected the power lines leading to what has all along been a temporary source (since 1998) and connected them to the recently installed solar panels. The crew overcame problems in rolling back the older panels after three space-walks, totaling several hours. They also made a space- walk to install a two-tonne truss (P5) to enable additions to the station. The 13-day mission ended when the shuttle landed back in Cape Canaveral at 22:32 UT on 22 December. One of the seven members of the crew stayed on the ISS, replacing another astronaut who had stayed there for six months. The initial orbital parameters were period 91 min, apogee 338 km, perigee 315 km, and inclination 51.7 deg. 2006-054B AMC 18 is an American geostationary communications spacecraft that was launched by an Ariane 5 ECA rocket from Kourou at 22:08 UT on 8 December 2006. The 2.1 kg craft carries 24 C-band transponders to provide voice, video and internet services to Canada, America, Mexico and Caribbean countries after parking over 105 deg-W longitude. 2006-054A WILDBLUE 1 is an American geostationary communications spacecraft that was launched by an Ariane 5 ECA rocket from Kourou at 22:08 UT on 8 December 2006. The 4.7 tonne (with fuel) craft carries several Ka-band transponders and spot-beams to provide high-speed internet connectivity in all states of America after parking over 111 deg-W longitude. 2006-053A FENGYUN 2D is Chinese (PRC) geostationary weather satellite that was launched by a Long March 3A rocket at 16:53 UT on 8 December 2006. The 1.4 tonne craft will provide images of cloud conditions, typhoons and storms every half an hour, and data to infer sea temperatures and winds after parking over 86.5 deg-E longitude. C. Spacecraft Particularly Suited for International Participation 1. 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.) THE FULL LIST APPEARED IN SPX 545. (See http://nssdc.gsfc.nasa.gov/ spacewarn/) THE LIST WILL NOT BE REPEATED IN FUTURE ISSUES, UNTIL SIGNIFICANTLY REVISED AGAIN. 2. 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 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 URL http://www.colorado.edu/geography/gcraft/notes/gps/gps_f.html. Another site, http://www.gpsdaily.com/index.html also is useful. Both provide many links to GPS-related data bases. The latest addition to the fleet is NAVSTAR 59, 2006-052A. 3. Russian Global Navigational (Positioning) Spacecraft, GLONASS constellation. SPACEWARN requests updates or additions from readers to the list. All GLONASS spacecraft are in the general COSMOS series. The COSMOS numbers invoked by USSPACECOM have sometimes differed from the numbers (NNNN) associated in Russia. The operating frequencies in MHz are computed from the channel number K. Frequencies (MHz) are L1 = 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, with the URL http://www.glonass-center.ru/, maintained by the Coordinational Scientific Information Center (CSIC), Russian Space Forces. According to CSIC, the latest addition to the fleet are 2006-062A, 2006-062B, and 2006-062C. 4. Visually bright satellites/rockets. See http://www.space-track.org/perl/bulk_files.pl. Users must register. Conditions apply. The list has not been updated since a long time ago. 5. Actual decays or landings of payload spacecraft and rocket bodies (R/B) only. No further information is available. Designations Common Name Decay Date (UT), 2006 ------------ ----------- ---------- 1992-003D (21850) R/B Molniya 13 December 6. 60-day decay predictions. See http://www.space-track.org/perl/60day_decay_predict.pl. Users must register for access. Conditions apply. 7. 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.) 8. Related NSSDC resources. NSSDC/WDC for Satellite Information is an archival center for science data from many spacecraft. Many datasets are on-line for electronic access, through the URLs, http://nssdc.gsfc.nasa.gov/, and http://cdaweb.gsfc.nasa.gov/ For off-line data, please contact the Request Office, NSSDC, Code 690.1, NASA GSFC, Greenbelt, Maryland 20771, U.S.A., for specific information (REQUEST@ MAIL630.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 elements of many magnetospheric and heliospheric science- payload spacecraft may be obtained from: ftp://nssdcftp.gsfc.nasa.gov/miscellaneous/orbits Other files of interest for Earth-centered s/c can be generated through the URL, http://sscweb.gsfc.nasa.gov/ Codes related to the heliospheric spacecraft trajectories can be executed through the URL, http://nssdc.gsfc.nasa.gov/space/helios/heli.html Descriptions of many spacecraft, experiments and datasets are available through links from http://nssdc.gsfc.nasa.gov/nmc/sc-query.html =========================================================================== SPACEWARN Bulletin The bulletin is intended to serve as an international communication medium for the rapid distribution of information on satellites and space probes. The material it contains is based on guidelines in the COSPAR Guide to Rocket and Satellite Information and Data Exchange, COSPAR Transactions #8, December 1972, and various Committee on Space Research (COSPAR) resolutions. All bulletins beginning with January 1991 (SPX-447) are now available on line; the SPX number increases by one for each succeeding month (for example, the January 1993 bulletin is SPX-471). The bulletin may be accessed through the World Wide Web (WWW). The URL is http://nssdc.gsfc.nasa.gov/spacewarn/ Users are encouraged to submit their comments and suggestions for the improvement of this bulletin to SPACEWARN Bulletin: WWAS@MAIL630.GSFC.NASA.GOV. Categories of Spacecraft To improve the effectiveness of international distribution of satellite and space probe information via the SPACEWARN system, spacecraft are identified in categories according to the urgency and detail of information needed by the scientific community as follows: CATEGORY 1: Spacecraft that carry essentially continuous telemetry or radio beacons, usually on frequencies less than 150 MHz. CATEGORY 2: GPS constellation of positioning/navigational spacecraft. CATEGORY 3: GLONASS constellation of positioning/navigational spacecraft. The bulletin also carries launch dates, international IDs, and USSPACECOM catalog numbers, followed by a brief outline of the payload and orbital parameters, re-entry of major objects, and miscellaneous sections. These data are based on launch announcements or on information received from individuals, launching authorities, news papers, and some Web sites.