SPACEWARN Bulletin, SPX-654
         
  A publication of NASA NSSDC/WDC for Satellite Information, and the
       World Warning Agency for Satellites, for COSPAR.

    (All information in this publication was received between
               1 April 2008 and 30 April 2008.)

A.  List of New International Designations and Launch Dates (UT).
    Also USSTRATCOM, formerly USSPACECOM, Catalog numbers.
 
      COSPAR/WWAS  USSTRATCOM  SPACECRAFT
          INT.ID    CAT. #      NAME                LAUNCH DATE, UT
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
       2008-022A    32794      AMOS 3              28 April 2008
       2008-021K    32792      RUBIN 8             28 April 2008
       2008-021J    32791      OBJECT J            28 April 2008
       2008-021H    32790      OBJECT H            28 April 2008
       2008-021G    32789      OBJECT G            28 April 2008
       2008-021F    32788      OBJECT F            28 April 2008
       2008-021E    32787      OBJECT E            28 April 2008
       2008-021D    32786      OBJECT D            28 April 2008
       2008-021C    32785      OBJECT C            28 April 2008 
       2008-021B    32784      IMS 1               28 April 2008
       2008-021A    32783      CARTOSAT-2A         28 April 2008
       2008-020A    32781      GIOVE-B             26 April 2008
       2008-019A    32779      TIANLIAN 1          25 April 2008
       2008-018B    32768      STAR ONE C2         18 April 2008
       2008-018A    32767      VINASAT 1           18 April 2008
       2008-017A    32765      C/NOFS              16 April 2008
       2008-016A    32763      ICO G1              14 April 2008
       2008-015A    32756      SOYUZ TMA-12        08 April 2008

B.  Text of launch information

2008-022A  AMOS 3 is an Israeli geostationary communications satellite that
           was launched by a Zenit 3SLB rocket from Baikonur at 05:00 UT on
           28 April 2008. The 1.3 tonne (with fuel) craft carries 24 Ku-band
           with steerable beams and three fixed-beam Ka-band transponders to
           provide voice, video and internet services to Europe, US, and 
           Middle East after parking over 4.0 deg-W.

2008-021K  Rubin 8 is a German nanosatellite that was launched from 
           Sriharikota at 03:54 UT on 28 April 2008 by a PSLV-C9 rocket. The
           8.0 kg craft carries a new receiver that will capture uploaded data
           for the Automatic marine Identification System (AIS). It is one of
           the eight nanosatellites among the 10 craft that were launched by the
           PSLV-9. It, however, remained attached to the final stage,
           as has been the case of previous Rubins. The initial orbital 
           parameters were period 97.5 min, apogee 662 km, perigee 619 km,
           and inclination 98.9 deg.
           
2008-021C, These seven nanosatellites are yet to be matched with their names.
21D, 21E,  They were all launched by a PSLV-C9 rocket from Sriharikota at 03:54 
21F, 21G,  UT on 28 April 2008. The first six in the list will be clustered
21H, 21J   and collectively named NLS-4. The orbital parameters of all seven
           were similar: period 97.2 min, apogee 634 km, perigee 616 km, and
           inclination 98 deg. The following are skeleton descriptions of these
           nanosatellites:

           CAN-X2 is a 7.0 kg, Canadian nanosatellite that was built by students
           of the University of Toronto, carrying an innovative attitude sensor.

           CUTE-1.7 is a 5.0 kg Japanese nanosatellite that was built by 
           students at the Tokyo Institute of Technology, carrying a PDA-based 
           bus system and Avalanche photodiodes.
  
           DELFI-C3 is a 6.5 kg Netherlands nanosatellite that was built by 
           students at the Technical University, Delfi. It will flight-test
           thin film solar cells and an advanced transceiver.

           AAUSAT-2 is a 3.0 kg Danish nanosatellite that was built by students
           at Aalborg University. It carries a gamma ray detector and will 
           flight-test sensors for triaxial stabilization.          

           COMPASS-1 is a 3.0 kg German nanosatellite built by the students at
           the University of Applied Science, Aachen. It will flight-test a 
           miniaturized bus.

           SEEDS (Space Engineering EDucation Satellite) is a 3.0 kg Japanese
           nanosatellite built by the students at Nihon University. It will
           demonstrate the feasibility of downlinking spacecraft parameter data
           in CW transmission.

           NLS-5 is a 16 kg Canadian nanosatellite built by students at the
           University of Toronto. It will test a new VHF receiver to survey the
           maritime VHF band at 162 MHz.

2008-021B  IMS 1 (Indian Mini-Satellite) is an Indian remote sensing craft
           that was launched by a PSLV-C9 rocket from Sriharikota in southeastern
           coast of India at 03:54 UT on 28 April 2008, along with Cartosat-2A
           and eight nanosatellites. The 83 kg, 220 W craft carries a multi-
           spectral imager in visible light with a resolution of 37 m and a 
           swath of 151 km, and a hyper-spectral camera in near-infrared light
           with a resolution of 506 m, and swath of 130 km. The initial orbital 
           parameters were period 97.2 min, apogee 637 km, perigee 616 km, and
           inclination 98 deg.

2008-021A  CARTOSAT-2A is the primary Indian remote sensing craft among the 
           fleet of 10 satellites that were launched by a PSLV-C9 rocket from 
           Sriharikota in southeastern coast of India at 03:54 UT on 28 April 
           2008. The 690 kg, 900 W, triaxially stabilized craft carries a 
           panchromatic camera to provide 0.5-0.85 micron images at one meter 
           resolution in a swath of 9.6 km. It can be steered along track as 
           well as across track to enable repeated images of a chosen site, 
           frequently. The images will be used in rural and urban planning. 
           The initial orbital parameters were period 97.3 min, apogee 637 km,
           perigee 616 km, and inclination 98 deg. 

2008-020A  GIOVE-B (Galileo In-Orbit Validation Element-B) is the second
           of the test versions of the 30-craft, European Union navigational
           fleet that is planned to be launched beginning 2010. It was launched
           by a Soyuz-Fregat rocket from Baikonur at 22:16 UT on 26 April 2008.
           (A similar version, GIOVE-A was launched in December 2005.) The 500
           kg craft carries two (redundant) Rubidium atomic clocks, and an even
           more precise Passive Hydrogen Maser with an accuracy of one 
           nanosecond/day. It also carries a radiation-monitoring payload, and 
           a laser retro-reflector for high-accuracy laser ranging. When 
           completed, this Galileo fleet will become the third available fleet,
           after the long-functional GPS and the to-be-completed GLONASS 
           fleets. The initial orbital parameters were period 842 min, apogee
           23,154 km, perigee 23,015 km, inclination 56 deg.
             
2008-019A  TIANLIAN 1 is the first data-relay satellite of China (PRC) that was
           launched by a Long March 3C rocket from Xichang satellite Launch 
           Center in Sichuan province at 15:35 UT on 25 April 2008. Its 
           operation will be activated with the launch of the manned Shenzhou 7
           mission later in 2008. It will then cover about 50% of Shenzhou 7
           orbit, rather than the coverage of 12%  without the relay.
           (USSTRATCOM names the satellite as CTDRS.) The initial orbital 
           parameters were period 752 min, apogee 41,795 km, perigee 210 km,
           and inclination 18.5 deg. 

2008-018B  STAR ONE C2 is a Brazilian geostationary communications satellite
           that was launched by an Ariane 5ECA rocket from Kourou at 22:17 UT
           on 18 April 2008. The 4.1 tonne (with fuel) craft carries a total
           of 45 transponders in C-, Ku-, and X-bands to provide direct-to-home
           (DTH) TV and telephony for Brazil, and Mexico after parking over 
           65 deg-W longitude.

2008-018A  VINASAT 1 is a Vietnamese geostationary communications satellite
           that was launched by an Ariane 5ECA rocket from Kourou at 22:17 UT
           on 18 April 2008. The 2.6 tonne (with fuel) craft carries 12 Ku-band,
           and eight C-band transponders to provide voice, video, and internet
           services to eastern Asia, India, Australia, Japan and Hawaii after
           parking over 132 deg-E longitude.

2008-017A  C/NOFS (Communication/Navigation Outage Forcasting System) is an 
           American military satellite that was launched by a Pegasus rocket
           relesed from a L-1011 aircraft flying out of Reagan Test Site at 
           Kwajaline in Marshal Islands at 08:00 UT on 16 April 2008. The 395
           kg craft will monitor the conditions that lead to the generation of
           irregularities/bubbles that engender radio scintillations in the
           equatorial ionosphere and to warn against imminent disruption/
           degradation of military communications. It carries an instrument 
           called CINDI (Coupled Ion Neutral Dynamic Investigation) consisting 
           of an Ion Velocity Meter (IVM), a Neutral Wind Monitor (NWM), and a 
           Vector Electric Field Instrument (VEFI). CINDI is a NASA-sponsored
           investigation. (See, http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/cindi/. The
           initial orbital parameters were period 97.3 min, apogee 853 km,
           perigee 405 km, and inclination 13 deg.

2008-016A  ICO G1 is an American (ICO Global Communications Inc) geostationary 
           communications satellite that was launched by an Atlas 5 rocket from
           Cape Canaveral at 20:12 UT on 14 April 2008. the 6.6 tonne (with
           fuel), 16 kW craft carries an unfurlable, 12 m diameter S-band mesh,
           and is 30 m long including the solar panels. It will operate in 2.0
           GHz band with seven C-band transponders, providing voice video, and
           internet services directly to mobile platforms in North America,
           after parking over 92.9 deg-W. Although 99% of its population
           are adequately served by the cell phone networks, the roadside 
           services are unavailable in 33% of the area; this will be met by
           the geostationary craft. It utilizes a GBBF (Ground-Based Beam Forming
           system) which allows 250 transmitting and 250 receiving independent 
           S-band beams.

2008-015A  SOYUZ TMA-12 is a Russian passenger transport craft that was launched
           by a Soyuz FG rocket from Baikonur at 12:17 UT on 8 April 2005. 
           It carried three astronauts (two Russian and one South Korean) to
           the International Space Station (ISS) and docked automatically with
           it at 16:00 UT on 10 April 2008. After about 10 days in the ISS,
           the South Korean astronaut and two other astronauts who had been 
           staying at the ISS for several months, returned to Earth on 19 April
           on  Soyuz TMA-11 (that had remained docked at the ISS since its 
           mission in October 2007). It was a rough landing at a location 400 
           km away from the planned location. The initial orbital parameters
           of TMA-12 were period 91.4 min, apogee 347 km, perigee 337 km, 
           and inclination 51.6 deg.

C.  Spacecraft Particularly Suited for International Participation

    1. 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 GPS 2R-18, 2007-062A.

    2. 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 COSMOS 2435 (2007-065A), COSMOS 2436 (-065B),
 and COSMOS 2437 (-065C).
 
    3. 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.

    4. Actual decays or landings of payload spacecraft and rocket bodies (R/B)
only. No further information is available.

Designations         Common Name                  Decay Date (UT), 2008
------------         -----------                     ----------
2004-043J (28487)   R/B (Aux) Proton-M                30 April
2007-047C (32262)   R/B(1) Delta 2                    30 April 
2008-015B (32757)   R/B Soyuz-FG                      11 April
2007-062C (32386)   R/B(1) Delta 2                    08 April
2008-004A (32484)   PROGRESS-M 63                     07 April
1992-050A (22068)   MOLNIYA 1-84                      04 April

   5. 60-day decay predictions.
See http://www.space-track.org/perl/60day_decay_predict.pl. Users must
register for access. Conditions apply.

   6. 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.) 

   7. 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://cohoweb.gsfc.nasa.gov/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.