SPX-557 SPACEWARN Activities 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 March 2000 and 31 March 2000.) A. List of New International Designations and Launch Dates (UT). (USSPACECOM Catalog numbers are in parentheses.) COSPAR/WWAS USSPACECOM SPACECRAFT INT.ID CAT. # NAME LAUNCH DATE (2000) ------------------------------------------------------- 2000-017A (26113) IMAGE 25 March 2000-016B (26108) INSAT 3B 21 March 2000-016A (26107) ASIASTAR 21 March 2000-015A (26106) FREGAT RB/CLUSTER 2 20 March 2000-014A (26102) MTI 12 March 2000-013A (26098) EXPRESS 2A 12 March B. Text of Launch Announcements. 2000-017A IMAGE (Imager for Magnetopause-to-Aurora Global Exploration) is an American magnetospheric science spacecraft that was launched by a Delta 2 rocket from Vandenberg AFB at 20:35 UT. The 494 kg, 250 W, spin-stabilized (2 min period) octagonal (2.25 m wide and 1.52 m high) spacecraft carries six instruments: HENA (High Energy Neutral Atom; 10-500 keV) imager, MENA (Medium Energy Neutral Atom; 1-30 keV) imager, LENA (Low Energy Neutral Atom; 10-500 eV) imager, FUV (Far Ultra-Violet) imager, EUV (Extreme Ultra Violet) imager, and RPI (Radio Plasma Imager). HENA, MENA, and LENA synthesize images from the arrival directions and mass/energy of each neutral particle. (The energetic neutrals form an ephemeral population when energetic ions charge-exchange with the thermal population.) FUV carries three separate detectors: WIC (Wide Angle Camera) to image aurora in a broad band and at high spatial resolution, SI (Spectroscopic Imager) to image aurora at selected wavelengths, and GEO (GEOcorona) to image overall magnetospheric hydrogen atoms. RPI consists of a pulsed transmitter (stepped 3 kHz to 3 MHz, 134 W peak) and a receiver, backed by a radial dipole of 500 m length, another orthogonal 500 m dipole, and an axial 20 m dipole, to get echoes from boundary regions in the magnetosphere. Finally, the EUV imager images the population of He+ through the resonantly scattered solar radiation at 30.4 nm wavelength. More details are available from http://image.gsfc.nasa.gov and the links from it. Initial orbital parameters were period 856 min, apogee 45,995 km, perigee 993 km, and inclination 89.9 deg. 2000-016B INSAT 3B is an Indian geosynchronous communications spacecraft that was launched by an Ariane 5 rocket from Kourou at 23:29 UT. The 2,070 kg (with fuel), 1.7 kW, triaxially stabilized spacecraft carries 12 Ext-C-band (15 W), and three Ku-band (55 W) transponders for rural educational and health service programs receivable by the thousands of VSATs (Very Small Aperture Terminals) in India, and a single S-band mobile satellite service (MSS) transponder for relaying voice, data, and facsimilies from/to mobile telephones with suit case sized "terminals", after parking over 83 deg-E longitude. On 28 March, it was moved from the transfer orbit to the geosynchronous orbit and its solar arrays were deployed by the Master Control Facility in Hasan, located in southern India. 2000-016A ASIASTAR is an American geosynchronous communications spacecraft that was launched by an Ariane 5 rocket from Kourou at 23:29 UT. The 2,777 kg, 5.6 kW, triaxially stabilized spacecraft will relay digital radio broadcasts to East Asia after parking over 105 deg-E longitude. 2000-015A FREGAT RB/CLUSTER 2 is a Russian experimental upper stage rocket body (FREGAT), and a dummy payload (CLUSTER 2) to simulate the soon (June/July 2000) to be launched ESA's CLUSTER mission. FREGAT is a reusable rocket and was described in the launch text of FREGAT (2000-009A) contained in SPX.556. The separation of the rocket body and the dummy was not planned, but the separation was simulated successfully. The couplet was launched by a Soyuz-U rocket from Baikonur at 18:28 UT. It is likely that after these and more successful launches of the Fregat rocket, future commercial or scientific launches of the Soyuz-Fregat combine will take place from French Guiana. Initial orbital parameters were period 320 min, apogee 18,019 km, perigee 245 km, and inclination 64.6 deg. 2000-014A MTI (Multi-spectral Thermal Imager) is an American quasi-military reconnaissance spacecraft that was launched by a Taurus rocket from Vandenberg AFB at 09:23 UT. The program is cosponsored by the Deparment of Energy, Office of Nonproliferation and National Security. The 587 kg spacecraft carries visible and infrared sensors in 15 spectral bands to spot cooling ponds adjacent to nuclear reactors and dust content associated with uranium ore processing. The collected data will also have spin-off benefits to civilian research involving atmospheric ozone, water vapor, and such. More details are available at http://nis-www.lanl.gov/ nis-projects/mti/. Initial orbital parameters were period 96.6 min, apogee 614 km, perigee 577 km, and inclination 97.4 deg. 2000-013A EXPRESS 2A is a Russian geosynchronous communications spacecraft that was launched from Baikonur by a Proton-K rocket at 04:07 UT. (USSPACECOM had tentatively named it EXPRESS 6A.) The 2,600 kg spacecraft carries 12 transponders in C-band and five in Ku-band to provide voice, data, and video communications in Russia from the parked longitude of 80 deg-E, supplementing the existing fleet of seven GORIZONTs, two EXPRESSes and an EKRAN-M. EXPRESSes are scheduled to replace the aging GORIZONT fleet. 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. ("NNN" denotes no national name. SPACEWARN Bulletin appreciates suggestions to update this list. An asterisk [*] denotes changes in this issue. 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.utexas.edu/depts/grg/gcraft/notes/gps/gps.html#DODSystem. It provides many links to GPS-related data bases. 3. Russian Global Navigational (Positioning) Spacecraft, GLONASS constellation. (SPACEWARN requests updates or additions from readers to this list. An asterisk [*] indicates updates or additions 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.rssi.ru/SFCSIC/, or http://www.rssi.ru/SFCSIC/english.html, maintained by the Coordinational Scientific Information Center (CSIC), Russian Space Forces. 4. Actual decays or landings of payload spacecraft and rocket bodies (R/B) only. No further information is available. Designations Common Name Decay Date, 2000 ------------ ----------- ---------- 1990-093B (20919) R/B Delta 2 26 Mar 1979-032A (11331) COSMOS 1093 23 Mar 1985-074A (15977) MOLNIYA 1-64 22 Mar 1999-062E (25965) R/B Soyuz-U 19 Mar 1999-047H (26060) R/B Proton-K (Aux. motor) 15 Mar 2000-013B (26099) R/B Proton-K 14 Mar 1996-034F (23887) R/B Proton-K 12 Mar 1999-058E (25947) R/B Soyuz-U 04 Mar 1993-067B (22876) R/B Cosmos 02 Mar 5. 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.) Here are more changes to the names/IDs of the satellites, as reported by the USSPACECOM: 1998-023B (25307) GLOBALSTAR 6; 1998-023D (25309) GLOBALSTAR 8; 1999-058B (25944) GLOBALSTAR M059; 1999-058C (25945) GLOBALSTAR M056; 1999-059D (25946) GLOBALSTAR M031. 2000-004J (26091) PICOSAT 3; 2000-004K (26092) PICOSAT 4; 2000-004L (26093) PICOSAT 5; 2000-004M (26094) PICOSAT 6. 2000-013A (26098) EXPRESS 2A; 1997-029A (24834) FENGYUN; 1997-029C (25611) FENGYUN 2 AKM. 6. 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 URL, http://nssdc.gsfc.nasa.gov/space For off-line data, please contact the Request Office, NSSDC, Code 633, NASA GSFC, Greenbelt, Maryland 20771, U.S.A., for specific information (REQUEST@ NSSDCA.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 FTP'ed as follows: FTP nssdc.gsfc.nasa.gov name: user anonymous password: your name@node cd pub/orbits Other files interest for Earth-centered s/c can be generated thru the URL, http://sscweb.gsfc.nasa.gov/ Codes related to the heliospheric spacecraft trajectories can be executed through the URL, http://nssdc/space/helios/heli.html Descriptions of many spacecraft, experiments and datasets are available through links from http://nssdc.gsfc.nasa.gov/ =========================================================================== 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@NDADSB.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. CATEGORY 4: Occasionally, a list of bright, orbiting objects of visual magnitude 4 or brighter. 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, FBIS and USSPACECOM emails, news papers, and some Web sites.