SPACEWARN Bulletin, SPX-567 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 January 2001 and 31 January 2001.) *******SPECIAL NOTE: Please refer to special section D, near the end***** 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 (2001) ------------------------------------------------------- 2001-004A (26690) NAVSTAR 50 (USA 156) 30 Jan 2001-003A (26668) PROGRESS M1-5 24 Jan 2001-002A (26666) TURKSAT 2A 10 Jan 2001-001C (26687) SHENZHOU 2 MODULE 09 Jan 2001-001A (26664) SHENZHOU 2 09 Jan B. Text of Launch Information 2001-004A NAVSTAR 50 (USA 156) is an American GPS navigational spacecraft that was launched by a Delta 2 rocket from Vandenberg AFB at 07:55 UT. The two-tonne satellite is the 28th member of the "second generation" fleet, four of which (including the latest) being replacements for the older models. A case history of all GPS spacecraft is available in http://leonardo.jpl.nasa.gov/msl/Programs /gps.html. In GPS parlance, the spacecraft is GPS 2-28. Initial orbital parameters were period 357 min, apogee 20,390, perigee 158 km, and inclination 39.04 deg. Clearly, a major maneuver is likely to modify the parameters. 2001-003A PROGRESS M1-5 is a Russian automatic cargo carrier that was launched by a Soyuz-U rocket from Baikonur at 04:28 UT. Nick-named "Hearse", it is to deliver the 130 tonne MIR station to its cremation over the southern Pacific. It carried two tonnes of fuel part of which was for transfer to MIR for continuous attitude/orbit maneuver so as to to enable it to reach down to an altitude of 240 km, whereupon around 6 March 2001 the PROGRESS itself will give the final push. It docked automatically with MIR at 05:30 UT on 27 Jan after a previously docked PROGRESS M-43 was evicted from its port and commanded from the ground to crash at about the same site in southern Pacific where MIR itself will. (Six cosmonauts were on "Hot- Standby" to reach MIR in the event the automatic docking failed.) It is speculated that some, several-hundred kg fragments may land in the ocean, probably 3,000 km east of southern New Zealand. Initial orbital parameters were period 90.4, apogee 299 km, perigee 278 km, and inclination 51.6 deg. 2001-002A TURKSAT 2 (also named EURASIASAT 1) is a Turkish geosynchronous communications spacecraft that was launched by an Ariane 4 rocket from Kourou at 21:39 UT. The dual name is probably due to the dual ownership of the spacecraft: 75% by Turk Telecom and 25% by the manufacturer Alcatel Space Company. The 3.4 tonne, 9 kW spacecraft will provide direct-to-home voice, video, and data transmissions to countries between central Europe and the Indian subcontinent, through its 32 "BSS- and FSS-bands" transponders, after parking over 42 deg-E longitude (replacing the aging TURKSAT 1C). 2001-001A SHENZHOU 2 (translated as "Divine Ship", or "Magic Vessel", or 2001-001C God Vessel") is an unmanned Chinese (PRC) spacecraft that was launched by a Long March 2F rocket from Jiuquan launch center (in the north-western province of Gansu) at "01:00 a.m". The descent module (also carrying the name, SHENZHOU 2 but with ID 2001-001C) landed smoothly in Inner Mongolia on 16 January at 11:22 UT after separating from 2001-001A which continued to orbit, doing some zero- gravity experiments. The descent module is a prototype of an eventual manned spacecraft to carry Taikongyuans (Taikonauts). A major concern during this and the next few launches would be to assess the integrity of the heat shield during re-entry. So far, there has not been any report on the heat shield. The initial orbital parameters of 2001-001A were period 91.3, apogee 346 km, perigee 330 km, and inclination 42.6 deg. 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.utexas.edu/depts/grg/gcraft/notes/gps/gps.html#DODSystem. It provides many links to GPS-related data bases. *****The latest addition to the GPS fleet is NAVSTAR 50 (2001-004A).****** 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.rssi.ru/SFCSIC/, or http://www.rssi.ru/SFCSIC/english.html, maintained by the Coordinational Scientific Information Center (CSIC), Russian Space Forces. 4. Visually bright objects. A comprehensive list of visually bright objects with their 2-line orbital elements is available from USSPACECOM, via a NASA URL, http://oig1.gsfc.nasa.gov/files/visible.tle. The list, however, does not include visual magnitudes, but are expected to be brighter than magnitude 5. 5. Actual decays or landings of payload spacecraft and rocket bodies (R/B) only. No further information is available. Designations Common Name Decay Date, 2001 ------------ ----------- ---------- 2000-064A (26570) PROGRESS M1-4 29 Jan 2001-003B (26689) R/B Soyuz-U 25 Jan 1983-114D (14520) R/B that launched MOLNIYA 1-59 24 Jan 2000-031E (26499) R/B (aux. motor) Proton-K 21 Jan 2000-001B (26665) R/B Long March 2F 20 Jan 2001-001C (26687) SHENZHOU (Descent Module) 16 Jan 1985-090A (16110) COSMOS 1689 14 Jan 1993-032C (22659) R/B Delta 2 13 Jan 1997-010B (24745) R/B Start 1 12 Jan 2001-002B (26667) R/B Ariane 44P 11 Jan 1985-105D (16243) R/B that launched Cosmos 1701 11 Jan 1993-072E (22925) R/B (aux.motor) Proton 06 Jan 1970-085B (04584) R/B that launched METEOR 6 01 Jan 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.) SPX 566 reported on LDREX (2000-081C) that "the reflector was to stay expanded to a diameter of six meters for about 20 min......" A later message from Japan's NASDA is that the reflector failed to expand. 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 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.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 ______________________ D. Question: It would be simpler if this Bulletin referred to all persons in space by a single term, rather than letting the person's nationality determine the term. Would you also find it simpler in the reading? What term would you find most acceptable. Our inclination, given both the source and language of this Report, is astronaut. If you have an opinion, please send to joseph.king@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. Near the top, before "A", write SPECIAL NOTE: Please refer to special section D below. Then after the section on NSSDC resources, insert: