Jonathan's Space Report<br />No. 512 2003 Oct 22, Cambridge, MA<br />-------------------------------------------------------------------------------<br /><br /><br />Shuttle and Station<br />--------------------<br /><br /><br />The Soyuz TMA-3 spaceship was launched on Oct 18 at 0538 UTC on a<br />Soyuz-FG rocket from Baykonur, carrying the Expedition 8 crew of Mike<br />Foale and Aleksandr Kaleri and the EP-5 (Cervantes) mission crewmember<br />Pedro Duque. Soyuz TMA-3 is spacecraft 11F732 (7K-STMA) No. 213, and<br />will carry out International Space Station mission 7S. The Soyuz TMA-3<br />ascent crew are Commander Aleksandr Kaleri of the Russian Space Agency,<br />Flight Engineer-1 Pedro Duque of the European Space Agency, and Flight<br />Engineer-2 Mike Foale of NASA. Once they relieve the Ex-7 crew on the<br />station, the roles switch and Foale becomes ISS Commander with Kaleri<br />being ISS Flight Engineer. Duque is a 'visiting crew' member - he<br />constitutes the 5th Soyuz visiting crew, will carry out a set of<br />European Space Agency and Spanish experiments dubbed 'Cervantes', and<br />will return to Earth a week later with the Ex-7 crew of Malenchenko and<br />Lu aboard Soyuz TMA-2. Soyuz TMA-3 docked with the Pirs module at 0716<br />UTC on Oct 20.<br /><br /><br />Recent Launches<br />---------------<br /><br /><br />The first Chinese astronaut has successfully completed his mission.<br />Shenzhou 5 was launched by Chang Zheng 2F on Oct 15 from Jiuquan space<br />center in Nei Monggol Zizhiqu (Inner Mongolia) province. The second<br />stage of the CZ-2F entered a 200 x 350 km x 42.4 deg orbit together with<br />SZ-5 and its pilot Yang Liwei. Yang was born on 1965 Jun 21 and was a<br />Lt-Col in the Peoples' Liberation Army (he has been promoted to Col.<br />since his return). SZ-5 then separated from the second stage, with four<br />small retrorocket motors ejecting covers into orbit at the same time.<br />Yang and SZ-5 orbited the Earth for over 20 hours. The spacecraft<br />consists of three modules: the descent module, the propulsion module and<br />the orbital module. At the end of the mission, at 2136 UTC the orbital<br />module separated to remain in orbit, and the propulsion module fired at<br />2138 UTC to lower perigee into the atmosphere. The propulsion module<br />then separated at 2159 UTC and burnt up on reentry, leaving the descent<br />module with its heat shield exposed to the atmosphere, beginning a comms<br />blackout at 2204. SZ-5 landed at 2223 UTC in China's Nei Monggol<br />Zizhiqu (Inner Mongolia) province, at Dorbod Xi near Siziwang 100 km N<br />of Hohhot. The recovery crew reached the capsule 10 minutes later and<br />Yang emerged safely, although there have been some rumours of problems<br />during the flight. The orbital module is continuing to carry out<br />experiments using large optical cameras thought to be for military<br />surveillance.<br /><br /><br />Note: As usual in Chinese culture, Yang is the astronaut's family name<br />("Lt-Col. Yang") in contrast to English in which the family name is<br />placed after the personal name. Yang, from Liaoning province, is the<br />first individual to fly in space who was a Chinese citizen at the time<br />of launch. Wang Gunjin (Taylor Wang) was born in Shanghai but was a US<br />citizen at the time of his Shuttle flight. Two other US astronauts were<br />born in China: Shannon Wells Lucid (Shanghai) and William Anders (Hong<br />Kong).<br /><br /><br />China carried out another launch on Oct 21, this time using a Chang<br />Zheng 4B rocket from the southern Taiyuan launch center. It placed the<br />second China-Brazil Earth Resources Satellite (CBERS 2) in orbit. Xinhua<br />news reports confirm the Chinese name for the satellite is Zi Yuan 1 No.<br />2, or "second Resources-1 satellite". The CX-1 (Chuangxin, "innovation")<br />small communications satellite was carried as a secondary payload. CBERS<br />2 is in a 730 x 750 km x 98.5 deg orbit. One of the three objects,<br />currently cataloged as 28058/2003-49B, is in a slightly lower 685 x 759<br />km orbit; my guess is this is the third stage with a lower perigee<br />following a depletion burn (the CBERS-1 final stage did not carry out<br />such a burn but exploded some time later creating a lot of space<br />debris).<br /><br /><br />India has launched the IRS-P6 imaging satellite using a PSLV rocket from<br />Satish Dhawan Space Center at Sriharikota. The satellite is also known<br />as ResourceSat, and has a launch mass of 1360 kg. ISRO doesn't seem to<br />have released any information on the physical size of the satellite. It<br />will replace IRS-1C and IRS-1D, and carries three cameras for remote<br />sensing, the highest resolution one being the 6-meter LISS-4 imager.<br />Launch of IRS-P6 was at 0452 UTC (some sources give 0454 UTC) on Oct 17<br />and it entered a 802 x 875 km x 98.7 deg orbit.<br /><br /><br />The IRS series of satellites included the original IRS-1 series<br />launched mostly on Russian rockets, and the IRS-P series launched<br />on Indian rockets.<br /><br /><br /> Satellite Launch vehicle Date<br /> IRS-1A Vostok 8A92M 1988 Mar 17 <br /> IRS-1B Vostok 8A92M 1991 Aug 29<br /> IRS-1C Molniya-M 1995 Dec 28<br /> IRS-1D PSLV-C1 1997 Sep 29<br /><br /><br /> IRS-P1 (IRS-1E) PSLV-D1 1993 Sep 20 (failed)<br /> IRS-P2 PSLV-D2 1994 Oct 15<br /> IRS-P3 PSLV-D3 1996 Mar 21<br /> IRS-P4 Oceansat PSLV-C2 1999 May 26<br /> IRS-P5 Cartosat To be launched<br /> IRS-P6 Resourcesat PSLV-C5 2003 Oct 17<br /><br /><br />The US Air Force launched the DMSP Block 5D-3 F-16 weather satellite on<br />Oct 18 after several years of delays. The Defense Meteorological<br />Satellite Program began launches in 1962, originally under National<br />Reconnaissance Office auspices, and in the late 1960s provided tactical<br />weather support to US forces in Vietnam. DMSP was later declassified<br />under Strategic Air Command oversight, and the system is now being<br />combined with the NOAA (National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration)<br />civil weather satellite system. According to one NOAA website, the<br />satellite is actually production number S-20; satellites S-16 to S-19<br />remain to be launched. (The "S" numbers are the production order, while<br />the "F" numbers are the launch order). The main instrument is the<br />Operational Linescan System (OLS) weather imager; it also carries <br />sensors SSMIS (microwave imager and sounder), SSULI ultraviolet limb<br />imager, SSUSI ultraviolet spectrographic imager and nadir airglow<br />photometer, SSI/ES-3 thermal plasma instrument, and the SSJ/5<br />precipitating particle spectrometer as well as the SSF laser threat<br />warning sensor. The last Titan 23G rocket, 23G-9, placed DMSP on a -2600<br />x 890 km x 98.6 deg transfer trajectory 6 min after launch; at 1631 UTC<br />the Star 37 solid motor on the DMSP fired to put it in an 850 x 856 km x<br />98.8 deg orbit. <br /><br /><br /> The DMSP Block 5D series of satellites:<br /><br /><br /> Satellite Launch Type Date Desig.<br /> S-1 F-1 5D-1 1976 Sep 11 1976-91A<br /> S-2 F-2 5D-1 1977 Jun 5 1977-44A<br /> S-3 F-3 5D-1 1978 May 1 1978-42A<br /> S-4 F-5 5D-1 1980 Jul 14 1980-F02 (Failed to orbit)<br /> S-5 F-4 5D-1 1979 Jun 6 1979-50A<br /><br /><br /> S-6 F-6 5D-2 1982 Dec 21 1982-118A<br /> S-7 F-7 5D-2 1983 Nov 18 1983-113A<br /> S-8 F-9 5D-2 1988 Feb 3 1988-06A<br /> S-9 F-8 5D-2 1987 Jun 20 1987-53A<br /> S-10 F-10 5D-2 1990 Dec 1 1990-105A<br /> S-11 F-12 5D-2 1994 Aug 29 1994-57A<br /> S-12 F-11 5D-2 1991 Nov 28 1991-82A<br /> S-13 F-13 5D-2 1995 Mar 24 1995-15A<br /> S-14 F-14 5D-2 1997 Apr 4 1997-12A<br /><br /><br /> S-15 F-15 5D-3 1999 Dec 12 1999-67A<br /> S-16 5D-3 In storage<br /> S-17 5D-3 In storage<br /> S-18 5D-3 In storage<br /> S-19 5D-3 In storage<br /> S-20 F-16 5D-3 2003 Oct 18 2003-48A <br /><br /><br />US tracking of the objects from the 2003-42, 2003-43 and 2003-44<br />launches is still confused. For the 2003-43 and 44 launches, it appears<br />that the identifications are:<br /><br /><br /> 27946 2003-43A EPS 516 third stage rocket<br /> 27948 2003-43B e-Bird satellite<br /> 27949 2003-43C SMART-1 lunar probe<br /> 27950 2003-43D Sylda 5A adapter<br /> 27951 2003-43E Insat 3E satellite<br /> 27952 2003-43F ACU/ACY adapter<br /> 27953 2003-44A Blok DM-SL rocket<br /> 27954 2003-44B Galaxy-13/Horizons-1<br /><br /><br />However, the most recent elset from 27952 appears to be SMART-1, which<br />is slowly raising its perigee and apogee using electric propulsion and<br />on Oct 14 was tracked in a 1675 x 37337 km x 6.9 deg orbit, compared to<br />its initial 672 x 35829 km orbit.<br /><br /><br />Table of Recent Launches<br />-----------------------<br /><br /><br />Date UT Name Launch Vehicle Site Mission INTL.<br /> DES.<br />Sep 9 0429 USA 171 Titan 4B/Centaur Canaveral SLC40 Sigint 41A<br />Sep 16 PS2 KT-1 Taiyuan Test F01<br />Sep 27 0612 STSat-1 ) Astronomy 42A<br /> UK-DMC ) Imaging 42<br /> NigeriaSat-1 ) Kosmos-3M Plesetsk LC132 Imaging 42<br /> BILSAT-1 ) Imaging 42<br /> Mozhaets-4 ) Comms? 42<br /> Larets ) Calib? 42<br /> Rubin-4-DSI ) Test 42<br />Sep 27 2314 Insat 3E ) Ariane 5G Kourou ELA3 Comms 43E<br /> e-Bird ) Comms 43B<br /> SMART-1 ) Lunar 43C<br />Oct 1 0403 Galaxy 13 Zenit-3SL SL Odyssey Comms 44B<br />Oct 15 0100 Shenzhou 5 ) CZ-2F Jiuquan Spaceship 45A<br /> SZ-5 OM ) Imaging? 45G<br />Oct 17 0452 IRS-P6 PSLV Sriharikota Imaging 46A<br />Oct 18 0538 Soyuz TMA-3 Soyuz-FG Baykonur Spaceship 47A<br />Oct 18 1617 DMSP F16 Titan 23G Vandenberg Weather 48A<br />Oct 21 0316 ZY-1 No. 2 ) CZ-4B Taiyuan Imaging 49A<br /> CX-1 ) Comms 49B<br /><br /><br />.-------------------------------------------------------------------------.<br />| Jonathan McDowell | phone : (617) 495-7176 |<br />| 1 Fitchburg St C-205 | |<br />| Somerville MA 02143 | |<br />| and | |<br />| Center for Astrophysics, | |<br />| 60 Garden St, MS6 | |<br />| Cambridge MA 02138 | inter : jcm@host.planet4589.org |<br />| USA | jmcdowell@cfa.harvard.edu |<br />| |<br />| JSR: http://www.planet4589.org/jsr.html |<br />| Back issues: http://www.planet4589.org/space/jsr/back |