<pre><font size="2"><br />Jonathan's Space Report<br />No. 554 2005 Sep 24, Somerville, MA<br />-------------------------------------------------------------------------------<br />Sender: owner-jsr@host.planet4589.org<br />Precedence: bulk<br />Reply-To: jcm@host.planet4589.org@host.planet4589.org<br /><br /><br />Station<br />-------<br /><br />The Progress M-54 cargo spacecraft (factory number 354) was launched by<br />Soyuz-U from Baykonur on Sep 8 and docked with Zvezda at 1442 UTC on Sep<br />10. Progress M-53 undocked from the Zvezda module at 1026 UTC on Sep 7<br />into a 350 x 351 km orbit; it fired its deorbit engine at 1326 UTC to<br />lower perigee to 56 km, leading to reentry over the Pacific half an<br />orbit later.<br /><br />The next Shuttle flight is delayed indefinitely - engineers don't<br />yet understand the aerodynamic data from the last flight. Damage to the<br />External Tank manufacturing facility in New Orleans was less that<br />feared, and ET work will continue there.<br /><br /><br />Kosmos-2415<br />-----------<br /><br />As expected, Kosmos-2415 entered its operational mapping orbit of<br />205 x 284 km x 64.9 deg on Sep 3.<br /><br />Anik F1R<br />---------<br /><br />International Launch Services orbited a Proton-M/Briz on Sep 8 carrying<br />the Anik F1R communications satellite.<br /><br />Telesat Canada inaugurated Canada's domestic satellite communications<br />service with the launch of Anik A1 in 1972. The first two 5-tonne<br />Anik F satellites were launched in 2000 and 2004 using Boeing 702<br />satellites; Anik F1 has been experiencing solar panel power problems.<br />Anik F1R is an Astrium Eurostar 3000S operating in C-band and Ku-band.<br /><br />The Proton-M flew a suborbital trajectory; the Briz made one burn to low<br />parking orbit and four more burns to a 3171 x 35608 km x 10 deg<br />deployment orbit. Anik F1R then separated to being using its own engine<br />to reach geostationary orbit.<br /><br /><br />Haybusa<br />-------<br /><br />Hayabusa is completing its rendezvous with asteroid Itokawa.<br />On Sep 12 it began hovering at the 20 km "gate position".<br />It will descend to 7 km in October.<br /><br />Streak<br />------<br /><br />DARPA's Streak classified research satellite, also called<br />STP-R1 under the USAF's Space Test Program, was launched by Minotaur<br />from Vandenberg on Sep 23. The satellite carries experimental<br />sensors to study the orbital environment and is in a sun-synchronous<br />orbit.<br /><br /><br />POPPY<br />-----<br /><br />The NRO has declassified the existence of the Naval Research Lab's POPPY<br />signals intelligence satellites. POPPY were probably small spherical (later,<br />ellipsodal?) satellites, derived from the Vanguard spheres used for the<br />predecessor program GRAB/DYNO. NRO says it will release pictures, but<br />that hasn't happened yet: I predict POPPY will look like the GGSE satellites<br />as seen here: <P>[]http://www.planet4589.org/space/jsr/poppy/65016C.gif[/]<br /><br />They were launched in clusters together with other small NRL satellites<br />on Thor Agena D rockets. POPPY flew from 1962 to 1971, followed by the<br />still-classified PARCAE program which began in 1976 and used triplets of<br />satellites for radio interferometric measurements of signal locations.<br />The GRAB satellites were 0.51m in diameter like Vanguard; POPPY may have<br />been the same size initially and then increased to 0.61m in diameter. In<br />fact, the early POPPY satellites may have been leftover GRAB vehicles,<br />with the code name change simply due to the transfer of the GRAB mission<br />from NRL to NRO in mid-1962. The RAE Tables indicate the shift to 0.61m<br />diameter happened with the first POPPY launch, but I'm not sure RAE is a<br />reliable source in this particular context.<br /><br />Despite the declassification of POPPY, it's still not clear which<br />satellites were POPPY satellites. Here I put down my own guesses,<br />but mainly I point out that things are confused. Comments welcome.<br /><br />The POPPY fact sheet says that "A total of seven POPPY satellites<br />launched into space from 1962 to 1971", and gives the seven launch<br />dates. This implies that only one POPPY satellite went up on each<br />of the seven launches.<br /><br />For the time being I am assuming that this is false and that it should<br />read "There were a total of seven launches in the POPPY program from<br />1962 to 1971". The followon program starting in 1976 involved multiple<br />satellites, and the final POPPY launch in 1971 consisted of four<br />apparently identical satellites. <br /><br />The alternate possibility is that one of the four 1971-110 payloads was<br />a POPPY and the other three were something different. That's not<br />impossible, but I'd be surprised.<br /><br />On the assumption, then, that each launch might have multiple POPPY<br />satellites, let's try and identify them. For each launch I list at the<br />bottom of this all objects noted in the US Space Command SATCAT as<br />payloads, and their SATCAT names. I also list the satellites listed for<br />that launch date in a summary of NRL-launched spacecraft from the Naval<br />Center for Space Technology; there's no mapping given between those<br />names and the international designations (e.g. NRL 130 is one of the<br />1963-021 objects but we don't know which one). There are also blatant<br />inconsistencies between the two sources - for instance, on 1963-021<br />"Dosimeter" and "PL 112" are separate satellites in the NCST list, in<br />contrast to 1963-021D "RADOSE 112" which suggests the two are the same<br />radiation dosimeter satellite. <br /><br />Nevertheless, we can make some guesses. Look at the NCST listings, and<br />accept my guess that the last POPPY launch is the quartet of payloads<br />171-174, listed by NCST as gravity gradient experiments with masses of<br />123 to 128 kg. Then notice that the 1969-082 launch has similar payloads<br />161-164 with masses of 100-103 kg; and that 1967-053 has payloads 151<br />and 153 listed interspersed with GGSE 4 and 5:<br /> <br /> PL 151 Grav Grad expt. 52 kg POPPY 5A? 1967-53G?<br /> GGSE IV Grav Grad expt. 85 kg<br /> PL 153 Grav Grad expt. 77 kg POPPY 5B? 1967-53H?<br /> GGSE V Grav Grad expt. 105 kg<br /><br />I'm guessing the GGSEs here are PL152 and PL154, completing the<br />quartet. Published papers show they had different boom configurations.<br />Now I'm guessing that the GGSE (Gravity Gradient Stabilization<br />Experiment) series was linked to POPPY; that POPPY flights <br />were gravity-stabilized and GGSE was used to improve them. GGSE satellites<br />may be modified POPPY satellites with no ELINT payload, or may<br />be fully functional POPPY with the GGSE test as an add-on experiment.<br /><br />So working further back, in the previous launch (launch 4) there's no quartet,<br />but we can look at a number of candidates: the classified statellites,<br />the GGSE satellites, and the Solrad satellites.<br /><br />Solrad satellites are possibilities because they were used in the GRAB<br />(GREB) program, but I note that in the SATCAT the GREB name is given to<br />PL 135 and PL142, not to SR VIIA and SR VIIB, so probably there was<br />no room in a 24-inch sphere for both the POPPY and SR payloads and the<br />programs were separated at the beginning of the POPPY program.<br />What can we make of the SATCAT calling PL142 "GREB 6"? Maybe the <br />Launch 1 and Launch 2 POPPY flights were initially called GRAB (or GREB)<br />5A and 5B, following on from the last known SR IVB flight of GRAB.<br /><br /><br />Launch 1:<br /> PL 120 Classified POPPY 1A? 25 kg 62 B TAU 1?<br /> PL 121 Classified POPPY 1B? 25 kg 62 B TAU 5?<br /><br />Launch 2:<br /> SR VI Solar X-rays <br /> PL 112 Classified POPPY 2? 27 kg 1963-21E?<br /><br />Launch 3:<br /> SR VIIA Solar X-rays<br /> GGSE 1 Grav grad exp.<br /> PL 135 Classified POPPY 3? 39 kg 1964-01E<br /><br />Launch 4:<br /> SR VIIB Solar X-rays<br /> PL 142 Classified POPPY 4? 48 kg 1965-16A<br /> GGSE II Grav. grad exp.<br /> GGSE III Grav. grad exp.<br /><br />I'll advance the following hypotheses:<br /><br /> - Hypothesis 1. All the above satellites were POPPY or, in the<br /> case of GGSE, POPPY-related.<br /><br />- Hypothesis 2: The POPPY satellites were SR VI, SR VIIA, SR VIIB, <br /> continuing the GRAB/SOLRAD cover story. The Dec 1962<br /> launch was one or both of PL120 and PL121, with the other one perhaps being<br /> a thermal control experiment ("BLACK SPHERE" in the SATCAT;<br /> the "SURCAL 1" in the SATCAT is assumed to be an error, since<br /> SURCAL 1 was lost in a Jan 1962 launch failure). It's also possible<br /> that "BLACK SPHERE" and "CALSPHERE 1A" are really the same satellite.<br /> Both PL120 and PL121 had a mass of 55 kg, the same as GRAB.<br /><br />- Hypothesis 3: After the GRAB program ended, the SOLRAD series<br /> became fully scientific because POPPY needed a whole satellite to <br /> itself and couldn't share. The GGSE satellites weren't related<br /> to POPPY. The POPPY satellites were <br /> PL120 and PL121; PL112; PL135; and PL142. I still think<br /> that PL 151/153, PL 161-164, PL171-174 were POPPY group flights.<br /> The role of PL176 (1962-082B) is still a mystery; it was a smaller<br /> (23 kg) NRL satellite that operated for 2 years.<br /><br />- Hypothesis 4: the POPPY satellites aren't any of the ones listed<br /> here, but were packages which remained attached to the Agena rocket<br /> stages. This would let you have a single POPPY on the 1971-110 launch<br /> separate from the confusion of the four identical payloads; but<br /> I find it unlikely.<br /><br /> <br />Right now, my best guess is Hypothesis 3.<br /><br /><br />APPENDIX: NRL SATELLITES ON POPPY LAUNCHES<br /><br /><br />==========================<br />POPPY LAUNCH 1: 1962 BETA TAU<br />==========================<br /><br />SATCAT<br />B TAU 1: BLACK SPHERE<br />B TAU 3: SURCAL 1<br />B TAU 4: SURCAL 1A<br />B TAU 5: CALSPHERE 1A<br /><br />NCST:<br /> PL 120 Classified<br /> PL 121 Classified<br /> SURCAL II SPASUR Calib<br /> CALSPHERE I Object identification<br /><br />==========================<br />POPPY LAUNCH 2: 1963-021<br />==========================<br /><br />SATCAT:<br />63-021B LOFTI 2A <br />63-021C SOLRAD 6 <br />63-021D RADOSE 112 <br />63-021E FTV 1292<br />63-021F SURCAL 1B<br /><br />NCST:<br /> SR VI Solar X-rays<br /> LOFTI IIB Low freq radio<br /> PL 112 Classified<br /> Dosimeter Radiation counter<br /> SURCAL III SPASUR calib<br /><br />==========================<br />POPPY LAUNCH 3: 1964-001<br />==========================<br /><br />SATCAT:<br />64-001B GGSE 1 (GGRS)<br />64-001D SOLRAD 7A<br />64-001E GREB<br /><br />NCST:<br /> SR VIIA Solar X-rays<br /> GGSE 1 Grav grad exp.<br /> PL 135 Classified<br /><br />==========================<br />POPPY LAUNCH 4: 1965-016<br />==========================<br /><br />65-016A OPS 4988 (GREB 6)<br />65-016B GGSE 2<br />65-016C GGSE 3<br />65-016D SOLRAD 7B<br />65-016G SURCAL 2<br />65-016H PORCUPINE 1<br /><br />NCST:<br /> SR VIIB Solar X-rays<br /> PL 142 Classified<br /> GGSE II Grav. grad exp.<br /> GGSE III Grav. grad exp.<br /> SURCAL IV SPASUR calib.<br /> DODECAPOLE I Object identification<br /><br /><br />==========================<br />POPPY LAUNCH 5: 1967-053<br />==========================<br /><br />SATCAT:<br /><br />67-053A OPS 5712 (P/L 160)<br />67-053C GGSE 4<br />67-053D GGSE 5<br />67-053E TIMATION 1<br />67-053F SURCAL 159<br />67-053G OPS 5712 (P/L 152)<br />67-053H OPS 5712 (P/L 153)<br />67-053J SURCAL 150B<br /><br />NCST:<br /> PL 151 Grav Grad expt.<br /> GGSE IV Grav Grad expt.<br /> PL 153 Grav Grad expt.<br /> GGSE V Grav Grad expt.<br /> TIMATION I Navigation<br /> CALSPHERE III Object identification<br /> CALSPHERE IV Object identification<br /> <br /><br />==========================<br />POPPY LAUNCH 6: 1969-082<br />==========================<br /><br />SATCAT<br /><br />(69-082A OPS 1807 USAF/NRO Program A aft rack payload?)<br />69-082B OPS 7613 (P/L 1) <br />69-082C TIMATION 2<br />69-082D OPS 7613 (P/L 3)<br />69-082E OPS 7613 (P/L 4)<br />69-082F OPS 7613 (P/L 5)<br />69-082G OPS 7613 (P/L 6)<br />69-082H TEMPSAT<br />69-082J SOICAL (CYLINDER)<br />69-082K SOICAL (CONE)<br /><br />NCST:<br /> PL 161 Grav grad expt.<br /> PL 162 Grav grad expt.<br /> PL 163 Grav grad expt.<br /> PL 164 Grav grad expt.<br /> TIMATION II Navigation<br /> PL 176 Classified<br /> TEMPSAT II Thermal design expt. <br /><br />==========================<br />POPPY LAUNCH 7: 1971-110<br />==========================<br /><br />71-110A OPS 7898 (P/L 1)<br />71-110C OPS 7898 (P/L 2)<br />71-110D OPS 7898 (P/L 3)<br />71-110E OPS 7898 (P/L 4)<br /><br />NCST: PL 171 Grav grad expt.<br /> PL 172 Grav grad expt.<br /> PL 173 Grav grad expt.<br /> PL 174 Grav grad expt.<br /><br /><br />Table of Recent Launches<br />-----------------------<br /><br />Date UT Name Launch Vehicle Site Mission INTL. <br /> DES.<br />Jul 5 2240 SJ-7 CZ-2D Jiuquan Sci 24A<br />Jul 10 0330 Suzaku M-V Uchinoura XR Astron. 25A<br />Jul 26 1439 Discovery Shuttle Kennedy LC39B Spaceship 26A<br />Aug 2 0730 FSW 21 CZ-2C Jiuquan Imaging 27A <br />Aug 11 0820 Thaicom 4 Ariane 5GS Kourou Comms 28A<br />Aug 12 1143 MRO Atlas V 401 Canaveral SLC41 Mars probe 29A<br />Aug 13 2328 Galaxy 14 Soyuz-FG/Fregat Baykonur LC31 Comms 30A<br />Aug 23 2110 Kirari (OICETS) ) Dnepr Baykonur LC109 Tech 31A<br /> Reimei (INDEX) ) Tech 31B<br />Aug 26 1834 Monitor-E Rokot Plesetsk Imaging 32A<br />Aug 29 0845 FSW 22 CZ-2D Jiuquan Imaging 33A<br />Sep 2 0950 Kosmos-2415 Soyuz-U Baykonur LC31 Imaging 34A<br />Sep 8 1308 Progress M-54 Soyuz-U Baykonur LC1 Cargo 35A<br />Sep 8 2153 Anik F1R Proton-M/Briz-M Baykonur LC200/39 Comms 36A<br />Sep 23 0224 STP-R1 Minotaur Vandenberg SLC8 Tech 37A<br /><br />.-------------------------------------------------------------------------.<br />| Jonathan McDowell | phone : (617) 495-7176 |<br />| Somerville MA 02143 | inter : jcm@host.planet4589.org |<br />| USA | jcm@cfa.harvard.edu |<br />| |<br />| JSR: http://www.planet4589.org/jsr.html |<br />| Back issues: http://www.planet4589.org/space/jsr/back |<br />| Subscribe/unsub: mail majordomo@host.planet4589.org, (un)subscribe jsr | <br />'-------------------------------------------------------------------------' <br /></font></pre>