Jonathan's Space Report No. 144 1993 Feb 23 ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ STS-55 ------ The launch of Columbia on mission STS-55 has been delayed until March. Mir --- Progress M-15 was deorbited on Feb 7 after completion of the Znamya and autonomous operation experiments. Another spacecraft was launched on Feb 21 from Baykonur; it is probably the Progress M-16 cargo craft, to deliver fuel, air, water and supplies to the Mir complex. I have been unable to find the landing time for Soyuz TM-15. If anyone has it, please let me know! -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Launches -------- A new X-ray astronomy observatory is in orbit. The Institute for Space and Astronautical Sciences (ISAS), Japan's scientific space agency, launched the Asuka satellite from Kagoshima Space Center on Feb 20. The three stage Mu-3S-2 launch vehicle placed Asuka, formerly known as ASTRO-D, into a 515 x 606 km x 31.1 deg orbit, which should give a good lifetime for the mission and reasonable radiation background. Asuka is Japan's first X-ray imaging telescope (its previous X-ray satellites have carried x-ray detectors without focussing optics). It carries CCD detectors and an imaging proportional counter. The spacecraft is sensitive to the 0.5-12 keV energy range; this can be compared to the soft 0.1-2.4 keV X-rays observed by ROSAT, the other main x-ray satellite currently in orbit. The Asuka telescope has a 30 arcmin field of view and 2 arcmin spatial resolution. Before the telescope enters operation, it must be extended from its present folded configuration. Asuka is the 22nd satellite successfully launched by ISAS. Kosmos-2233, launched on Feb 9 from Plesetsk, is a 150 MHz doppler navigation satellite. Kosmos-2234, 2235, and 2236, launched by Proton on Feb 17 from Baykonur, are GLONASS atomic-clock navigation satellites. The Orbcomm OXP-1 Capabilities Demonstration Satellite was carried into orbit piggyback on the SCD-1 Pegasus flight on Feb 9. Orbcomm is a satellite communications company which is a subsidiary of Orbital Sciences, the company which builds the Pegasus. Date Name Launch Vehicle Site Mission INTL. DES. Feb 3 0255 Navstar GPS 22 Delta Canaveral Navsat 07A Feb 4 Znamya - Prog.M15,LEO R&D 1986-17GZ Feb 9 0250? Kosmos-2233 Kosmos R-14 Plesetsk Navsat 08A Feb 9 1430 SCD-1 ) NB52/Pegasus F3 Kennedy Comsat 09B Orbcomm OXP-1) Comsat 09A Feb 17 2025? Kosmos-2234 ) Proton/Blok DM Baykonur Navsat 10A Kosmos-2235 ) Navsat 10B Kosmos-2236 ) Navsat 10C Feb 20 0220 Asuka Mu-3S-2 Kagoshima Astronomy 11A Feb 21 1830? Progress M-16? Soyuz? Baykonur Cargo 12A Reentries --------- Jan 24 Kosmos-1463 Reentered Feb 1 Soyuz TM-15 Landed in Kazakhstan Feb 5 Znamya Reentered Feb 7 Progress M-15 Deorbited over Pacific? Current Shuttle Processing Status ____________________________________________ Orbiters Location Mission OV-102 Columbia LC39A STS-55 OV-103 Discovery OPF Bay 3 STS-56 OV-104 Atlantis Palmdale OMDP OV-105 Endeavour OPF Bay 1 STS-57 ML/SRB/ET/OV stacks ML1/STS-56 VAB Bay 1 ML2/STS-57 VAB Bay 3 ML3/STS-55/ET/OV-102 LC39A .-----------------------------------------------------------------------------. | Jonathan McDowell | phone : (617) 495-7176 | | Harvard-Smithsonian Center for | | | Astrophysics | | | 60 Garden St, MS4 | | | Cambridge MA 02138 | inter : mcdowell@cfa.harvard.edu | | USA | | '-----------------------------------------------------------------------------'