Jonathan's Space Report No. 267 1995 Dec 8 Cambridge, MA -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Oops ---- Apologies to some of my Canadian readers, apparently an error in my mailing list has been leaving a whole bunch of you off. I think it's fixed now. (How many issues did you miss?) Galileo at Jupiter ------------------ The two Galileo space probes have reached Jupiter. NASA Ames Research Center's Galileo Probe was released from the Galileo Orbiter in July; it entered the atmosphere of Jupiter at 2204 UTC on Dec 7 at latitude 6.5 deg N, longitude 4.4 deg W in the NEB. The probe on-board timer was due to activate the probe at 1600 UTC after 5 months of dormancy. At 2311 UTC confirmation was received on Earth that the Orbiter was receiving data from the Probe. The parachute was deployed at 2206 UTC and a few seconds later the deceleration module (heatshield) was jettisoned. The probe was due to continue transmitting data until 2319 UTC. Theoretical analysis indicates that the probe parachute would melt at 2349 UTC and the internal probe equipment, made of aluminium, would melt around 0030 UTC with the probe's titanium structure surviving much deeper into the atmosphere, disintegrating at around 0700 UTC on Dec 8. Perijove for the Jet Propulsion Laboratory's Galileo Orbiter spacecraft was at 2153 UTC on Dec 7 at distance of 214600 km from the center of the giant planet. Closest approach to Europa was 30921 km at 1309 UTC Dec 7, and to Io was 1000 km at 1745 UTC. Galileo has now entered orbit around Jupiter. The S400 liquid apogee engine ignited at 0027 UTC Dec 8 and completed its burn at 0116 UTC on Dec 8. Galileo's first orbit was planned to have a perijove of 2 Jupiter radii and an apojove of 250 Jupiter radii. I don't have actual orbital elements yet. Shuttle ------- The next Shuttle mission is STS-72, scheduled for January 11. The STS-72 stack with orbiter Endeavour was rolled out from VAB bay 3 to pad 39B on Dec 6. Endeavour's cargo bay contains eight small carriers mounted on the port and starboard bay walls in bays 1 to 4, containing equipment related to the EDFT-3 spacewalk. If any reader has information about this payload-bay mounted EDFT-3 equipment, please let me know. Mir --- Launch of the Progress M-30 cargo ferry is expected on December 15. Recent Launches -------------- A Lockheed Martin Titan 4 launch vehicle (serial K-15) was sent into orbit from Space Launch Complex 4-East at Vandenberg Air Force Base on Dec 5. The payload is believed to have entered a sun-synchronous polar orbit and is probably the latest Improved CRYSTAL imaging spy satellite for the National Reconnaissance Office (NRO). Prime contractor for the satellite is probably Lockheed. Within the NRO, responsibility for imaging satellites is given to the CIA. The satellite probably carries a large optical telescope with optical and near infrared imaging array (CCD) sensors, as well as the ICMS mapping system. Here is the complete list of Titan 4 launches to date; thanks to several correspondents for helping me refine this, but there may still be errors - corrections are welcome. Serial Date Model Pad Upper stage and payload Notes Titan 4 launches from Cape Canaveral: K-1 1989 Jun 14 402 41 IUS/ USAF DSP 14 early warning K-4 1990 Jun 8 405 41 Navy Advanced PARCAE (1) K-6 1990 Nov 12 402 41 IUS/ USAF DSP 15 early warning K-10 1994 Feb 7 401 40 Centaur TC-12/Milstar 1 comsat K-7 1994 May 3 401 41 Centaur TC-10/NRO Advanced JUMPSEAT (1) K-9 1994 Aug 27 401 41 Centaur TC-11/NRO Advanced VORTEX (1) K-14 1994 Dec 22 402 40 IUS/ USAF DSP 17 early warning K-23 1995 May 14 401 40 Centaur TC-17/NRO Advanced ORION (1) K-19 1995 Jul 10 401 41 Centaur TC-8/NRO Advanced JUMPSEAT (1) K-21 1995 Nov 6 401 40 Centaur TC-13/Milstar 2 comsat Titan 4 launches from Vandenberg AFB: K-5 1991 Mar 8 403 4E NRO LACROSSE 2 (1) K-8 1991 Nov 7 403 4E Navy Advanced PARCAE (1) K-3 1992 Nov 28 404 4E TPA/Improved CRYSTAL 2 (1,2) K-11 1993 Aug 2 403 4E Navy Advanced PARCAE (1,3) K-15 1995 Dec 5 404 4E TPA/Improved CRYSTAL 3 (1) Notes: (1) Classified payload, true name unknown. 'Advanced X' indicates a new generation replacing the series which had codename X. PARCAE was a US Navy intelligence spacecraft. JUMPSEAT and VORTEX were USAF/NSA electronic and signals intelligence payloads. ORION was a CIA signals intelligence spacecraft. LACROSSE is a radar imaging satellite. Improved CRYSTAL is an optical and near infrared imaging satellite. All of these missions are classified and my analysis is based on guesses from information in the open literature. (2) Titan model 404 may possibly carry the Titan Payload Adapter (TPA) designed to support payloads originally built for Shuttle launch. (3) Launch failure. Arianespace SA launched the V81 Ariane mission on Dec 6. Launch was at 2323 UT; at 2340 UT the H-10-III third stage shut down, entering geostationary transfer orbit. At 2344 the Telecom 2C satellite separated, followed by the Mini-SPELDA adapter plate, and at 2349 UT the Insat 2C satellite was released. The satellites entered a 630.1 min, 224 x 35712 km x 6.8 deg transfer orbit. V81 was the 11th flight of Ariane in 1995, all of which have been successful. Telecom 2C is a Matra Marconi Space comsat for France Telecom. The spacecraft carries 10 C-band and 11 Ku-band transponders for French domestic communications and communications with the departements d'outremer. It also has 5 X-band transponders for the Delegation Generale pour l'Armement, which operates the military Syracuse communications network. The mass of Telecom 2C is 1120 kg, with a fuel load of 1163 kg giving a launch mass of 2283 kg. The spacecraft has an R-4D-12 liquid apogee engine which will be used to place it in geostationary orbit at 3 degrees E. Insat 2C is the Indian Space Research Organization's latest domestic communications, television and radio broadcast satellite. It carries 22 C-band and 4 Ku-band transponders, as well as an S-band transponder for mobile services. The spacecraft and its internal LAM (Liquid Apogee Motor) were built by ISRO with its Indian industrial partners. Erratum: The Chinese EPKM perigee kick motor, designated SPTM-17, has flown once before, on the first CZ-2E launch, but it did not place its dummy payload in geostationary transfer orbit. The Asiasat 2 launch was the first time the SPTM-17 was flown with a real payload. The Asiasat 2 satellite carries a Leros-class dual mode liquid apogee engine built by Royal Ordnance plc, England (I don't know which particular model, though). Asiasat 2 fired its engine last week to enter a 5326 x 35031 km x 13.8 deg intermediate orbit, and again on Dec 4 to enter a circular 1403.9 min, 34375 x 35932 km x 0.6 deg drift orbit. On Dec 5 it was over 92 deg E drifiting 3 deg E per day. Table of Recent Launches ------------------------ Date UT Name Launch Vehicle Site Mission INTL. DES. Nov 4 1422 Radarsat ) Delta 7920 Vandenberg SLC2 Rem sensing 59A SURFSAT ) 59B Nov 6 0515 Milstar DFS 2 Titan 4 Centaur Canaveral LC40 Comsat 60A Nov 12 1230 Atlantis ) Shuttle Kennedy LC39A Spaceship 61A Docking Module ) Nov 17 0120 ISO Ariane 44P Kourou ELA2 Astronomy 62A Nov 17 1430? Gals-2 Proton-K/DM2M Baykonur Comsat 63A Nov 28 1130 Asiasat 2 Chang Zheng 2E Xichang Comsat 64A Dec 2 0808 SOHO Atlas IIAS Canaveral LC36 Astronomy 65A Dec 5 2118 USA 116? Titan 4 Vandenberg SLC4E Recon 66A Dec 6 2323 Telecom 2C ) Ariane 44L Kourou ELA2 Comsat 67A Insat 2C ) Comsat 67B Reentries --------- Nov 5 Columbia Landed at KSC Nov 18 Molniya-1 (80-92A) Reentered Nov 20 Atlantis Landed at KSC Dec 7 Galileo Probe Entered Jovian atmosphere Current Shuttle Processing Status ____________________________________________ Orbiters Location Mission Launch Due OV-102 Columbia OPF Bay 2 STS-75 Feb 22 OV-103 Discovery Palmdale OMDP OV-104 Atlantis OPF Bay 1 STS-76 Mar 21 OV-105 Endeavour LC39B STS-72 Jan 11 ML/SRB/ET/OV stacks ML1/RSRM-52/ET-75/OV-105 LC39B STS-72 ML2/ ML3/RSRM VAB Bay 1? STS-75 .-------------------------------------------------------------------------. | Jonathan McDowell | phone : (617) 495-7176 | | Harvard-Smithsonian Center for | | | Astrophysics | | | 60 Garden St, MS6 | | | Cambridge MA 02138 | inter : jcm@urania.harvard.edu | | USA | jmcdowell@cfa.harvard.edu | | | | JSR: http://hea-www.harvard.edu/QEDT/jcm/space/jsr/jsr.html | | ftp://sao-ftp.harvard.edu/pub/jcm/space/news/news.* | '-------------------------------------------------------------------------'