Jonathan's Space Report No. 138 1993 Jan 4 ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ A rapid series of launches ended off the year. However, to Dec 29 there were only 95 launches to Earth orbit. Although an increase over last year, it is still low compared to the 1970s and 1980s (see table below). The 1991 and 1992 launch totals are the lowest since 1964, reflecting the collapse of the USSR. ORBITAL LAUNCHES 1979-1992 130- X - X X 120- X X X X X - X X X X X X X 110- X X X X X X X X - X X X X X X X X X X 100- X X X X X X X X X X X X - X X X X X X X X X X X X X 90- X X X X X X X X X X X X X - X X X X X X X X X X X X X X 80- X X X X X X X X X X X X X X __________________________________________ 79 80 81 82 83 84 85 86 87 88 89 90 91 92 The third launch of the Chinese CZ-2E rocket placed the Australian Optus B2 spacecraft in low earth orbit, but apparently the US-built Star 63F perigee motor did not fire as intended to send the comsat towards geostationary orbit. Optus B2 is a Hughes HS601 comsat. [If anyone has the launch time, please let me know.] Kosmos-2225, launched Dec 22, is a fifth generation recon satellite with an expected lifetime of around six months. Kosmos-2226, launched Dec 22, is a geodetic satellite in a 1500 km orbit. Kosmos-2227, launched Dec 25, is a heavy signals intelligence satellite. This is the second successful launch of the Zenit rocket this year, after a string of three failures. Kosmos-2228, launched Dec 25, is a signals intelligence satellite of an older and smaller type than Kosmos-2227. Bion 10, launched Dec 29, is a biological satellite using the Vostok spacecraft bus. The Bion series began in 1974 as part of the Kosmos program and includes experiments from many countries. ------------------------------------------------------------- Launches: Date Payload Rocket From Dec 1 2248 Superbird A1 Ariane 42P Kourou 84A Dec 2 0155? Molniya-3 (43) Molniya Plesetsk 85A Dec 2 1324 Discovery STS53 Shuttle Kennedy 86A Dec 2 1918 USA-88? - Discovery 86B Dec 9 1116? Kosmos-2223 Soyuz Baykonur 87A Dec 17 1300? Kosmos-2224 Proton Baykonur 88A Dec 18 2216 Navstar GPS 29 Delta 7925 Canaveral 89A Dec 21 Optus B2 Chang Zheng 2E Xichang 90A Dec 22 1200? Kosmos-2225 Soyuz Baykonur 91A Dec 22 1215? Kosmos-2226 Tsiklon Plesetsk 92A Dec 25 0710? Kosmos-2227 Zenit Baykonur 93A Dec 25 2010? Kosmos-2228 Tsiklon Plesetsk 94A Dec 29 1335? Bion 10 Soyuz Plesetsk 95A Reentries: Nov 22 Resurs-500 [Landed in Pacific Ocean] Dec 9 Discovery [Landed at Edwards AFB] Dec 12 Kosmos-2164 Current Shuttle Processing Status ____________________________________________ Orbiters Location Mission OV-102 Columbia OPF Bay 2 STS-55 OV-103 Discovery OPF Bay 3 STS-56 OV-104 Atlantis Palmdale OMDP OV-105 Endeavour LC39B STS-54 ML/SRB/ET/OV stacks ML1/ ML2/STS-54/ET/OV-105 LC39B ML3/STS-55 VAB Bay 3 .-----------------------------------------------------------------------------. | Jonathan McDowell | phone : (617) 495-7176 | | Harvard-Smithsonian Center for | | | Astrophysics | | | 60 Garden St, MS4 | | | Cambridge MA 02138 | inter : mcdowell@cfa.harvard.edu | | USA | | '-----------------------------------------------------------------------------'