Jonathan's Space Report No. 200 1994 Jun 18 Mt. Hopkins, Arizona -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Shuttle ------- The STS-65 stack consisting of orbiter OV-102 Columbia, the external tank, and the solid rocket boosters, was moved to pad 39A on June 15. LAUNCHES -------- The Kosmos-2281 imaging satellite is in a 236 x 292 km x 82.6 deg orbit. The 9th Foton materials processing spacecraft was launched from Plesetsk on Jun 14. The Russian Space Agency's Foton program carries Russian and international commercial experiments; Foton contains a variety of microgravity ovens in its pressurized Vostok-class descent module. The second Intelsat VII communications satellite was orbited on Jun 17. INTELSAT, the International Telecommunications Satellite Organization, is an intergovernmental entity which has been launching communications satellites since 1965. The seventh generation satellite is built by Space Systems/Loral, has a mass of 1500 kg plus 2200 kg of fuel, and with its solar panels deployed has a wingspan of 22 metres. The communications payload consists of 10 Ku-band and 26 C-band transponders. Intelsat 702 will be inserted into geostationary orbit and be stationed over Africa at longitude 1 deg W. The Ariane V64 launch vehicle which carried Intelsat 702 to space also carried an ASAP structure which holds small piggyback satellites. Two tiny (0.5m) satellites were carried on this mission, the STRV (Space Technology Research Vehicle) satellites for the United Kingdom Ministry of Defense's Defence Research Agency (DRA). DRA is the new name for the RAE (Royal Aircraft Establishment) at Farnborough, the home of the famous air show. RAE was the lead agency for all of Britain's technology (as opposed to science or communications) satellites. STRV 1A has a mass of 50 kg and carries experiments to study surface erosion effects on spacecraft materials, a cosmic ray detector, and a gamma ray burst experiment. STRV 1B, with a mass of 53 kg, has an experimental cooler, solar cells, and electronics. The satellites will remain in geostationary transfer orbit. Here's a list of the RAE's satellites: X-2 1970 Sep 2 Failed to orbit Orba 1970 Sep 2 Failed to orbit Prospero (X-3) 1971 Oct 28 The only satellite launched by a British rocket Miranda (X-4) 1974 Mar 9 Launched by a US Scout STRV 1A, 1B 1994 Jun 17 Small DRA test satellites Recent Launches --------------- Date UT Name Launch Vehicle Site Mission INTL. DES. Apr 23 0802 Kosmos-2278 Zenit-2 Baykonur LC45 SIGINT 23A Apr 26 0214 Kosmos-2279 Kosmos-3M Plesetsk LC133 Navsat 24A Apr 28 1714 Kosmos-2280 Soyuz-U Baykonur LC31 Recon 25A May 3 1555 USA-103 Titan Centaur Canaveral LC41 SIGINT 26A May 4 0000 SROSS C2 ASLV Sriharikota Science 27A May 9 0247 MSTI-2 Scout G-1 Vandenberg SLC5 Technology 28A May 19 1703 P91-A (STEP 2) Pegasus/HAPS Point Arguello WA Science 29A May 20 0201 Gorizont 42 Proton/DM2 Baykonur LC81 Comsat 30A May 22 0430 Progress M-23 Soyuz-U Baykonur Cargo 31A May 25 1015 Kosmos Tsiklon-3 Plesetsk SIGINT? FTO Jun 7 0720 Kosmos-2281 Soyuz-U Plesetsk LC16 Recon 32A Jun 14 1605 Foton No. 9 Soyuz-U Plesetsk LC43 Materials 33A Jun 17 0707 Intelsat 702 ) Ariane 44LP Kourou ELA2 Comsat 34A STRV 1 ) Technology 34B STRV 2 ) Technology 34C Reentries --------- May 23 Progress M-22 Deorbited Jun 3 Tiros VII Reentered Current Shuttle Processing Status ____________________________________________ Orbiters Location Mission OV-102 Columbia LC39A STS-65 OV-103 Discovery OPF Bay 2 STS-64 OV-104 Atlantis OPF Bay 3 STS-66 OV-105 Endeavour OPF Bay 1 STS-68 ML/SRB/ET/OV stacks ML1/RSRM-40 VAB Bay 3 STS-68 ML2/ ML3/RSRM-39/ET/OV-102 VAB Bay 1 STS-65 .-------------------------------------------------------------------------. | Jonathan McDowell | phone : (617) 495-7176 | | Harvard-Smithsonian Center for | | | Astrophysics | | | 60 Garden St, MS4 | | | Cambridge MA 02138 | inter : jcm@urania.harvard.edu | | USA | | '-------------------------------------------------------------------------'