Jonathan's Space Report No. 215 1994 Oct 18 Cambridge, MA -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Shuttle ------- The next Shuttle mission is STS-66, due for launch on Nov 3. This will be the first flight of Atlantis since its refurbishment. Payloads include the Atlas-3 earth observing Spacelab pallet and the CRISTA free flyer SPAS satelite. Mir --- The Mir complex is undergoing power difficulties and the crew's experiments were interrupted for several days. The station's solar panels will be in a more favorable orientation this week and normal operations should resume. The Mir complex consists of the core module, the Kvant astrophysical module, the Kvant-2 airlock module, and the Kristall module. Soyuz TM-19 is docked at the Kvant rear port and Soyuz TM-20 is docked at the Mir forward port. Recent Launches --------------- The Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO) scored a success on Oct 15 with the launch of its PSLV Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle (The first PSLV failed in Sep 1993). The four stage rocket orbited the 870 kg IRS-P2 satellite into a 798 x 882 km x 99 deg polar orbit. IRS-P2 is part of the Indian Remote Sensing satellite series. Developed by the ISRO Satellite Centre in Bangalore, it carries the LISS-II (Linear Imaging Self Scanner) CCD camera with a 32m resolution and four visible and near infrared bands. IRS satellites: IRS-1A 1988 Mar 17 Vostok, Baykonur 870 x 914 km x 99.0 deg IRS-1B 1991 Aug 29 Vostok, Baykonur 862 x 918 km x 99.2 deg IRS-1E 1993 Sep 20 PSLV-D1, Sriharikota (Failed) IRS-P2 1994 Oct 15 PSLV-D2, Sriharikota 798 x 882 km x 98.7 deg The PSLV first stage (PS-1) is a 129 tonne solid motor 2.8m in dia with a thrust of 4500 kN. Six strap-on HTPB/Ammonium Perchlorate solid motors of 662 kN are attached, two of which ignite at launch, the other four igniting 30 sec later. The first two separate at 73s, the remaining four are jettisoned at 90s. At T+111s the PS-1 falls away and the PS-2 ignites. This is a 38 tonne liquid fuel stage (India's first) using UDMH/N2O4. The single Vikas engine has a thrust of 725 kN. At T+154s the vehicle reached 117 km altitude and the fairing was jettisoned, with second stage separation at 261s. The third stage (PS-3) is a 7 tonne solid motor with a thrust of 340 kN. It burns from T+261s to T+380s, to an altitude of 421 km. The payload and attached PS-4 stage now coast in transfer trajectory until T+591.4s when the PS-4's MMH/N2O4 liquid engine ignites for a 397s burn. PS-4 and IRS-P2 separated at T+1012s. [Source: ISRO Press Release, 1994 Oct 15]. The first Ekspress communications satellite was launched on Oct 13. The Ekspress satellites, operated by AO Informkosmos, will replace the Gorizont domestic TV relay satellites which the Soviet Union introduced in 1979. Ekspress features a north-south stationkeeping capability which will keep the inclination within 0.2 deg. The bus is 3.6 x 6.1 m in size with a solar array span of 21m, and has a mass of 2500 kg. The payload includes ten C-band and two Ku-band (14/11 GHz) transponders. The launch used a Proton-K rocket with the 11S861-01 (uprated Blok DM-2) upper stage. This is the second flight of this upper stage, which was used for the Gals launch earlier this year. The next Proton launch is expected to carry Elektro, the much delayed geostationary weather satellite first planned for the late 1970s. [Note for transponder fans: the C-band transponders are (6000-6450)/(3675-4125) MHz (with spacing 50 MHz) and the Ku band are 14325/11525 and 14475/11675 MHz. Bandwidth of each channel is 34 MHz. Information on Ekspress is from Vladimir Agapov.] Date UT Name Launch Vehicle Site Mission INTL. DES. Sep 9 0029 Telstar 402 Ariane 42L Kourou ELA2 Comsat 58A Sep 9 2222 Discovery Space Shuttle Kennedy LC39B Spaceship 59A Sep 13 2130 Spartan 201 - Discovery, LEO Astronomy 59B Sep 16 1516 SAFER/M. Lee - Discovery, LEO Sep 16 1740? SAFER/C. Meade - Discovery, LEO Sep 21 1753 Kosmos-2291 Proton-K/DM-2 Baykonur LC200 Comsat? 60A Sep 27 1400 Kosmos-2292 Kosmos-3M Plesetsk LC132 Calibration 61A Sep 30 1116 Endeavour Space Shuttle Kennedy LC39A Spaceship 62A Oct 3 2242 Soyuz TM-20 Soyuz-U2 Baykonur LC1 Spaceship 63A Oct 6 0635 Intelsat 703 Atlas Centaur Canaveral LC36B Comsat 64A Oct 8 0107 Solidaridad 2 ) Ariane 44L Kourou ELA2 Comsat 65A Thaicom 2 ) Comsat 65B Oct 11 1430 Okean-O1 No. 7 Tsiklon-3 Plesetsk LC32 Rem.sensing 66A Oct 13 1619 Ekspress Proton-K/DM-2-1 Baykonur LC200 Comsat 67A Oct 15 0505 IRS-P2 PSLV Sriharikota Rem.sensing 68A Reentries --------- Sep 11 Kosmos-2284 Landed Sep 13 FSW-2 service module Reentered Sep 20 Discovery Landed at Edwards AFB Oct 4 Progress M-24 Deorbited Oct 11 Endeavour Landed at Edwards AFB Oct 12 Magellan Entered Venus atmosphere Current Shuttle Processing Status ____________________________________________ Orbiters Location Mission Launch Due OV-102 Columbia Palmdale OMDP - OV-103 Discovery OPF Bay 2 STS-63 Feb OV-104 Atlantis LC39B STS-66 Nov 3 OV-105 Endeavour Edwards STS-68 ML/SRB/ET/OV stacks ML1/ ML2/RSRM-43 VAB Bay 1 STS-67 ML3/RSRM-42/ET-67/OV-104 LC-39B STS-66 .-------------------------------------------------------------------------. | Jonathan McDowell | phone : (617) 495-7176 | | Harvard-Smithsonian Center for | | | Astrophysics | | | 60 Garden St, MS4 | | | Cambridge MA 02138 | inter : jcm@urania.harvard.edu | | USA | | '-------------------------------------------------------------------------'