Saturday, April 29, 2000
Friday, April 28, 2000
Wednesday, April 26, 2000
Vortex 11
1984-009A
A rumour that VORTEX 11 had a Transtage failure and was stranded in transfer orbit was probably incorrect and arose from the DoD's practice of only announcing the transfer and not the final orbit.
| VORTEX 11 | |||
| Date | Time | Event | Orbit |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1984 Jan 31 | 0308:00 | Launch by Titan 34D/Transtage | CC |
| T+1:50 Stage 1 ignition | |||
| T+2:02 SRM sep | |||
| T+4:35 St 1 sep | |||
| 0312 | T+4:45 Fairing sep | ||
| 0316 | Stage 2 MECO | ||
| 0316 | T+8:05 Stage 2 sep | ||
| 0330? | Transtage burn 1 (310s) | ||
| 0335? | Burn 1 cutoff | ||
| 5h15m coast | |||
| 0850? | Transtage burn 2 (110s) | ||
| 0852? | Burn 2 cutoff | ||
| 0900? | Transtage sep | ||
| 1984 Feb 1 | (r/b) | 96.3 145 x 1022 x 29.3 | |
| 1984 Feb 10? | 1436.0 31200 x 40200 x 5.0 | ||
Tuesday, April 25, 2000
Kosmos 1870
1987-064A
Almaz earth observation platform, 4.1 dia x 7 l. 2.5 kW solar power, 4 tonne payload. Kosmos-1870 was Mech-K No. 304 and was the Soviet Union's first radar imager.
| Kosmos-1870 | |||
| Date | Time | Event | Orbit |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1987 Jul 25 | 0900:00 | Launch by Proton | KB |
| Stage 1 sep (T+2:06) | |||
| Stage 2 sep (T+5:34) | |||
| Stage 3 MECO (T+9:30) | |||
| 0909:44 | Stage 3 sep (T+9:44) | ||
| 1987 Jul 25.5 | 88.40 160x231x71.94 | ||
| 1987 Jul 25.7 | 88.65 159x256x71.9 | ||
| 1987 Jul 28.5 | 89.36 237x249x71.9 from 88.54 157x247 | ||
| 1987 Jul 29.3 | 89.55 245x260x71.9 | ||
| 1987 Aug 10 | 89.58 252x256x71.9 from 89.48 241x256 | ||
| 1987 Aug 22 | 89.55 247x258x71.9 from 89.50 247x252 | ||
| 1987 Sep 3 | 89.58 242x265x71.9 from 89.45 242x253 | ||
| 1987 Sep 15 | 89.56 244x262x71.9 from 89.49 238x261 | ||
| 1987 Sep 26 | 89.57 241x265x71.9 from 89.47 240x257 | ||
| 1987 Nov 1 | 89.58 239x269x71.9 from 89.42 238x253 | ||
| 1987 Nov 13 | 89.58 245x262x71.9 from 89.45 232x263 | ||
| 1987 Nov 26 | 89.58 246x262x71.9 from 89.45 240x256 | ||
| 1987 Dec 8 | 89.57 251x256x71.9 | ||
| 1987 Dec 18 | 89.55 245x259x71.9 from 89.48 246x251 | ||
| 1987 Dec 30 | 89.58 242x266x71.9 from 89.46 242x254 | ||
| 1988 Jan 11 | 89.59 247x261x71.9 from 89.47 237x260 | ||
| 1988 Jan 23 | 89.58 239x269x71.9 from 89.46 242x254 | ||
| 1988 Feb 4 | 89.55 244x260x71.9 from 89.47 237x260 | ||
| 1988 Feb 14 | 89.44 235x250x71.9 | ||
| 1988 Feb 16 | 89.60 245x264x71.9 from 89.42 238x254 | ||
| 1988 Feb 28 | 89.57 249x258x71.9 from 240x258 | ||
| 1988 Mar 10 | 243x265x71.9 from 243x257 | ||
| 1988 Mar 22 | 249x260x71.9 from 238x260 | ||
| 1988 Apr 4 | 89.59 241x268x71.9 | ||
| 1988 Apr 15 | 89.59 246x263x71.9 from 234x260 | ||
| 1988 Apr 27 | 254x255x71.9 from 240x255 | ||
| 1988 May 9 | 89.58 245x263x71.9 from 247x249 | ||
| 1988 May 21 | 89.59 253x255x71.9 from 89.45 239x256 | ||
| 1988 Jun 2 | 89.56 246x261x71.9 from 89.45 246x249 | ||
| 1988 Jun 14 | 89.59 246x263x71.9 from ? | ||
| 1988 Jun 25 | 89.66 253x262x71.9 from 89.46 238x257 | ||
| 1988 Jul 6 | 89.60 244x265x71.9 from 89.43 240x253 | ||
| 1988 Jul 19 | 89.58 249x259x71.9 from 89.47 237x259 | ||
| 1988 Jul 31 | 89.58 244x264x71.9 from 89.45 242x253 | ||
| 1988 Aug 12 | 89.60 250x260x71.9 from 89.44 237x256 | ||
| 1988 Aug 24 | 89.60 244x266x71.9 from 89.45 242x253 | ||
| 1988 Sep 5 | 89.60 252x258x71.9 from 89.41 234x259 | ||
| 1988 Sep 17 | 89.90 262x277x71.9 from 89.43 245x248 | ||
| 1988 Oct 11 | 89.96 264x281x71.9 from ? | ||
| 1988 Nov 3 | 89.90 263x277x71.9 from 89.61 248x262 via 89.73 259x264 | ||
| 1988 Nov 27 | 89.94 264x279x71.9 from 89.53 245x258 | ||
| 1988 Dec 21 | 89.91 263x277x71.9 from 89.60 249x261 | ||
| 1989 Jan 13 | 89.96 265x280x71.9 from 89.50 244x255 | ||
| 1989 Feb 6 | 89.98 267x280x71.9 from 89.53 246x257 | ||
| 1989 Mar 3 | 89.93 266x280x71.9 from 89.51 244x252 | ||
| 1989 Mar 27 | 90.00 267x282x71.9 from 89.48 243x255 | ||
| 1989 Apr 20 | 89.98 266x281x71.9 from 89.52 244x258 | ||
| 1989 May 13 | 89.91 264x276x71.9 from 89.56 246x260 | ||
| 1989 Jun 7 | 89.94 265x278x71.9 from 89.48 242x256 | ||
| 1989 Jul 1 | 89.99 266x281x71.9 from 89.49 241x257 | ||
| 1989 Jul 24 | 89.58 242x264x71.9 from 89.67 251x265 | ||
Monday, April 24, 2000
TOMS-EP
1996-037A
The TOMS-Earth Probe, TOMS-EP94, carried a single experiment, Total Ozone Mapping Spectrometer Flight Model 3. TOMS FM1 had flown on Nimbus 7, and FM2 flew on a 1991 Meteor satellite. TOMS-EP, originally Earth Probe '93, had been intended for launch in 1993 to take over from TOMS FM2, which eventually failed in 1994. The problems with the Pegasus launch vehicle delayed it to 1996, placing it close to the planned launch of FM4 on Japan's ADEOS. Its mission was altered to lower the target orbit from the original 900 km to 500 km for higher resolution studies.
The TOMS instrument was derived from the older SBUV first flown on Nimbus 4 in 1970. Mission operations from GSFC.
In Jul 1996 it was finally launched on the fourth Pegasus XL, carried aloft by the L-1011 carrier plane from Vandenberg. The three stage Pegasus delivered it to an elliptical polar orbit.
A monopropellant hydrazine propulsion engine delivered TOMS-EP to its final circular orbit. TOMS used TRW's STEP/Eagle class T-200 Lightsat bus, based on Defense Systems (DSI) technology. Launch mass of TOMS-EP was 295 kg including 73 kg of propellant. The satellite is 1.8m long x 1.1m wide; with solar arrays deployed 2.4 x 3.9m.
| TOMS-EP94 | |||
| Date | Time | Event | Orbit |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1996 Jul 2 | L-1011 takeoff from Vandenberg | ||
| 0748 | T-0:05 Pegasus drop at 38kft, launch | ||
| T+0:00, D+0:05 Stage 1 burn | |||
| T+1:15 Stage 1 burnout | |||
| T+1:32 Stage 1 sep, stage 2 burn | |||
| D+2:27 Fairing | |||
| 0750 | D+2:41 Stage 2 burnout | ||
| 0753 | D+5:58 Pegasus stage 3 burn | ||
| 0754? | Stage 3 burnout | ||
| 0756 | D+8:07? Pegasus stage 3 sep | 345 x 953 x 97.4 (OSC) | |
| 1996 Jul 3 | 340 x 943 x 97.4 | ||
| 1996 Jul 5 | 97.56 340 x 943 x 97.4 | ||
| 1996 Jul 8 | Orbit raise | ||
| 1996 Jul 11 | 94.67 494 x 511 x 97.4 | ||
| 1996 Jul 25 | 94.66 494 x 510 x 97.4 | ||
| 1996 Aug 23 | 94.67 492 x 512 x 97.4 | ||
| 1997 Mar 15 | 94.61 489 x 509 x 97.4 | ||
| 1997 Dec 4 | 94.51 486 x 503 x 97.4 | ||
| 1997 Dec 6 | orbit raise | 94.96 498 x 535 x 97.57 | |
| 1997 Dec 7 | orbit raise | 95.51 497 x 588 x 97.87 | |
| 1997 Dec 8 | Orbit raise to replace ADEOS | 96.47 582 x 596 x 97.9 | |
| 1997 Dec 15 | orbit raise | 99.65 737 x 746 x 98.4 | |
| 1998 Jan 28 | 99.65 737 x 746 x 98.4 | ||