Friday, April 27, 2001
Thursday, April 26, 2001
Kosmos 778
1975-103A
Satellite 4, position 6
| Kosmos-778 | |||
| Date | Time | Event | Orbit |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1975 Nov 4 | 1013 | Launch by 11K65M | Plesetsk |
| T+2:10 St 1 MECO | |||
| T+2:12 St 1 sep | |||
| T+2:12 St 2 burn 59km | |||
| T+2:27 Fairing 76km | |||
| 1021? | T+8:03 St 2 MECO 150 km | 150 x 1003? x 83 | |
| T+1:02:19 St 2 MES2 | |||
| T+1:02:30 St 2 MECO2 | |||
| 1116? | T+1:02:50 St 2 sep | ||
| 1975 Nov 4 | 105.0 978x1004x83.0 | ||
ACTS
1993-058B
ACTS, the Advanced Communications Technology Satellite, was a controversial program. NASA's first experimental comsat for almost twenty years was to test out new methods for relaying communications and data. Critics charged that the commercial satellite industry was developing these techniques anyway, and that the program was a waste of taxpayer money and a handout to prime contractor Martin Marietta Astro Space (formerly GE).
ACTS, the Advanced Communications Technology Satellite, was used for Ka band communications. It was operated by NASA's Lewis Research Center (LeRC). Deployed from Orbiter OV-103 Discovery using a Transfer Orbit Stage, it was inserted into geosynchronous orbit by a solid apogee motor burn at 1544 on 1993 Sep 15. Later the same day it began a westward drift in an 0.4 deg inclination orbit.
The Advanced Communications Technology Satellite was a GE (Martin Marietta) Astro Space Series 4000 communications satellite. ACTS was 9.0 m long, 4.3 m diameter, and had a 14 m span set of solar arrays. The 3-axis stabilized satellite had a mass of 2770 kg at launch and 1450 kg on orbit. It was carried into orbit on Shuttle mission STS-51.
ACTS/TOS was deployed from OV-103 Discovery on 1993 Sep 12 at 2113. The Transfer Orbit Stage (TOS), named USS Fred C. Alcorn after an investor in the rocket project, fired 45 minutes later to insert ACTS in geostationary transfer orbit. The apogee motor was fired at 1544 on Sep 15. The scheduled on-station position was 100 deg W.
| ACTS | |||
| Date | Time | Event | Orbit |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1993 Sep 12 | 1145:00 | Launch from LC39 | |
| 1147:05 | SRB sep | ||
| 1153:31 | MECO | ||
| 1153:49 | ET sep, peri 67 km | ||
| 1225 | OMS-2 | ||
| 1856 | ASE unlatch | ||
| 1902 | Clamshell open | ||
| 1908 | Tilt table raised | ||
| 2113:28 | ACTS/TOS deploy | ||
| 2158:35 | TOS burn (1:40) | ||
| 2200:15 | TOS burnout | ||
| 2210? | TOS sep | ||
| 718.71 320 x 40080 x 15.4 | |||
| 1993 Sep 15 | 1544 | AKM burn at apo 6 | |
| 1993 Sep 17 | 1454.55 35509 x 36784 x 0.3 GEO 77.9W+4.6W | ||
| 1993 Sep 24 | 1437.72 35708 x 35928 x 0.2 GEO 97.2W+0.4W | ||
| 1993 Nov 8 | 1436.10 35773 x 35800 x 0.1 GEO 99.9W | ||
| 1994 Jan 3 | 1436.12 35777 x 35797 x 0.0 GEO 100.1W | ||
| 1995 Jan 29 | 1436.09 35782 x 35790 x 0.0 GEO 100.0W | ||
Wednesday, April 25, 2001
Monday, April 23, 2001
Equator-S
1997-075B
Mass 235 kg. MPE/Garching study of equatorial magnetosphere, in GTO piggyback on Ariane, mounted under the Dassault Cyclade adapter. ISTP Ring Current/Near earth plasma study. The satellte has a mass of 230 kg launch, 197 kg BOL with 33 kg solid motor. Size is 1.16m height, 1.65m dia, with two 1.8m magnetometer booms. It is rapidly spin stabilized at 40 rpm with body mounted solar panels. Orbit will be 500 x 63700 km. Control is from GSOC. Equator-S was funded partly from DARA/DLR and partly by MPE's own funds.
| Equator-S | |||
| Date | Time | Event | Orbit |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1997 Dec 2 | 2252:32 | Launch by Ariane 44P | CSG |
| 2255 | T+3:35 Stage 2 burn | ||
| 2256 | T+4:38 Fairing 01 sep | ||
| 2257 | T+5:49 Stage 3 burn | ||
| 2310 | T+18:51 Stage 3 cutoff | ||
| 2312 | T+20:59 JCSAT 5 sep | ||
| 2314 | T+22:29 Cyclade sep | ||
| 2316 | T+24:10 Equator-S sep | ||
| 2316 | T+24:14 H-10-3 avoidance burn | ||
| 1997 Dec 11 | 1838:16 | Star 13A burn | |
| 1998 May | end of transmissions | ||
Payload:
- Star 13A AKM
- MAM Magnetic field, 1.8m boom magnetometers
- EDI Electron drift instrument (E field)
- 3DA 3D plasma analyser; E/q analysers for 3-D ion and electron distribution
- EPI Energetic particle instrument, Solid state electron/ion telescopes
Kosmos 1818
1987-011A
The US-M Plazma-A No. 1 flight tested a SPT Hall thruster and the Topol' reactor. It used a US-A bus with experimental equipment instead of the radar. The reactor provided 5 kW of power. According to the NASA orbital debris office, the spacecraft was 9.3m long (of which 4.6m was the reactor section) with an additional 7.2m boom for a total span of 16.5m. One small debris object was left in low orbit and decayed rapidly. Two larger objects separated after launch in the high orbit, one of which is listed by Space-Track as the 11K69 second stage; this is unlikely as the 11K69 probably does not have the performance to reach such a high orbit.
The most likely mission profile is a launch into a low 100 x 400-450 km parking orbit and use of the US-A liquid propulsion system to raise the orbit to around 450 x 800 km, followed by a second burn to circularize. An Arsenal newsletter article reported that the spacecraft was inserted to a 300 km elliptical orbit, and then two burns of the on board 94E DU propulsion system raised the orbit to 900 km circular. A thermal shield was ejected after orbit insertion. The project was designated E3. The 94E DU had an extra external spherical tank.
| Plazma-A No. 1 | |||
| Date | Time | Event | Orbit |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1987 Feb 1 | 2330 | Launch by Tsiklon-2 | KB |
| 2332 | Stage 1 sep | ||
| 2338 | Stage 2 (11D) sep | 120? x 450? | |
| 1987 Feb 2 | 0020? | AKM-1 | 450? x 800? |
| 0110? | AKM-2 | 787 x 799 | |
| 1987 Feb 5 | 113 x 423 x 65.0 | ||
| 1987 Feb 20 | 787 x 799 x 65.0 | ||
| 1987 Mar 17 | 788 x 801 x 65.0 | ||
| 1987 Jun 24 | Reactor deactivated | ||
Soyuz 10
1971-034A
The first 7K-T transport spaceship, 11F615A8 No. 31, was launched on 1971 Apr 22 and named Soyuz-10. Crew was Vladimir Shatalov (Komandir), Aleksey Yeliseev (Bortinzhener) and Nikolai Rukavishnikov (Inzhener-ispitatel'). Soyuz-10 completed its rendezvous and docking with the DOS 1 (Salyut) space station, but after soft dock the DPO engines continued firing, damaging the docking system and preventing a hard dock. The mission was aborted and after one failed undocking attempt the craft separated at 0717 UTC on Apr 24 and returned to Earth later that day.
| Soyuz-10 | |||
| Date | Time | Event | Orbit |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1971 Apr 22 | 2354 | Launch by Soyuz 11A511 | KB |
| 2356 | Blok-BVGD sep | ||
| 2358 | Blok-A sep | ||
| 1971 Apr 23 | 0002 | Blok-I MECO | |
| 1971 Apr 23 | 0003 | Blok-I sep | |
| 1971 Apr 23 | 1035 | Orbit adjust 17s | 89.1 209 x 258 x 51.6 |
| 1329 | Orbit adjust | ||
| 1971 Apr 24 | 0112? | At 800m | |
| Rendezvous with Salyut | |||
| 0147 | Docked with Salyut | ||
| 0156 | Hangup in retraction | ||
| 0717 | Undocked | ||
| 2259 | Retrofire | ||
| 2302? | DO CO | ||
| 2311? | Modules sep | ||
| 2318? | Entry | ||
| 2340:00 | Landed 120 km NW of Karaganda | ||
Sunday, April 22, 2001
AMSC-1
1995-019A
American Mobile Satellite Corp. launched the AMSC-1 satellite to provide domestic mobile telephone communications to the United States. The satellite, also known as M-SAT 2, was one of a pair; the second was built for Canada's Telesat Mobile Inc. The M-SAT type satellites used a new type of graphite antenna, 20 kg in mass and 6.7 x 4.9 m in size. The two L-band reflector antennas span 19m when deployed, while the solar arrays have a 21 m span. The communications payload was built by Spar Aerospace.
In late 1997 AMSC leased the satellite to Actel (African Continental Telecoms Ltd, Gibraltar) to provide telephone service in Africa. Actel is a merger of African Telecom Ltd and Elcor Holdings Ltd; the satellite was renamed Actel 1 (although Elcor is another possible name). AMSC was be moved to 11.5E. The deal fell through in 1999 and AMSC was renamed Motient Corp. in Apr 2000. In 2001, AMSC 1 was owned by Motient Corp. of Reston, Virginia and was operated by Motient Satellite Ventures LLC, a joint venture of Motient and TMI.
| AMSC 1 | |||
| Date | Time | Event | Orbit |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1995 Apr 7 | 2347 | Launch by Atlas IIA | |
| 2349 | Booster BECO | ||
| 2349 | Booster sep | ||
| 2350 | Fairing sep | ||
| 2351 | Sustainer SECO | ||
| 2351 | Atlas sep | ||
| 2351 | Centaur MES1 | ||
| 2357 | Centaur MECO1 | ||
| 1995 Apr 8 | 0012? | Centaur MES2 | |
| 0014? | Centaur MECO2 | ||
| 1995 Apr 8 | 0017 | Separation (1799s) | 186 x 40427 x 26.5 |
| 1995 Apr 8 | 718.25 212 x 40164 x 26.5 | ||
| 1995 Apr 8 | 1840? | LAM-1 | |
| 1995 Apr 9 | 720.89 365 x 40142 x 25.7 | ||
| 1995 Apr 10 | 1800? | LAM-2 | |
| 1995 Apr 11 | 927.00 10064 x 40165 x 9.0 | ||
| 1995 Apr 13? | LAM-3 | ||
| 1995 Apr 13 | 1337.01 27483 x 40164 x 2.9 | ||
| 1995 Apr 15 | 1340? | LAM-4 | |
| 1995 Apr 16 | 1544.81 35666 x 40110 x 0.9 | ||
| 1995 Apr 17 | 0400? | LAM-5 | |
| 1995 Apr 19 | 1435.68 35759 x 35797 x 0.1 GEO 102.4W+0.1E | ||
| 1995 May 21 | 1436.05 35777 x 35794 x 0.1 GEO 101.0W | ||
| 1995 May | Spot beam issues | ||
| 1995 Aug 26 | 1436.10 35776 x 35796 x 0.0 GEO 101.0W | ||
| 1997 Jan 9 | 1436.11 35779 x 35793 x 0.1 GEO 101.1W | ||