Friday, January 20, 2012

Comstar 4

 1981-018A


The final Comstar satellite was launched in 1981. G. Falworth's newsletter reported an apogee burn time of 2336 UTC Feb 24, but the post launch MOR reported a Feb 23 burn and the TLEs prefer a burn around 2130 UTC on Feb 24.

In late 2001 D4 was relocated over 69E after purchase by SSC Parallax as Parallax 1. In Apr 2002, Tongasat (Friendly Islands Satellite Communication Ltd ) bought the satellite and renamed it Esiafi 1. The satellite began to drift off station in early 2004, and oscillated between 70E and 80E. In 2011 Tongasat still claimed to be operating the satellite but it is not clear whether the vehicle was really still active.


Comstar D4 
 

DateTimeEventOrbit  

1981 Feb 21  2323  Launch by Atlas Centaur  LC36A 
  Azimuth 101 deg 
  T+2:23 Booster sep 
  T+3:33 Fairing 
  T+4:17 SECO 
  T+4:19 Atlas sep 
  T+4:25 MES-1 5:02 
 2332 T+9:35 MECO-1  180? x 1800? x 27.0  
 2346 T+23:42 MES-2 1:24 
 2348 T+25:06 MECO-2  554 x 36526 x 20.7  
 2351 T+28:34 Centaur sep 
  T+30:31 Centaur venting  636 x 36345 x 20.4 
1981 Feb 22    652.27 552 x 36518 x 20.7 
 0600? Apo 1 over 85E 
 1600? Apo 2 over 80W 
1981 Feb 23  0300? Apo 3 over 120E 
 1400? Apo 4 over 40W 
1981 Feb 23  2336?  SVM-4A apogee firing 42s 
1981 Feb 24  0030  Apo 5 over 150E 
 1200? Apo 6 over 10W 
 2230  Apo 7 over 178W 
1981 Feb 24  2136?  SVM-4A apogee firing 42s 
1981 Feb 24  2336?  SVM-4A apogee firing 42s 

1981 Mar 3  

  1425.91 35385 x 35788 x 0.2 GEO 147.9W+2.5E 
1981 Mar 9    1435.30 35385 x 35788 x 0.2 GEO 142.6W+0.2E 
1981 Mar 12    1436.07 35146 x 36426 x 0.3 GEO 140.2W 
1981 Mar 22    1436.19 35771 x 35805 x 0.3 GEO 142.2W 
1981 Apr 14    1436.07 35774 x 35798 x 0.3 GEO 142.5W 
1981 Apr   Move to 127W 
1981 May 4    1436.14 35777 x 35797 x 0.2 GEO 127.3W 
1982 Jan    GEO 127W 
1983 Oct 6    1436.07 35783 x 35788 x 0.1 GEO 127.0W 
1984 Jan    GEO 127W 
1985 Sep   Ownership to AT&T;  GEO 127W 
1985 Sep 9    1436.08 35783 x 35789 x 0.0 GEO 127.1W 
1985 Sep   Move to 75W 
1985 Oct 17    1435.97 35778 x 35789 x 0.2 GEO 75.3W 
1985 Nov    GEO 76W 
1986 Mar 26    1436.20 35785 x 35791 x 0.2 GEO 75.5W 
1990 Aug 18    1436.17 35784 x 35791 x 4.3 GEO 76.0W 
1992 Aug 5    1436.14 35786 x 35788 x 6.1 GEO 76.0W 
1994 Dec 17    1436.07 35782 x 35789 x 7.9 GEO 76.0W 
1997 Feb 24    1436.08 35774 x 35798 x 9.2 GEO 75.9W 
1999 Apr 23    1436.11 35784 x 35789 x 10.3 GEO 75.9W 
2001 Jul 4    GEO 76W 
2001 Jul 20   Move out 
2001 Dec   Arrive at 70E 
2001 Dec 3    1436.06 35772 x 35799 x 11.2 GEO 70.3E 
2003 Sep 1    1436.04 35770 x 35800 x 11.8 GEO 70.3E 
2004 Jan   Begin drift between 70E and 80E. 
2004 Aug 7    1435.95 35773 x 35793 x 12.4 GEO 78.9E+0.03E

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