Monday, May 7, 2007
Saturday, May 5, 2007
Friday, May 4, 2007
DART
2005-014A
48 kg NASA/Orbital experiment, Demonstration of Autonomous Rendezvous Technology. Mass 350 kg, size 1.8m long 1.0m dia. The DART AVGS payload is attached to the HAPS fourth stage of the Pegasus launch vehicle and has propulsion, AVGS, RCS, batteries, and communications. DART is an MSFC project which grew out of the VGS experiment on the Spartan-201 satellite carried on STS-87 and STS-95.
HAPS capacity is 57 kg prop and has three 220N thrusters. The AVGS bus has 16 cold-gas 3.5N, Isp=60s N2 thrusters with 23 kg prop capacity. It is 0.6m dia 0.6m long (0.9m long with GPS antenna etc) while HAPS is 1.0m dia 1.0m long.
Rendezvous with MUBLCOM at 150m R-bar stationkeep. The entire mission is preprogrammed, without ground command during flight. The misson was monitored at VAFB's DART Mission Ops Center. After reaching 95m to MUBLCOM, DART detected that it was unexpectedly low on fuel and moved away to abort the mission. Post-flight analysis revealed that DART had collided with MUBLCOM due to multiple software and algorithmic problems.
The TLEs for DART show it in the MUBLCOM orbit until Apr 18; no TLEs for MUBLCOM exist for Apr 16-18. OSC reports the DART safing burn was on Apr 16; I conclude that the DART TLEs for Apr 17-18 actually belong to MUBLCOM.
| DART | |||
| Date | Time | Event | Orbit |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2005 Apr 15 | 1627 | L-1011 T/O from VAFB | |
| 1726:50 | Drop | ||
| 1726:55 | T+0:05 S1 burn 11.5 km 0.442 km/s | ||
| 1728 | T+1:17 S1 off 63.1 km 1.606 km/s | ||
| 1728 | T+1:35 S2 on 88.0 km 2.429 km/s | ||
| 1728 | T+1:50 Fairing 108.6 km 2.710 km/s | ||
| 1729 | T+2:48 S2 off 216.1 km 5.428 km/s | ||
| 1735:21? | Stage 2 sep | ||
| 1735:30 | T+8:40 S3 on | ||
| 1736:35? | T+9:45? S3 off 7.545 km/s 0.0 deg | 400 x 547 x 97.7 | |
| On orbit checkout in phasing orbit 1 | |||
| 1738:41? | S3 sep | ||
| 1738:45? | HAPS burn 1 | ||
| 1739:20? | HAPS cutoff | 500 x 756 x 97.7 | |
| Phasing orbit 2 | |||
| 2005 Apr 16 | HAPS burn 2 | ||
| 0055? | T+7:29:00 HAPS burn 2 cutoff | 739 x 742 x 97.7 | |
| T+7:29:00 DART 40 km behind and 7.5 km below MUBLCOM | |||
| T+7:55:42 DART CW Transfer burn 1A?, to range 3 km | |||
| T+8:36:49 DART stationkeep at 3 km | |||
| T+8:51:49 DART CW transfer burn 2A?, to range 1 km | |||
| T+10:08:05 DART stationkeep at 1 km | |||
| 0340? | T+10:13:05 Approach to 95m | 740 x 746 x 97.7 | |
| X-1:23 Collision avoidance activated | |||
| 0418:46 | X+0:00 Impact MUBLCOM | ||
| T+11hr, X+0:03:49 Retreat to 300m | |||
| 1047 | 740 x 751 x 97.7 | ||
| 2005 Apr 16 | 1715:45 | Retirement burn | |
| 1724:11 | Safed | ||
| 1753:09 | Transmitter on to deplete battery | ||
| 2005 Apr 18 | 394 x 746 x 97.7 | ||
| Planned DART proxops | |||
| Date | Time | Event | Orbit |
|---|---|---|---|
| T+11:10:34 -Vbar rendezvous at 15m | |||
| T+12:59:20 Stationkeep at 15m on target docking axis | |||
| T+13:06:31 Approaches to 5m with avoidance tests | |||
| T+13:43:12 Retreat to -100m on Vbar | |||
| T+14:21:35 Simulated avoidance | |||
| T+14:29:53 Retreat to -200m on -Vbar | |||
| T+15:23:48 Flyaround to +Rbar (nadir) at 150m | |||
| +Rbar approach to 100m | |||
| +Rbar retreat to 300m | |||
| Flyaround to +Vbar, -Rbar, -Vbar | |||
| Second -Vbar approach to 200m | |||
| Flyaround to +Rbar, rerendezvous | |||
| T+19:59:23 Second +Rbar approach to 100m | |||
| Retreat to 300m | |||
| T+20:22:26 HAPS Retirement burn, lower perigee | |||
Thursday, May 3, 2007
Tuesday, May 1, 2007
Monday, April 30, 2007
Sunday, April 29, 2007
Friday, April 27, 2007
Haiyang 2
2007-010A
Haiyang 1B is an ocean color studies and tech demo satellite,mass 440 kg.
| HY-1B | |||
| Date | Time | Event | Orbit |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2007 Apr 11 | 0327 | CZ-2C | TYSC |
| 0338? | CZ-2C VECO | ||
| 0340? | Stage 2 sep | ||
| 100.84 783 x 813 x 98.6 | |||
Wednesday, April 25, 2007
Hinode
2006-041A
ISAS SOLAR-B was launched on the final M-5 in 2006. It was named Hinode ('Rising Sun') and carried optical and X-ray solar telescopes. The satellite involved NASA's participation under the Solar-Terrestrial Probe series of the Sun-Earth Connection theme, with an optical instrument package developed by Lockheed's Palo Alto solar group and an X-ray telescope developed by Lockheed and the Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory. The SOLAR-B satellite was built by MELCO.
The 0.5-meter SOT has a resolution of less than 0.1 arcsec across a few-arcmin field of view; the EIS and XRT reach 1 arcsecond with a much larger field 1/2 degree field of view.
The M-V-7 has a launch mass of 140t. It carried subsatellites HIT-SAT and SSSAT.
Hinode's Mass is 900 kg. Box + 2 panels, span is 10.3m. Size is 1.6m x 3.8m.
A - payload B - solid C - slow decay after 2 days D - rapid decay E - slow decay F - payload Gslow Hslow Jmed K
| SOLAR B | |||
| Date | Time | Event | Orbit |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2006 Sep 22 | 2136 | Launch by M-V-7 | USC |
| T+1:15 St 1 sep | |||
| T+1:15 St 2 burn, 140 km | |||
| T+3:06 Fairing sep | |||
| T+3:20 St 2 sep | |||
| T+3:22 St 3 nozzle extension | |||
| T+3:25 St 3 burn | |||
| 2141 | T+5:11 St 3 burnout, 300 km | ||
| T+5:47 Begin reorientation | |||
| T+6:40 End reorientation | |||
| 2144 | T+8:30 Stage 3 sep | ||
| 2149 | T+13:50 HIT-SAT sep | ||
| 2152 | T+16:30 SSSAT sep | ||
| 2209 | T+33:30 Solar panels deploy | ||
| 2006 Sep 22 | 94.11 271 x 678 x 98.3 | ||
| 2006 Sep 25 | TCM-1 | 94.54 318 x 674 x 98.3 | |
| 2006 Sep 27 | TCM-2 | 96.24 482 x 674 x 98.3 | |
| 2006 Oct 2 | TCM-3 | 98.44 674 x 694 x 98.1 | |
| 2006 Oct 23 | 98.45 674 x 695 x 98.1 | ||
Payload:
- SOT 0.5m solar optical telescope
- FPIP NASA/ Lockheed-Palo-Alto focal plane instrument package for optical telescope
- BFI broadband filter imager
- NFI narrowband filter imager
- SP spectropolarimeter
- XRT Solar-B XR telescope for coronal studies. (Golub/SAO) 0.35m aperture single-shell Wolter II.
- EIS EUV imaging spectrometer
Tuesday, April 24, 2007
Wednesday, April 18, 2007
Monday, April 16, 2007
Corona SAR Test
1964-087A
The launch on Dec 21, 1964 was particularly mysterious. Its low orbit led previous analysts to lump it with the CORONA missions, but the orbit was not quite consistent with that assumption, and it was not included in the official list of 145 bona fide CORONA flights.
In 1995 Maj-Gen David Bradburn, former director of USAF Special Projects, reported at a USAF Space History conference that this launch was the first he was in charge of. Minutes before launch, a hold was called because of an approaching train on the line through Vandenberg. However, soon after it was reported that the train had been held up further up the line, and the go was given to resume the count. Washington got two messages in quick succession: `Holding for train' and `Launch!' - and Bradburn got a reputation as the man who launched over the train.
The Vandenberg launch report and launch photo confirm that one SRV was carried and that the orbit attained was close to the one planned. Bradburn stated that the spacecraft operated for four days and completed its mission successfully. He hinted that a couple of further vehicles in the series were cancelled as unneccessary.
The launch was carried out under Program 698BK, which also included the Ferret and NRL multiple launches.
So what was FTV 2355? Clearly it was an experimental rather than an operational mission. The following possibilities came to mind:
- An NSA electronic intelligence mission to characterize some kind of radio frequency interference or propagation problem. The altitude seems a little low for this, and the recoverable capsule argues against it.
- A test of an improved camera for a non-CORONA program, such as KH-7.
- A USAF Program 461 radiometric mission, to provide infrared radiometry data for MIDAS early warning satellites. This was one of the most likely options, but the declassified SAMSO histories of MIDAS do not mention such a mission.
The fact that FTV 2355 was flown under Program 698BK and not Program 241 suggested to me that this was a USAF-sponsored mission rather than a CIA one.
Dwayne Day solved the problem, finding out that the mission was codenamed QUILL and was a test of an active radar (SAR, synthetic aperture radar), based on work done by the University of Michigan's Environmental Research Institute.
The radar data were recorded on tape and returned to Earth via the SRV. The mission was managed by the Air Force (NRO Program A). It was also known as P-40 (possibly Program 40).
In 2012 the program was declassified. It was also known as P-40. The KP-II SAR unit was a modified version of Goodyear's AN/UPQ-102 aircraft-borne pulsed Doppler system with a 0.06 x 0.6 x 4.6m 9.6 GHz SAR antenna flush with the Agena body. The battery powered system was planned for a 4 day mission, and the radar operated on 14 passes over the US (NRO was worried that operating an active radar over the USSR would alert the Soviets). The data was both written to tape for recovery and sent on a UHF data link during ground station pases. The data reached 2.3 meter resolution. QUILL used a Mark VA recovery vehicle, S/N 588, with a TE-236A retro. The TE-236A has a mass of 28 kg full 10 kg dry with an Isp of 260s, burn time of 10s, and DeltaV of 381 m/s.
The first part of the Hawaii pass data with recovery timeline on LMSC Vol 3, page 4-12 appears to be in error by 1000 seconds (separation at 72356s) versus the timeline of page 7-5 (separation at 73356s) which seems to match the orbital data much better.
On insertion Agena 2355 yawed 180 deg to fly tail first. The 126 kg difference between MECO and 'On Orbit' is presumably post-MECO vernier adjustments.
The payload was commanded via the Vandenberg (VTS) and New Hampshire (NHS) tracking stations. Sunnyvale controlled the spacecraft.
| FTV 2355 | |||
| Date | Time | Event | Orbit |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1964 Dec 21 | 1908:56 | Thor SLV-2A Agena D | V 75-1 Pad 1 |
| 1910:01 | Castor sep (T+1:05) | ||
| 1911:26 | Thor MECO (T+2:30) | ||
| 1911:35 | Thor VECO (T+2:39) | ||
| 1911? | SAR fairing separation | ||
| 1911:43 | Thor sep (T+2:47) | ||
| 1912:07 | Agena burn (T+3:11) | ||
| 1916:08 | Agena MECO (T+7:12) | 89.56 244 x 293 x 70.11 (VCR) | |
| 2306 | 89.54 226 x 277 x 70.1 | ||
| 1964 Dec 22 | 0644 | First radar operation | |
| 1964 Dec 22 | 2259 | 89.51 236 x 263 x 70.1 | |
| 1964 Dec 23 | Rev 33 , ejected and recovered | ||
| 2005 | Over 76E 48N northbound | ||
| 2019? | Pitch down | ||
| 2022 | Over 160W 52N southbound | ||
| 2022:36 | SRV sep | ||
| S+10s Retro burn ignition | |||
| S+20s Retro burn complete | |||
| S+21s despin | |||
| 2022:58 | S+22s T/C sep | ||
| 2024:11 | Voltage Monitor Closed | ||
| Entry | |||
| 2031:49 | G-switch open | ||
| 2032:24 | Forebody sep | ||
| 2032:35 | S+10min Chute | ||
| 2052:33 | Aircraft look-see pass | ||
| 2055:55 | S+33:19? Recovery - MAR 23 38N 143 45W | ||
| 2103:24 | SRV on aircraft | ||
| 1964 Dec 24 | 1516 | 89.51 231 x 268 x 70.1 | |
| 1964 Dec 25 | 0230 | 89.5 238 x 264 x 70.08 (RAE) | |
| 1964 Dec 26 | 0618 | Last radar pass | |
| Battery failed on orbit 72-73 | |||
| 1964 Dec 26 | End of operations | ||
| 1965 Jan 6 | 2014 | 88.81 208 x 222 x 70.1 | |
| 1965 Jan 10 | 0822 | 88.15 170 x 194 x 70.1 | |
| 1965 Jan 11 | 1027 | Reentered after 21.6d, rev 335, over S Atlantic | |
Saturday, April 14, 2007
Kosmos 2345
1997-041A
The Kosmos-2345 satellite was launched in Aug 1997. The Proton-K reached a 53 degree parking orbit instead of the usual 51.6 degree one because of a launch crew targeting error. This led to a 50 degree transfer orbit instead of a 46 degree one, and a final elliptical geosynchronous orbit of 34941 x 37747 km instead of a circular one of 35805 x 35917 km. The DM first burn appears to have been on the fifth orbit.
Kosmos-2345 was an Oko-S class satellite, Initial position is 14W with drift to 24W. Space Command seems to have had problems tracking the satellite, with element sets oscillating between an object at 23W and an object at 27W. After early 1999 it tracked an object drifting slowly away from the 25W position, which may or may not have been K-2345.
| Kosmos-2345 | |||
| Date | Time | Event | Orbit |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1997 Aug 14 | 2049:14 | Launch by Proton-K | KB |
| 2058 | Stage 3 sep | ||
| 164 x 190 x 53.2 | |||
| 1997 Aug 14 | 0400? | Blok DM-2 burn 1 | |
| 1997 Aug 15 | 621.85 227 x 35282 x 49.9 (TLE) | ||
| 0900? | DM2 burn 2 | ||
| 0920? | DM2 sep | ||
| 1997 Aug 17 | 1400 | 1433.95 35737 x 35752 x 0.09 GEO 1.4W+0.5/d | |
| 1745 | 1433.91 35736 x 35750 x 0.09 GEO 1.3W+0.5/d | ||
| 1997 Aug 20 | 1433.88 35736 x 35749 x 0.1 GEO 0.0W+0.5E | ||
| 1997 Aug 21 | 1438.87 34316 x 37365 x 1.3 GEO 16.6W+0.7W | ||
| 1997 Aug 29 | 1436.96 34298 x 37273 x 1.3 GEO 22.1W | ||
| 1997 Sep 17 | mv out | ||
| 1997 Oct 1 | mv in | 1436.07 35021 x 36550 x 1.2 GEO 26.3W | |
| 1997 Oct 6 | 1436.06 35021 x 36550 x 1.2 GEO 25.7W | ||
| 1997 Dec 1 | 1436.23 35033 x 36544 x 1.1 GEO 26.9W | ||
| 1998 May 20 | 1436.00 35040 x 36529 x 0.8 GEO 23.4W | ||
| 1998 Jun 28 | 1436.16 35041 x 36534 x 0.7 GEO 22.7W | ||
| 1999 Jan 27 | 1436.22 35070 x 36507 x 0.3 GEO 23.4W+0.05W | ||
| 1999 Jan 30 | mv out, drift | ||
| 1999 Apr 23 | 1435.82 35075 x 36487 x 0.1 GEO 20.0W | ||
| 1999 Oct 16 | 1435.89 35070 x 36494 x 0.3 GEO 10.6W+0.04E | ||
| 2002 Aug 29 | 1437.91 35132 x 36511 x 2.7 GEO 62.5E+0.5W | ||
Thursday, April 12, 2007
SJ-8
2006-035A
"Seed satellite" (shijian baohao yuzhong weixing). carried 215 kilograms of seeds of vegetables, fruits, grains and cotton.
Based on FSW. Launch 2006 Sep 9; landed in Sichuan province Sep 24.
| SJ-8 | |||
| Date | Time | Event | Orbit |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2006 Sep 9 | 0700 | Launch by CZ-2C | JQ |
| Stage 2 burn | |||
| 0710? | Stage 2 MECO | ||
| Stage 2 sep | 177 x 445 x 63.0 | ||
| 2006 Sep 24 | 0223? | Deorbit | |
| 2006 Sep 24 | 0243 | Landed | |
DSP-18
1997-008A
The DSP 18 satellite was launched by the first Titan 4B in Feb 1997. The Titan 4B placed the IUS/DSP combination in a 185 x 759 km parking orbit, a much higher apogee than earlier launches. The two stage IUS then carried the DSP to geostationary orbit. The craft was stationed at the Indian Ocean position until the end of 2001 when it was moved to a reserve position.
| DSP 18 | |||
| Date | Time | Event | Orbit |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1997 Feb 23 | 2020 | Launch by Titan 4B | CC LC40 |
| 2022 | Core ignition T+130s | ||
| 2022 | SRM sep at T+143s | ||
| 2025 | Stage 2 ig. T+320s | ||
| PLF sep | |||
| 2028 | Stage 2 cutoff T+8:45 | ||
| 2028 | Stage 2 sep | 94.0 185 x 759 x 28.6 (UN) | |
| 2137? | IUS SRM-1 | ||
| 1997 Feb 24 | 0240? | IUS SRM-2 | |
| 1997 Feb 24 | 0300? | DSP sep from SRM-2 | |
| 1997 Feb 25? | Cover sep | 35231 x 36767 x 1.43 (UN) | |
| 1997 Jul | GEO 70E | ||
| 1999 Jan | GEO 70E | ||
| 2001 Nov | mv out | GEO 70E | |
| 2002 Feb? | mv in | GEO 104E | |
| 2003 Mar | GEO 104E | ||
| 2003 Nov | GEO 103E | ||
Kosmos 2343
1997-024A
This was the 250th launch of the Soyuz-U from Baikonur. Kosmos-2343 reentered on Sep 18 after 126 days. The capsule recovery dates are not publicly available: in the satellite database, I use fiducial dates of May 31, Jun 15, Jun 30, Jul 12, Jul 28, Aug 12, Aug 26, Sep 16 and a fiducial deorbit burn of 225 m/s.
| Kosmos-2343 | |||
| Date | Time | Event | Orbit |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1997 May 15 | 1210:00 | Launch by Soyuz-U | KB LC31 |
| 1214 | Blok-A sep | ||
| 1219 | Blok-I sep | ||
| 1230 | 89.39 196 x 292 x 64.9 | ||
| 1500 | 89.44 169 x 324 x 64.9 | ||
| 1997 May 16 | 0400 | 89.38 170 x 316 x 64.9 | |
| 1997 May 19 | 0200 | 89.80 205 x 323 x 64.9 | |
| 1997 May 23 | 0200 | 89.73 204 x 317 x 64.9 | |
| 1997 May 28 | 89.61 202 x 307 x 64.9 | ||
| 1997 May 28 | Orbit raise | 89.97 202 x 343 x 64.9 | |
| 1997 Jun 4 | 89.81 200 x 329 x 64.9 | ||
| 1997 Jun 4 | Orbit raise | 90.04 216 x 336 x 64.9 | |
| 1997 Jul 13 | 89.317 201 x 279 x 64.9 | ||
| 1997 Jul 13 | Orbit raise | 89.95 207 x 336 x 64.9 | |
| 1997 Jul 14 | Orbit raise | 89.97 204 x 340 x 64.9 | |
| 1997 Aug 5 | 89.48 196 x 300 x 64.9 | ||
| 1997 Aug 6 | Orbit raise | 89.79 210 x 317 x 64.9 | |
| 1997 Aug 12 | 89.67 208 x 307 x 64.9 | ||
| 1997 Aug 13 | Orbit raise | 89.97 210 x 335 x 64.9 | |
| 1997 Aug 21 | 89.80 203 x 325 x 64.9 | ||
| 1997 Aug 22 | Orbit raise | 90.18 243 x 323 x 64.9 | |
| 1997 Aug 26 | 90.16 243 x 320 x 64.9 | ||
| Orbit lower | 89.98 230 x 315 x 64.9 | ||
| 1997 Sep 8 | 89.78 227 x 299 x 64.9 | ||
| 1997 Sep 18 | 88.48 181 x 216 x 64.8 | ||
| 1997 Sep 22 | Deorbited | ||