[Ed. Note: Go to http://hea-www.harvard.edu/QEDT/jcm/space/jsr/jsr.html for back issues and other information about Jonathan's Space Report.]

Shuttle and Mir

OV-102 Columbia was launched on Nov 19 on the STS-87 science mission. Solid rocket motors RSRM-63 separated two minutes after launch. The orbiter rolled to a heads up position five minutes after launch, in a test of communications via the TDRS comsat. Main engine cutoff and separation of External Tank ET-89 came at T+8 minutes, leaving OV-102 in an elliptical transfer orbit. It then entered a 300 km circular orbit at 28 deg inclination.

Cargo bay payloads are:

 NaSBE       GABA, Bay 2 Stbd      Sodium-Sulfur battery
 EDFT-OTD    APC?, Bay 3 Port      EVA crane
 Foot restraint    Bay 3 Stbd    
 G-036       GABA, Bay 4 Port      High school experiment
 EDFT-ORU    GABA?, Bay 4 Stbd     EVA dummy mass
 Spartan     MPESS, Bay 5          Solar observatory
 TGDF        GABA, Bay 6 Port      Physics of flames experiment
 LHP         GABA, Bay 6 Stbd      Heat pipe technology test
 SOLSE       GABA, Bay 7 Stbd      Ozone study
 USMP-4 Fwd  MPESS, Bay 8          Materials processing
 USMP-4 Aft  MPESS, Bay 9
 OARE        Bay 11 keel           Accelerations
 EDO         Bay 12-13             Extended duration kit

Spartan 201 was released a day late (because of a safemode event on the SOHO satellite whose results it will calibrate), at 2105 UTC on Nov 21. However the satellite did not start its automatic orientation maneuver because the crew failed to send it the correct commands prior to release. Mission specialist Chalwa moved the robot arm in to grapple it again at about 2110 UTC. The grapple was unsuccessful and the Spartan was left tumbling. At 2210 it was decided to move away from Spartan for the day.

Spartan was recaptured at around 0200 UTC on Nov 25. The capture was made by hand, during a spacewalk by Takao Doi and Winston Scott. The astronauts had difficulty berthing it so Chalwa grappled it with the RMS arm and berthed it around 0330 UTC. The spacewalk started at 0002 UTC Nov 25 and ended 0945 UTC; the tests of space station tools went well, but the free-flying Sprint camera subsatellite was not deployed due to lack of time.

Recent Launches

A Resurs-F1M satellite, built by the Progress Central Specialized Design Bureau, was launched on Nov 18 by a Soyuz-U rocket (also built by Progress). It is based on the Vostok/Zenit type bus used since 1960 for spy satellites, civil recoverable satellites, and the Vostok and Voskhod spaceships. On Nov 26 Resurs-F1M was in a 208 x 243 km x 82.3 deg orbit.

Thanks to all the folks at Primex (formerly Olin and Rocket Research) who sent me information on Cakrawarta 1. This is the first geostationary satellite to use a Primex propulsion system for attitude control (with twelve MR-103G thrusters) and stationkeeping (with four MR-501 electrothermal hydrazine thrusters); a Thiokol Star 30E solid motor was used for the apogee burn. (Primex provided small propulsion systems for many other spacecraft, including the Voyager probes.)

Last week I reported a rumour that the classified TRUMPET sigint satellite (whose codename was leaked to the Baltimore Sun a couple years ago) was built by Boeing/Seattle; however, for the record, Aviation Week claims that Hughes/El Segundo is the prime contractor.

Maxim Tarasenko reports that Global Info Systems, the owner of Kupon, is in fact a subsidiary of the Russian central bank. The Kupon, Sirius 2 and Cakrawarta satellites are currently drifting toward their stations in the geostationary ring.

Table of Recent Launches

Date UT       Name            Launch Vehicle  Site            Mission    INTL.
                                                                          DES.

Oct  5 1508   Progress M-36     Soyuz-U       Baykonur LC1     Cargo      58A
Oct  5 2101   Echostar III      Atlas IIAS    Canaveral LC36B  Comsat     59A
Oct  9 1808   Foton No. 11  )   Soyuz-U       Plesetsk         Micrograv  60A
              Mirka         )
Oct 15 0843   Cassini  )        Titan Centaur Canaveral LC40 Saturn probe 61A
              Huygens  )                                      Titan probe 
Oct 16 1913   Apstar 2R         CZ-3B         Xichang         Comsat      62A
Oct 22 1315   STEP M4           Pegasus XL    Wallops I        Technology 63A
Oct 24 0232   Lacrosse 3        Titan 4A      Vandenberg SLC4E  Recon     64A
Oct 25 0046   DSCS III B-13 )   Atlas IIA     Canaveral LC36A  Comsat     65A
              Falcon Gold   )                                  Technology 65B
Oct 30 1343   Maqsat H-Teamsat) Ariane 5      Kourou ELA3      Technology 66A
              Maqsat B        )                                           66B
              YES             )                                           66C
Nov  2 1225   SCD-2A            VLS           Alcantara        Rem.sens.  FTO
Nov  3 0405   Sputnik-40                      Mir,LEO          Demo       58C
Nov  5 0030   GPS 38            Delta 7925    Canaveral LC17A  Navsat     67A
Nov  8 0205   Trumpet 3         Titan Centaur Canaveral LC41   Signal int 68A
Nov  9 0134   Iridium 38 )      Delta 7920    Vandenberg SLC2W Comsat     69E
              Iridium 39 )                                     Comsat     69D
              Iridium 40 )                                     Comsat     69C
              Iridium 41 )                                     Comsat     69B
              Iridium 43 )                                     Comsat     69A
Nov 12 1700   Kupon             Proton        Baykonur LC200   Comsat     70A
Nov 12 2148   Sirius 2     )    Ariane 44L    Kourou ELA2      Comsat     71A
              Cakrawarta 1 )                                   Comsat     71B
Nov 18 1115   Resurs-F1M        Soyuz-U       Plesetk          Rem.sens.  72A
Nov 19 1946   Columbia          Shuttle       Kennedy LC39B    Spaceship  73A
Nov 21 2105   Spartan 201                     OV-102, LEO      Astronomy  73B

Current Shuttle Processing Status

Orbiters               Location   Mission    Launch Due
                                           
OV-102 Columbia        LEO           STS-87  
OV-103 Discovery       OPF Bay 2     STS-91  May 28
OV-104 Atlantis        Palmdale      OMDP
OV-105 Endeavour       OPF Bay 1     STS-89  Jan 15

                                          
MLP/SRB/ET/OV stacks                       
                  
MLP1/                    LC39B         STS-87                         
MLP2/
MLP3/RSRM64              VAB Bay 1     STS-89

[Ed. Note: visit http://newproducts.jpl.nasa.gov/calendar/ for the complete calendar]

December 1997

Dec 01 - Asteroid 3200 Phaethon Near-Earth Flyby (0.309 AU) 
Dec 01 - Asteroid 349 Dembowska at Opposition (9.5 Magnitude) 
Dec 02 - Astra-1G Proton-K Launch 
Dec 02 - Galileo Educators' Workshop, Pasadena, California 
Dec 02 - 5th Anniversary (1992), STS-53 Launch (Discovery), DOD Mission 
Dec 02-04 - Workshop on Ionospheric Determination and Specification for Ocean Altimetry
		and GPS Surface Reflections, Pasadena, California 
Dec 02-05 - Cosmology Symposium, Copenhagen, Denmark 
Dec 02-06 - 2nd Oak Ridge Symposium on Atomic & Nuclear Astrophysics, Oak Ridge, Tennessee 
Dec 03 -  JSCAT 5/Equator S Ariane 4 Launch 
Dec 03 - Comet C/1997 D1 Mueller Closest Approach to Earth (1.416 AU) 
Dec 03 - Asteroid 532 Herculina Occults SAO 189113 (9.0 Magnitude Star) 
Dec 03-05 - AAS National Conference, Pasadena, California 
Dec 04 - GeoSat-FO-1 Taurus 2 Launch 
Dec 04 - RadioAstron Proton Launch (Russia) 
Dec 04 - Glonass Proton-K Launch (Russia) 
Dec 04 - Asteroid 105 Artemis Occults SAO 134036 (6.0 Magnitude Star) 
Dec 04 - Asteroid 1993 KH Near-Earth Flyby (0.330 AU) 
Dec 04-05 - 2nd Annual ANUATC/MSSSO AGN Workshop, Canberra, Australia 
Dec 05 - Mir Spacewalk 
Dec 05 - Iridium Long March 2C Launch 
Dec 05 - Comet Pons-Gambart Perihelion (0.820 AU) 
Dec 06-08 - 1997 Australian Space Research Institute Annual Conference, Melbourne, Australia 
Dec 07 - Chinastar-1 Long March 3B Launch (China) 
Dec 07 - Asteroid 349 Dembowska Occults SAO 76598 (8.7 Magnitude Star) 
Dec 07 - 25th Anniversary (1972), Apollo 17 Launch 
Dec 08 - Galaxy-8i Atlas 2AS Launch 
Dec 08 - 5th Anniversary (1992), Galileo, 2nd Earth Flyby 
Dec 08 - 5th Anniversary (1992), Asteroid 4179 Toutatis Near-Earth Flyby 
Dec 08-12 - 1997 Fall American Geophysical Union (AGU) Meeting, San Francisco, California 
Dec 09 - UoSat-12 Rokot Launch 
Dec 09 - Moon Occults Saturn 
Dec 09 - Venus Passes 2.5 Degrees From Neptune 
Dec 09 - Asteroid 23 Thalia at Opposition (9.2 Magnitude) 
Dec 09 - Asteroid 356 Liguria at Opposition (10.6 Magnitude) 
Dec 10 - Mars Pathfinder Postage Stamp Dedication Ceremony, Pasadena, California 
Dec 10 - Asteroid 10 Hygiea at Opposition (10.3 Magnitude) 
Dec 10 - Comet C/1997 T1 (Utsunomiya) Perihelion (1.34933 AU) 
Dec 10 - Asteroid 5870 Baltimore Closest Approach to Earth (0.896 AU) 
Dec 10 - 20th Anniversary (1977), Soyuz 26 Launch (USSR) 
Dec 10-12 - Looking Deep In The Southern Sky Workshop, Sydney, Australia 
Dec 11 - ORBCOMM-1 Pegasus XL Launch 
Dec 11 - Venus at Greatest Brilliancy (-4.7 Magnitude) 
Dec 12 - Comet Taylor at Perihelion (1.948 AU) 
Dec 12 - Asteroid 7977 (1977 QQ5) Closest Approach to Earth (0.630 AU) 
Dec 12 - Kuiper Belt Object 1995 WY2 at Opposition (46.688 AU - 23.7 Magnitude) 
Dec 13 - Galileo, Orbital Trim Maneuver #38 (OTM-38) 
Dec 13 - DSCS Atlas AC-109 Launch 
Dec 13 - Moon Occults Aldebaran 
Dec 13 - Geminids Meteor Shower Peak 
Dec 13 - 30th Anniversary (1967), Pioneer 8 Launch 
Dec 13 - 35th Anniversary (1962), Relay 1 Launch 
Dec 14 - Astra-2A/ Insat-2E Proton-K Launch 
Dec 14 - Comet Gehrels 2, Closest Approach to Earth (1.3119 AU) 
Dec 14 - 25 Years (1972) Since Man Has Been to the Moon (Apollo 17) 
Dec 14 - 35th Anniversary (1962), Mariner 2 Venus Flyby 
Dec 15 - Galileo, End of Primary Mission, Galileo Europa Mission Begins 
Dec 15 - Asteroid 5184 Cavaille-Coll Closest Approach to Earth (1.167 AU) 
Dec 15 - Edward Barnard's 140th Birthday (1857) 
Dec 15-18 - Workshop on the Evolution of Clusters of Galaxies, Vina del Mar, Chile 
Dec 16 - Galileo, Europa 12 Flyby 
Dec 16 - Iridium-6 Launch 
Dec 16 - Mars Passes 1.6 Degrees South of Neptune 
Dec 16 - Arthur C. Clarke's 80th Birthday (1917) 
Dec 17 - 40th Anniversary (1957), 1st Successful Atlas Launch 
Dec 18 - GEOSAT/ORBCOMM Taurus Launch 
Dec 18 - Asteroid 5634 (1978 VT6) Closest Approach to Earth (1.324 AU) 
Dec 18 - Galileo Lecture, Pasadena, California 
Dec 18-21 - 5th Taipei Astrophysics Workshop, Chung-Li, Taiwan 
Dec 19 - Asteroid 27 Euterpe at Opposition (8.4 Magnitude) 
Dec 20 - Galileo, Orbital Trim Maneuver #39 (OTM-39) 
Dec 20 - Progress M-37 Launch (Russia) 
Dec 20 - Asteroid 1992 BF Near-Earth Flyby (0.1721 AU) 
Dec 20 - Comet C/1997 J1 (Mueller) Closest Approach to Earth (2.479 AU) 
Dec 21 - Winter Solstice (20:07 UT) 
Dec 21 - Asteroid 2102 Tantalus Near-Earth Flyby (0.1379 AU) 
Dec 21 - Asteroid 1994 LX Near-Earth Flyby (0.315 AU) 
Dec 22 - Intelsat 804 Ariane 4 Laun ch 
Dec 22 - Comet Hartley 2 Perihelion (1.032 AU) 
Dec 22 - Venus Passes 1.1 Degrees North of Mars 
Dec 22 - Ursids Meteor Shower Peak 
Dec 23 - Venus Passes 3 Degrees West of Uranus 
Dec 23 - 325th Anniversary (1672), Cassini's Discovery of Saturn Moon Rhea 
Dec 24 - AsiaSat 3 Proton-K Launch 
Dec 24 - Asteroid 3688 Navajo Closest Approach to Earth (1.355 AU) 
Dec 25 - Asteroid 39 Laetitia at Opposition (9.9 Magnitude) 
Dec 25 - Asteroid 2952 Lilliputia Closest Approach to Earth (1.073 AU) 
Dec 25 - Isaac Newton's 355th Birthday (1642) 
Dec 26 - Asteroid 1997 US2 Near-Earth Flyby (0.254 AU) 
Dec 27 - Comet Hale-Bopp at Opposition 
Dec 27 - Mars Passes 0.6 Degrees From Uranus 
Dec 27 - Asteroid 727 Nipponia Occults 44 Eridani (5.6 Magnitude Star) 
Dec 28 - Arthur Eddington's 115th Birthday (1882) 
Dec 29 - 20th Anniversary (1977), Discovery of ALHA77005 (Mars Meteorite) 
Dec 30 - Asteroid 12 Victoria at Opposition (11.0 Magnitude)