Planet4589
May 16th 07, 04:24 PM
Jonathan's Space Report
No. 580 2007 May 16, Beijing
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Station and Shuttle
--------------------
The Progress M-60 cargo ship was launched on May 12, and docked with
the Zvezda port of the Station at 0510 on May 15, bringing supplies
to astronauts Yurchikhin, Kotov and Williams.
Space Shuttle Atlantis is now on pad 39A at Kennedy Space Center,
being prepared for launch on the STS-117 mission.
NFIRE
-----
The NFIRE satellite was launched on Apr 24 by a Minotaur I rocket from
Wallops Island. Orbital's Minotaur I consists of the first two stages of a
Minuteman II ICBM topped by the second and third stages of a Pegasus XL.
For this flight it used the larger 1.5-meter diameter fairing first
flown on Tacsat-2 last year.
NFIRE (Near Field Infrared Experiment) belongs to the US Missile Defense
Agency; its primary payload is the Track Sensor Payload which will
observe missiles specially launched to fly close to it, and attempt to
distinguish between the missile itself and its hot rocket exhaust plume
- a technology relevant to proposed missile interceptors. NFIRE also has
a secondary payload for laser communications and a hydrazine propulsion
system. The spacecraft, built by General Dynamics C4 (formerly Spectrum
Astro), is expected to reach a 495 km orbit with a 49 deg inclination.
AIM
---
NASA's latest Small Explorer, the Aeronomy of Ice in the Mesosphere
mission, was launched on a Pegasus XL on Apr 25.
AIM carries three scientific instruments to study polar mesospheric
clouds: a solar occultation camera, an ultraviolet imager,
and a cosmic dust experiment.
Nigcomsat 1
------------
China launched its second DFH-4 communications satellite on May 13. The
5150 kg payload is Nigcomsat-1, China's first commercial payload sale,
to be operated by Nigerian Communications Satellite Ltd., a
state-owned company under the Nigerian Federal Ministry of Science and
Technology. Nigeria's National Space Research and Development Agency,
under the same ministry, also has a role in the mission, although the
organiztional details are not clear to me.
Ariane 5
---------
An Ariane 5ECA launched two communications satellite payloads on May 4.
Astra 1L was a 4500 kg Lockheed Martin A2100AX satellite with a Ku/Ka-band
payload for SES Astra of Luxembourg. Galaxy 17 is a 4100-kg C/Ku-band
satellite for cable television relay in the US. The Galaxy satellite
fleet, once owned by Hughes Communications and then Panamsat, is now
operated by Intelsat. The satellite is a Spacebus 3000B3, built in
the Cannes satellite plant, once Aerospatiale and then Alcatel,
now Thales Alenia Space.
Table of Recent Launches
-----------------------
Date UT Name Launch Vehicle Site Mission INTL.
DES.
Apr 7 1731 Soyuz TMA-10 Soyuz-FG Baykonur LC1 Spaceship 08A
Apr 9 2254 Anik F3 Proton-M/Briz Baykonur Comms 09A
Apr 11 0327 Haiyang 1B Chang Zheng 2C Taiyuan Imaging 10A
Apr 12 2011 Beidou 5 Chang Zheng 3A Xichang Navigation 11A
Apr 17 0646 MAST ) Dnepr Baykonur Tech 12K
Misr 1 ) Imaging 12A
Saudisat 3 ) Imaging 12B
SaudiComsat-3 ) Comms 12J
SaudiComsat-4 ) Comms 12L
SaudiComsat-5 ) Comms 12H
SaudiComsat-6 ) Comms 12E
SaudiComsat-7 ) Comms 12C
CAPE 1 ) Tech 12P
Aerocube 2 ) Tech 12F
CSTB 1 ) Tech 12R
CP 3 ) Tech 12M
CP 4 ) Tech 12Q
Libertad ) Tech 12
Apr 23 1000 AGILE PSLV Sriharikota Astronomy 13A
Apr 24 0648 NFIRE Minotaur Wallops LA0B Tech 14A
Apr 25 2026 AIM Pegasus XL Vandenberg Science 15A
May 4 2229 Astra 1L ) Ariane 5ECA Kourou ELA3 Comms 16A
Galaxy 17 ) Comms 16B
May 12 0325 Progress M-60 Soyuz-U Baykonur Cargo 17A
May 13 1601 Nigcomsat 1 Chang Zheng 3B Xichang Comms 18A
..-------------------------------------------------------------------------.
| Jonathan McDowell | phone : (617) 495-7176 |
| Somerville MA 02143 | inter : |
| USA | |
--------------------------------------------------------------------------
No. 580 2007 May 16, Beijing
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Station and Shuttle
--------------------
The Progress M-60 cargo ship was launched on May 12, and docked with
the Zvezda port of the Station at 0510 on May 15, bringing supplies
to astronauts Yurchikhin, Kotov and Williams.
Space Shuttle Atlantis is now on pad 39A at Kennedy Space Center,
being prepared for launch on the STS-117 mission.
NFIRE
-----
The NFIRE satellite was launched on Apr 24 by a Minotaur I rocket from
Wallops Island. Orbital's Minotaur I consists of the first two stages of a
Minuteman II ICBM topped by the second and third stages of a Pegasus XL.
For this flight it used the larger 1.5-meter diameter fairing first
flown on Tacsat-2 last year.
NFIRE (Near Field Infrared Experiment) belongs to the US Missile Defense
Agency; its primary payload is the Track Sensor Payload which will
observe missiles specially launched to fly close to it, and attempt to
distinguish between the missile itself and its hot rocket exhaust plume
- a technology relevant to proposed missile interceptors. NFIRE also has
a secondary payload for laser communications and a hydrazine propulsion
system. The spacecraft, built by General Dynamics C4 (formerly Spectrum
Astro), is expected to reach a 495 km orbit with a 49 deg inclination.
AIM
---
NASA's latest Small Explorer, the Aeronomy of Ice in the Mesosphere
mission, was launched on a Pegasus XL on Apr 25.
AIM carries three scientific instruments to study polar mesospheric
clouds: a solar occultation camera, an ultraviolet imager,
and a cosmic dust experiment.
Nigcomsat 1
------------
China launched its second DFH-4 communications satellite on May 13. The
5150 kg payload is Nigcomsat-1, China's first commercial payload sale,
to be operated by Nigerian Communications Satellite Ltd., a
state-owned company under the Nigerian Federal Ministry of Science and
Technology. Nigeria's National Space Research and Development Agency,
under the same ministry, also has a role in the mission, although the
organiztional details are not clear to me.
Ariane 5
---------
An Ariane 5ECA launched two communications satellite payloads on May 4.
Astra 1L was a 4500 kg Lockheed Martin A2100AX satellite with a Ku/Ka-band
payload for SES Astra of Luxembourg. Galaxy 17 is a 4100-kg C/Ku-band
satellite for cable television relay in the US. The Galaxy satellite
fleet, once owned by Hughes Communications and then Panamsat, is now
operated by Intelsat. The satellite is a Spacebus 3000B3, built in
the Cannes satellite plant, once Aerospatiale and then Alcatel,
now Thales Alenia Space.
Table of Recent Launches
-----------------------
Date UT Name Launch Vehicle Site Mission INTL.
DES.
Apr 7 1731 Soyuz TMA-10 Soyuz-FG Baykonur LC1 Spaceship 08A
Apr 9 2254 Anik F3 Proton-M/Briz Baykonur Comms 09A
Apr 11 0327 Haiyang 1B Chang Zheng 2C Taiyuan Imaging 10A
Apr 12 2011 Beidou 5 Chang Zheng 3A Xichang Navigation 11A
Apr 17 0646 MAST ) Dnepr Baykonur Tech 12K
Misr 1 ) Imaging 12A
Saudisat 3 ) Imaging 12B
SaudiComsat-3 ) Comms 12J
SaudiComsat-4 ) Comms 12L
SaudiComsat-5 ) Comms 12H
SaudiComsat-6 ) Comms 12E
SaudiComsat-7 ) Comms 12C
CAPE 1 ) Tech 12P
Aerocube 2 ) Tech 12F
CSTB 1 ) Tech 12R
CP 3 ) Tech 12M
CP 4 ) Tech 12Q
Libertad ) Tech 12
Apr 23 1000 AGILE PSLV Sriharikota Astronomy 13A
Apr 24 0648 NFIRE Minotaur Wallops LA0B Tech 14A
Apr 25 2026 AIM Pegasus XL Vandenberg Science 15A
May 4 2229 Astra 1L ) Ariane 5ECA Kourou ELA3 Comms 16A
Galaxy 17 ) Comms 16B
May 12 0325 Progress M-60 Soyuz-U Baykonur Cargo 17A
May 13 1601 Nigcomsat 1 Chang Zheng 3B Xichang Comms 18A
..-------------------------------------------------------------------------.
| Jonathan McDowell | phone : (617) 495-7176 |
| Somerville MA 02143 | inter : |
| USA | |
--------------------------------------------------------------------------