Jonathan's Space Report No. 110 1992 Apr 13 ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Apr 12 marked the 31st anniversary of the first human space flight by Yuriy A. Gagarin. The replenishment of the Commonwealth spy satellite system continues with the launch of Kosmos-2183 by Soyuz from Baykonur in Kazakhstan on Apr 8 around 1230 UTC. Kosmos-2183 is one of the SNG's most advanced class of spy satellite, parallel to the US KH-11, and should remain operational for over 6 months. The initial orbit of Kosmos-2183 was probably 180x270 km; on Apr 9 it moved to its operational 240x293 km orbit inclined 65 deg to the equator. List of Kosmos-2183 type satellites launched to date: [Advanced Recon C] Code Name Launch Reentry Life Initial orbit Op'l orbit ARC1 Kosmos-1426 1982 Dec 28-1983 Mar 4 66 202x356x50.5 200x340x50.5 ARC2 Kosmos-1552 1984 May 14-1984 Nov 3 173 184x315x64.9 236x327x64.9 ARC3 Kosmos-1643 1985 Mar 25-1985 Oct 18 207 184x278x64.9 222x295x64.8 ARC4 Kosmos-1731 1986 Feb 7-1986 Oct 3 238 180x264x64.8 230x260x64.8 ARC5 Kosmos-1770 Aug 6-1987 Feb 2 180 181x281x64.8 239x283x64.8 ARC6 Kosmos-1810 Dec 26-1987 Sep 11 259 187x275x64.8 247x265x64.8 ARC7 Kosmos-1836 1987 Apr 16-1987 Dec 2 230 180x291x64.8 241x293x64.8 ARC8 Kosmos-1881 Sep 11-1988 Mar 30 201 180x290x64.8 232x276x64.8 ARC9 Kosmos-1936 1988 Mar 30-1988 May 18 49 183x269x64.8 230x298x64.8 ARC10 Kosmos-2007 1989 Mar 23-1989 Aug 25 155 182x278x64.8 230x285x64.8 ARC11 Kosmos-2049 Nov 17-1990 Jun 19 214 231x282x64.8 ARC12 Kosmos-2072 1990 Apr 13-1990 Nov 21 222 183x252x64.8 240x287x64.8 ARC13 Kosmos-2113 Dec 21-1991 Jun 11 172 180x283x64.8 240x282x64.8 ARC14 Kosmos-2153 1991 Jul 10-1992 Mar 13 247 182x251x64.9 241x281x64.9 ARC15 Kosmos-2183 1992 Apr 8- 240x293x64.9 The Commonwealth also launched a Gorizont C-band communications satellite into geostationary orbit on Apr 2. The payload is probably owned by the RKA (Russian Space Agency). The launch occurred at about 0200 UTC and the payload and Blok-DM fourth stage were placed in a 150 km orbit inclined 51.6 degrees to the equator. The Blok-DM ignited to place the combination in a transfer orbit of 250 x 35600 km at 47 degrees, and then re-ignited at apogee to enter a 1425 minute circular equatorial orbit, following which the payload separated. Insertion occurred around 90 deg E longitude and Gorizont drifted east at 2 deg/day until Apr 8 when it braked; late on Apr 8 it was at 103 deg E drifting W at 0.4 deg/day, suggesting that it is a backup to the 23rd Gorizont satellite, launched in Jul 1991 and currently on station at 103.2 deg E. Space Shuttle mission STS-49, the maiden flight of orbiter Endeavour, is still planned for early May. ____________________________________________ |Current STS status: | |Orbiters Location Mission | | | |OV-102 Columbia OPF Bay 3 STS-50 | |OV-103 Discovery OPF Bay 2 Mod | |OV-104 Atlantis OPF Bay 1 STS-46 | |OV-105 Endeavour LC39B STS-49 | | | |ML/SRB/ET/OV stacks | | | |ML1/ | |ML2/STS-49/ET/OV-105 LC39B | |ML3/STS-50/ET VAB Bay 3 | -------------------------------------------- .-----------------------------------------------------------------------------. | Jonathan McDowell | phone : (617) 495-7176 | | Harvard-Smithsonian Center for | | | Astrophysics | | | 60 Garden St, MS4 | | | Cambridge MA 02138 | inter : mcdowell@cfa.harvard.edu | | USA | | '-----------------------------------------------------------------------------'