SPX-557
                     SPACEWARN Activities

  A publication of NASA NSSDC/WDC for Satellite Information, and the 
       World Warning Agency for Satellites, for COSPAR/ISES.

    (All information in this publication was received between
                1 March 2000 and 31 March 2000.)

A.  List of New International Designations and Launch Dates (UT).
    (USSPACECOM Catalog numbers are in parentheses.)
        
        COSPAR/WWAS USSPACECOM  SPACECRAFT           
            INT.ID    CAT. #      NAME           LAUNCH DATE (2000)
           -------------------------------------------------------
            2000-017A (26113)     IMAGE                 25 March
            2000-016B (26108)     INSAT 3B              21 March 
            2000-016A (26107)     ASIASTAR              21 March
            2000-015A (26106)     FREGAT RB/CLUSTER 2   20 March
            2000-014A (26102)     MTI                   12 March
            2000-013A (26098)     EXPRESS 2A            12 March

B.  Text of Launch Announcements.

2000-017A  IMAGE (Imager for Magnetopause-to-Aurora Global Exploration) is an 
           American magnetospheric science spacecraft that was launched by a 
           Delta 2 rocket from Vandenberg AFB at 20:35 UT. The 494 kg, 250 W, 
           spin-stabilized (2 min period) octagonal (2.25 m wide and 1.52 m 
           high) spacecraft carries six instruments: HENA (High Energy Neutral 
           Atom; 10-500 keV) imager, MENA (Medium Energy Neutral Atom; 1-30 
           keV) imager, LENA (Low Energy Neutral Atom; 10-500 eV) imager, FUV 
           (Far Ultra-Violet) imager, EUV (Extreme Ultra Violet) imager, and 
           RPI (Radio Plasma Imager). HENA, MENA, and LENA synthesize images 
           from the arrival directions and mass/energy of each neutral 
           particle. (The energetic neutrals form an ephemeral population when 
           energetic ions charge-exchange with the thermal population.) 
           FUV carries three separate detectors: WIC (Wide Angle Camera) to 
           image aurora in a broad band and at high spatial resolution, SI 
           (Spectroscopic Imager) to image aurora at selected wavelengths, and
           GEO (GEOcorona) to image overall magnetospheric hydrogen atoms. RPI
           consists of a pulsed transmitter (stepped 3 kHz to 3 MHz, 134 W 
           peak) and a receiver, backed by a radial dipole of 500 m length, 
           another orthogonal 500 m dipole, and an axial 20 m dipole, to get 
           echoes from boundary regions in the magnetosphere. Finally, the EUV
           imager images the population of He+ through the resonantly scattered
           solar radiation at 30.4 nm wavelength. More details are available 
           from http://image.gsfc.nasa.gov and the links from it. Initial 
           orbital parameters were period 856 min, apogee 45,995 km, perigee 
           993 km, and inclination 89.9 deg.

2000-016B  INSAT 3B is an Indian geosynchronous communications spacecraft
           that was launched by an Ariane 5 rocket from Kourou at 23:29 UT.
           The 2,070 kg (with fuel), 1.7 kW, triaxially stabilized spacecraft
           carries 12 Ext-C-band (15 W), and three Ku-band (55 W) transponders
           for rural educational and health service programs receivable by the
           thousands of VSATs (Very Small Aperture Terminals) in India, and a 
           single S-band mobile satellite service (MSS) transponder for 
           relaying voice, data, and facsimilies from/to mobile telephones 
           with suit case sized "terminals", after parking over 83 deg-E 
           longitude. On 28 March, it was moved from the transfer orbit to 
           the geosynchronous orbit and its solar arrays were deployed by the 
           Master Control Facility in Hasan, located in southern India. 

2000-016A  ASIASTAR is an American geosynchronous communications spacecraft
           that was launched by an Ariane 5 rocket from Kourou at 23:29 UT. 
           The 2,777 kg, 5.6 kW, triaxially stabilized spacecraft will relay
           digital radio broadcasts to East Asia after parking over 105 deg-E 
           longitude.

2000-015A  FREGAT RB/CLUSTER 2 is a Russian experimental upper stage rocket 
           body (FREGAT), and a dummy payload (CLUSTER 2) to simulate the
           soon (June/July 2000) to be launched ESA's CLUSTER mission. FREGAT
           is a reusable rocket and was described in the launch text of
           FREGAT (2000-009A) contained in SPX.556. The separation of the 
           rocket body and the dummy was not planned, but the separation was 
           simulated successfully. The couplet was launched by a Soyuz-U rocket
           from Baikonur at 18:28 UT. It is likely that after these and more 
           successful launches of the Fregat rocket, future commercial or 
           scientific launches of the Soyuz-Fregat combine will take place from
           French Guiana. Initial orbital parameters were period 320 min, 
           apogee 18,019 km, perigee 245 km, and inclination 64.6 deg.

2000-014A  MTI (Multi-spectral Thermal Imager) is an American quasi-military 
           reconnaissance spacecraft that was launched by a Taurus rocket from
           Vandenberg AFB at 09:23 UT. The program is cosponsored by the 
           Deparment of Energy, Office of Nonproliferation and National 
           Security. The 587 kg spacecraft carries visible and infrared
           sensors in 15 spectral bands to spot cooling ponds adjacent to 
           nuclear reactors and dust content associated with uranium ore 
           processing. The collected data will also have spin-off benefits to 
           civilian research involving atmospheric ozone, water vapor, and 
           such. More details are available at http://nis-www.lanl.gov/
           nis-projects/mti/. Initial orbital parameters were period 96.6 
           min, apogee 614 km, perigee 577 km, and inclination 97.4 deg.

2000-013A  EXPRESS 2A is a Russian geosynchronous communications spacecraft
           that was launched from Baikonur by a Proton-K rocket at 04:07 UT. 
           (USSPACECOM had tentatively named it EXPRESS 6A.) The 2,600 kg 
           spacecraft carries 12 transponders in C-band and five in Ku-band to 
           provide voice, data, and video communications in Russia from the 
           parked longitude of 80 deg-E, supplementing the existing fleet of 
           seven GORIZONTs, two EXPRESSes and an EKRAN-M. EXPRESSes are 
           scheduled to replace the aging GORIZONT fleet.
  
C. Spacecraft Particularly Suited for International Participation.

   1. Spacecraft with essentially continuous radio beacons on frequencies
less than 150 MHz, or higher frequencies if especially suited for
ionospheric or geodetic studies.  (NNSS denotes U.S. Navy Navigational
Satellite System. Updates or corrections to the list are possible only with
information from the user community.)

      THE FULL LIST APPEARED IN SPX 545. (See http://nssdc.gsfc.nasa.gov/
      spacewarn/)
      THE LIST WILL NOT BE REPEATED IN  FUTURE ISSUES, UNTIL SIGNIFICANTLY
      REVISED AGAIN.
      
    2. Global Positioning System satellites useful for navigational purposes
and geodetic studies.  ("NNN" denotes no national name.  SPACEWARN Bulletin
appreciates suggestions to update this list. An asterisk [*] denotes changes in
this issue. High precision [< 20 cm] GPS constellation tracking data obtained
from the network of about 80 dedicated global stations that are of interest to
geodetic study may be obtained through the following services provided
by the International Association of Geodesy [IGS]).

                FTP:    igscb.jpl.nasa.gov  [directory /igscb]
                WWW:    http://igscb.jpl.nasa.gov/
                E-Mail: igscb@cobra.jpl.nasa.gov

The standard format of the GPS situation appeared in SPX-518. It will not be
repeated since an excellent source of trajectory- and science-related GPS
information is at URL
http://www.utexas.edu/depts/grg/gcraft/notes/gps/gps.html#DODSystem.
It provides many links to GPS-related data bases.

    3. Russian Global Navigational (Positioning) Spacecraft, GLONASS
constellation. (SPACEWARN requests updates or additions from readers to this
list. An asterisk [*] indicates updates or additions to the list.)

All GLONASS spacecraft are in the general COSMOS series. The COSMOS numbers
invoked by USSPACECOM have sometimes differed from the numbers (NNNN)
associated in Russia. The operating frequencies in MHz are computed from the
channel number K. Frequencies (MHz) are L1 = 1602.0 + 0.5625K and L2 = 1246.0 +
0.4375K. The standard format of the GLONASS situation appeared in SPX-545.
It will not be repeated in view of the excellent updated source, with the URL
http://www.rssi.ru/SFCSIC/, or http://www.rssi.ru/SFCSIC/english.html,
maintained by the Coordinational Scientific Information Center (CSIC), Russian
Space Forces.

    4. Actual decays or landings of payload spacecraft and rocket bodies (R/B)
only. No further information is available.

Designations         Common Name                  Decay Date, 2000
------------         -----------                  ----------
1990-093B     (20919) R/B Delta 2                   26 Mar
1979-032A     (11331) COSMOS 1093                   23 Mar
1985-074A     (15977) MOLNIYA 1-64                  22 Mar
1999-062E     (25965) R/B Soyuz-U                   19 Mar
1999-047H     (26060) R/B Proton-K (Aux. motor)     15 Mar
2000-013B     (26099) R/B Proton-K                  14 Mar
1996-034F     (23887) R/B Proton-K                  12 Mar
1999-058E     (25947) R/B Soyuz-U                   04 Mar
1993-067B     (22876) R/B Cosmos                    02 Mar

    5. Miscellaneous Items. (This section contains information or data that are
entered on occasion and may not be repeated in each issue of the SPACEWARN
Bulletin.)

Here are more changes to the names/IDs of the satellites, as reported by the 
USSPACECOM:

1998-023B (25307) GLOBALSTAR 6; 1998-023D (25309) GLOBALSTAR 8;
1999-058B (25944) GLOBALSTAR M059; 1999-058C (25945) GLOBALSTAR M056;
1999-059D (25946) GLOBALSTAR M031.

2000-004J (26091) PICOSAT 3; 2000-004K (26092) PICOSAT 4;
2000-004L (26093) PICOSAT 5; 2000-004M (26094) PICOSAT 6.

2000-013A (26098) EXPRESS 2A; 1997-029A (24834) FENGYUN;
1997-029C (25611) FENGYUN 2 AKM.

    6. Related NSSDC resources.

NSSDC/WDC for Satellite Information is an archival center for science data
from many spacecraft. Many datasets are on-line for electronic access, through
the URL,
               http://nssdc.gsfc.nasa.gov/space
For off-line data, please contact the Request Office, NSSDC, Code 633, NASA
GSFC, Greenbelt, Maryland 20771, U.S.A., for specific information (REQUEST@
NSSDCA.GSFC.NASA.GOV). Information on the current status of the instruments
on board from the investigators will be most welcomed. Precomputed trajectory
files and orbital parameters of many magnetospheric and heliospheric science-
payload spacecraft may be FTP'ed as follows:
            FTP nssdc.gsfc.nasa.gov
            name: user anonymous
            password: your name@node
            cd pub/orbits

Other files interest for Earth-centered s/c can be generated thru the URL,
                  http://sscweb.gsfc.nasa.gov/
Codes related to the heliospheric spacecraft trajectories can be executed
through the URL,
                 http://nssdc/space/helios/heli.html
Descriptions of many spacecraft, experiments and datasets are available
through links from
                  http://nssdc.gsfc.nasa.gov/
===========================================================================

                         SPACEWARN Bulletin

The bulletin is intended to serve as an international communication medium
for the rapid distribution of information on satellites and space probes.  The
material it contains is based on guidelines in the COSPAR Guide to Rocket and
Satellite Information and Data Exchange, COSPAR Transactions #8, December 1972,
and various Committee on Space Research (COSPAR) resolutions.

All bulletins beginning with January 1991 (SPX-447) are now available on line;
the SPX number increases by one for each succeeding month (for example, the
January 1993 bulletin is SPX-471).

The bulletin may be accessed through the World Wide Web (WWW). The URL is
http://nssdc.gsfc.nasa.gov/spacewarn/

Users are encouraged to submit their comments and suggestions for the
improvement of this bulletin to SPACEWARN Bulletin: WWAS@NDADSB.GSFC.NASA.GOV.

Categories of Spacecraft

To improve the effectiveness of international distribution of satellite and
space probe information via the SPACEWARN system, spacecraft are identified in
categories according to the urgency and detail of information needed by the
scientific community as follows:

CATEGORY 1:  Spacecraft that carry essentially continuous telemetry or radio
beacons, usually on frequencies less than 150 MHz.

CATEGORY 2: GPS constellation of positioning/navigational spacecraft.

CATEGORY 3: GLONASS constellation of positioning/navigational spacecraft.

CATEGORY 4: Occasionally, a list of bright, orbiting objects of visual
magnitude 4 or brighter.

The bulletin also carries launch dates, international IDs, and USSPACECOM
catalog numbers, followed by a brief outline of the payload and orbital
parameters, re-entry of major objects, and miscellaneous sections.
These data are based on launch announcements or on information received from
individuals, launching authorities, FBIS and USSPACECOM emails, news
papers, and some Web sites.