SPACEWARN Bulletin, SPX-563
                  
  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 September 2000 and 30 September 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)
           -------------------------------------------------------
            2000-058A (26552)  COSMOS 2373               29 Sep            
            2000-057E (26549)                            26 Sep
            2000-057D (26548)                              "
            2000-057C (26547)                              "
            2000-057B (26546)                              "
            2000-057A (26545)                              "
            2000-056A (26538)  COSMOS 2372               25 Sep
            2000-055A (26536)  NOAA 16                   21 Sep
            2000-054B (26495)  GE 7                      14 Sep
            2000-054A (26494)  ASTRA 2B                  14 Sep
            2000-053A (26489)  STS 106                   08 Sep
            2000-052A (26487)  EUTELSAT W1               06 Sep
            2000-051A (26483)  SIRIUS 2                  05 Sep
            2000-050A (26481)  ZHANGGUO ZIYUAN 2         01 Sep

B.  Text of Launch Information

2000-058A  COSMOS 2373, also known as KOMETA 20, is a Russian cartographic 
           satellite that was launched from Baikonur by a Soyuz-U rocket at
           09:30 UT. Its orbit will have a short life of 60 days during which 
           one or more capsules carrying the films will be landing. The initial 
           orbital parameters were period 89 min, apogee 265 km, perigee 185 
           km, and inclination 70.37 deg.

2000-057A, A Russian rocket named Dnepr launched five microsatellites. The 
057B,057C, rocket is a modified RS-20 ICBM, known in the NATO countries as SS-18
057D,057E  and as Satan, and was launched from a silo in Baikonur at 10:05 UT.
           The five satellites are not yet matched with the International IDs,
           but we report them in random  order as follows. TIUNGSAT 1 is a 
           Malaysian remote sensing 50 kg satellite. The 56 kg MEGSAT is an 
           Italian environment monitoring satellite. The 10 kg UNISAT is also 
           an Italian satellite and would aid educational advancement. The 10 
           kg SAUDISAT 1A and SAUDISAT 1B are Saudi Arabian educational 
           satellites. The initial orbits of all five were similar: period 97
           min, apogee 737 km, perigee 522 km, and inclination 65 deg. A later
           issue of the Bulletin will carry the matched names and IDs of all
           five.

2000-056A  COSMOS 2372, also named as Yenisey and as Orlets 2, is a Russian 
           military photo reconnaissance spacecraft that was launched by a 
           Zenit 2 rocket from Baykonur at 10:20 UT. The 12 tonne spacecraft is 
           fitted with 22 capsules to carry and land the high resolution 
           photographs. Unlike previous photo reconnaissance spacecraft 
           which had functioned only for two to three months, this one is 
           expected to function for a year. The initial orbital parameters were
           period 90.1 min, apogee 364 km, perigee 220 km, and inclination 
           64.8 deg.

2000-055A  NOAA 16 is an American weather monitoring satellite that was 
           launched by a Titan 2 rocket from Vandenberg AFB at 10:22 UT. The
           2,200 kg cylindrical (diameter 2 m, length 4 m) spacecraft carries 
           several atmospheric and weather monitoring instruments. The AVHRR-3
           (Advanced High Resolution Radiometer) has six wavelength channels 
           (0.58-0.68, 0.625-1.00, 1.58-1.64, 3.55-3.93, 10.30-11.30, and 11.50-
           12.50 microns) of which the first three monitor the backscattered 
           solar energy, and the second three monitor the emissions from land, 
           sea, and clouds, all with a spatial resolution of 1.1 km. The HIRS-3
           (High-resolution Infrared Sounder) monitors the atmosphere at 19 
           closely spaced channels so as to derive the vertical temperature 
           profile out to an altitude of 40 km. The AMSU-A and AMSU-B 
           (Advanced Microwave Sounding Unit) capture the microwave emissions.
           AMSU-A operates in 15 channels covering 23.8-89.0 GHz, and AMSU-B
           in five channels covering the 89-183 GHz band to derive the
           tropospheric water vapor profile. The SBUV-2 (Solar Backscatter 
           Ultra Violet) instrument derives the ozone profile by monitoring the
           incident and backscattered radiations in 12 wavelength bands 
           covering the 252-340 nm band. In addition to the atmospheric 
           instruments, the spacecraft also carries a SEM-2 instrument to 
           monitor  kilovolt and megavolt electrons and protons. The data are
           stored on board and released over Fairbanks, AK and Wallops Island,
           VA. Initial orbital parameters were period 102.1 min, apogee 850
           km, perigee 843 km, and inclination 98.8 deg.

2000-054B  GE 7 is an American geosynchronous communications spacecraft that 
           was launched by an Ariane 5 rocket from Kourou at 22:54 UT. The two
           tonne spacecraft will provide direct-to-home television, voice and
           data transmission through its many C-band transponders after 
           parking over 137 deg-W.

2000-054A  ASTRA 2B is a European (Luxembourg-registered) geosynchronous
           communications spacecraft that was launched by an Ariane 5 rocket
           from Kourou at 22:54 UT. It will provide digital video broadcasts to
           most of Europe through its 30 high power Ku-band transponders 
           after parking over 28.2 deg E longitude. 

2000-053A  STS 106 is an American shuttle spacecraft that was launched from 
           Cape Canaveral at 13:00 UT. It carried 2.5 tonnes of cargo to dock
           with and deliver to the ZVEZDA module of the ISS. The seven-person
           crew of cosmonauts and astronauts worked also to unload the cargo 
           from an earlier-launched PROGRESS M1-3 craft into the ZVEZDA module,
           and to repair, furbish, or refurbish the machines and batteries on 
           board ZVEZDA and ZARYA modules. The shuttle landed back in Cape
           Canaveral at 07:56 UT on 20 September, after a 12 day mission. 
           Initial orbital parameters were period 92.2 min, apogee 386 km,
           perigee 375 km, and inclination 51.6 deg.

2000-052A  EUTELSAT W1 is a European geosynchronous communications spacecraft 
           of that consortium that was launched by an Ariane 4 rocket from
           Kourou at 22:33 UT. The EUTELSAT-W constellation now has four 
           members including the W2, W3, and W4 that had been launched earlier.
           The 1,300 kg (dry) satellite will provide voice and video 
           transmission to Europe and southern Africa through its 28 Ku-band
           transponders after parking over 10 deg-E longitude.

2000-051A  SIRIUS 2, also known as SD-RADIO 2 is an American geosynchronous 
           communications spacecraft that was launched by a Proton-K rocket 
           from Baikonur at 09:44 UT. It will enable S-band digital radio
           broadcasts (music, news, and entertainment) directly or through urban
           relay stations to motorists in North America. The SIRIUS 
           constellation will be completed with the launch of a third 
           spacecraft later this year.

2000-050A  ZHANGGUO ZIYUAN 2, also known as PRC 44 and as ZY 2, and meaning 
           China Resource 2, is a Chinese remote sensing spacecraft that was
           launched by a Long March 4B rocket from Taiyuan launch center at 
           03:25 UT. It will monitor crop yields and natural disasters, and
           enable urban planning. Initial orbital parameters were 94.4 min,
           apogee 499 km, perigee 483 km, and inclination 97.4 deg.

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. 

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
------------         -----------                  ----------
1994-050H (23210) R/B Proton-K                      26 Sep
2000-053A (26489) STS 106          Landed on        20 Sep
1998-023E (25310) R/B Delta 2                       17 Sep
1977-091A (10362) COSMOS 955                        07 Sep
2000-051B (26484) R/B Proton-K                      06 Sep
1996-037B (23941) R/B Pegasus                       05 Sep
1994-021G (23049) R/B R/B Proton-K                  04 Sep
1989-101E (20399) R/B that launched COSMOS 2054     03 Sep
1981-058A (12547) COSMOS 1278                       02 Sep
2000-049B (26478) R/B Proton-K                      30 Aug


    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.)

    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/nmc/sc-query.html
===========================================================================

                         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.