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Satellite Data Base 31 December 1990 Compiled by: TS Kelso 2340 Raider Drive Fairborn, OH 45324-2001 (513) 427-0546 voice (513) 427-0674 modem (C) Copyright 1988, 1989, 1990, 1991 TS Kelso. All Rights Reserved. Permission granted to copy and distribute for nonprofit purposes. The file SAT.DBF is a dBase II data base containing information on all orbital satellites launched since Sputnik. While there have been many objects placed in orbit since then, this data base is limited to payloads only. The data is current as of 31 December 1990. This update was completed 26 January 1991. The primary source of the information contained in this data base is the NASA Satellite Situation Report, which is a quarterly publication of the NASA Office of Public Affairs. While the Satellite Situation Report does contain all catalogued space objects (either on-orbit, in deep space, or decayed), it does not list names for all of these objects. As a result, other references have been used in an attempt to identify these objects. Primary among these are The R.A.E. Table of Earth Satellites 1957-1982, Jane's Spaceflight Directories, and The Illustrated Encyclopedia of Space Technology. Other sources include magazines such as Aviation Week and Space Technology. Before describing the data base in detail, it should be noted that this data base contains data only for orbital satellites, that is, satellites which attained earth orbit. That means that certain well known launches are not included, in particular, the sub-orbital Mercury flights of Alan Shepard and Gus Grissom. No other ballistic flights or launch aborts are included, either. The data base has the following structure: STRUCTURE FOR FILE: C:SAT .DBF NUMBER OF RECORDS: 04128 DATE OF LAST UPDATE: 01/26/91 PRIMARY USE DATABASE FLD NAME TYPE WIDTH DEC 001 INTDES C 010 002 NAME C 025 003 CATNR N 005 004 SOURCE C 006 005 LAUNCH C 009 006 LSITE C 005 007 DECAY C 009 008 PERIOD N 007 001 009 INC N 005 001 010 APOGEE N 006 011 PERIGEE N 006 012 CODE C 002 ** TOTAL ** 00096 INTDES This is the International Designation for each orbital launch. Prior to 1963, the International Designation was made up of two parts: (1) the launch of the year and (2) the piece of the launch. The launches of each year were designated (in order) by the letters of the Greek alphabet and the pieces of each launch were numbered. This system was more than adequate in the 1950s since there were only a handful of launches each year. In 1961, however, the number of launches exceeded the number of letters in the Greek alphabet, so, launches after the 24th launch of 1961 were preceded with the letter Alpha (which is abbreviated to A in the data base, i.e., A ALPHA, A BETA, etc.). With even more launches in 1962, launches after the 48th were preceded with the letter Beta (i.e., B ALPHA, B BETA, etc.). It was becoming apparent that a new system was required. In 1963 the International Designation was changed to consist of three parts: (1) the year of the launch, (2) the launch of that year (000 through 999), and (3) the piece of that launch (A through ZZ). For example, pieces of the first launch of 1974 would have the International Designation 1974 001?, where the '?' would be replaced with a letter (or letters) designating each piece. STS 1 has International Designation 1981 034A, that is, it was piece 'A' of the 34th launch of 1981. The International Designations are useful in determining where there are holes in the data base. For example, if there was a launch 1968 066, there must also have been a launch 1968 065. While the NASA Satellite Situation Report designates 1968 066A as Explorer 39 and 1968 066B as Explorer 40, there is no payload name associated with launch 1968 065. Usually this results when the payload was a military payload, although sometimes it is simply the result of neglect. Careful research of books and magazines on space have identified some of these payloads but many others are still unidentified. The author continues to try to identify these objects. NAME This field contains the common name of a particular payload. If the name is listed as 'UNIDENTIFIED', it is because no payload or payloads have been identified with that launch. Sometimes it is possible not to know the payload name but to know which piece of that launch was the payload. This situation arises primarily when there was only one piece catalogued for a particular launch, although, The R.A.E. Table of Earth Satellites 1957-1982 and Jane's Spaceflight Directories have been extremely helpful in this regard. When the type of payload is known, but not the name, the identification is enclosed in brackets. CATNR This is the Catalog Number assigned to each space object. These numbers are assigned by the North American Air Defense Command (NORAD). It is NORAD's responsibility to track all objects on-orbit and determine their orbits. These numbers are assigned when the object is first catalogued. As of the 31 December 1990 Satellite Situation Report there are currently over 21,000 objects catalogued by NORAD (21,046 to be exact) with 6,748 of these objects still on-orbit. SOURCE This is the source of the payload. Usually, the source of the payload is the same as the source of the launch, but not always. For instance, the US launches payloads for many other countries and organizations (e.g., NATO or ESA). The following is a list of source codes (as used in this data base) and their meanings: ARGENT Argentina AUSTRL Australia BRAZIL Brazil CANADA Canada CZECH Czechoslovakia ESA European Space Agency ESRO European Space Research Organization FRANCE France FR/FRG France/Federal Republic of Germany FRG Federal Republic of Germany INDIA India INDNSA Indonesia ISRAEL Israel ITSO International Telecommunications Satellite Organization ITALY Italy JAPAN Japan LUXEMB Luxemburg MEXICO Mexico NATO North Atlantic Treaty Organization NETH Netherlands PAKIST Pakistan PRC People's Republic of China SAUDI Saudi Arabia SPAIN Spain SWEDEN Sweden UK United Kingdom US United States of America USSR Union of Soviet Socialist Republics LAUNCH The date that the object was launched or deployed. Prior to the advent of the US Space Shuttle, this was the date that the object(s) lifted off the launch pad. However, launch dates for objects deployed from the Space Shuttle are considered to be the date that they were deployed, not the date that the Space Shuttle was launched. All dates are Zulu dates. LSITE This refers to the launch site from which the object was launched. As of this release, there are currently 15 launch sites around the world. The codes and their meanings are: AFETR Air Force Eastern Test Range, Florida, USA AFWTR Air Force Western Test Range, California, USA CHINA Chinese Launch Complex, PRC FRGUI French Guiana HGSTR Hammaguira Space Track Range KSCUT Kagoshima Space Center - University of Tokyo, Japan KYMSC Kapustin Yar Missile and Space Complex, USSR PLMSC Plesetsk Missile and Space Complex, USSR SCMTR Shangchengtze Missile Test Range, PRC SRILR Sriharikota Launching Range, India SNMLP San Marco Launch Platform, Indian Ocean (Kenya) TANSC Tanegashima Space Center, Japan TYMSC Tyuratam Missile and Space Center, USSR WLPIS Wallops Island, Virginia, USA WOMRA Woomera, Australia WUZLF Wuzhai Launch Facility, PRC XICLF Xi Chang Launch Facility, PRC YAVNE Yavne Launch Facility, Israel DECAY This is the decay status for the object. If the object has already decayed, the date of the decay is listed. In some cases, a specific date is not given because the actual date was not known precisely. In these cases, usually just the month and year are given. If the object has not decayed, the status of the satellite orbit is given. The Decay Status Codes are listed below: EARTH ORB Earth Orbit (Geocentric) SOLAR ORB Solar Orbit (Heliocentric) LUNAR ORB Lunar Orbit (Selenocentric) MARS ORBT Mars Orbit (Areocentric) VENUS ORB Venus Orbit BARYCNTRC Barycentric Orbit SS ESCAPE or SSET Solar System Escape Trajectory CENM Current Elements Not Maintained ELNA Elements Not Available In the future, orbiters around Jupiter will require additional codes. The remaining fields contain basic information describing the orbit of payloads in earth orbit. For payloads which have already decayed, these fields contain values representative of that object's orbit at some time prior to its decay. For on-orbit objects whose elements are not available or not maintained, values from earlier epochs are provided, if available. It should be noted, however, that these values may not be truly representative of that object's current orbit. These fields are described below. PERIOD The orbital period of the satellite in mean solar minutes. INC The orbital inclination of the satellite in degrees. APOGEE The satellite altitude (distance above the earth's surface) at apogee in kilometers. PERIGEE The satellite altitude at perigee in kilometers. CODE Finally, the last field is provided to assign special codes to payloads to aid in their categorization. Currently, three codes are in use: M, D, L, and O. M preceded by a number indicates that the payload was manned, with the number being the size of the crew. If M is preceded by a ?, the size of the crew was not known, probably because it was a secret military mission. L and D are used to indicate that a conflict exists between the available sources of information as to the Launch or Decay date of the payload. O is used to indicate a conflict on orbit type. Other codes may be used in the future to designate the primary function of a payload (e.g., surveillance, weather, earth resources, communications, scientific, etc.). Sleuthing To present an idea of how to go about identifying space objects which are unidentified in the Satellite Situation Report, I will present a few examples. These should give a flavor for the various ways of identifying these space objects and may even get you hooked on the chase! NOTE: These examples were included in the first release of this data base. While subsequent use of The R.A.E. Table of Earth Satellites 1957-1982 and Jane's Spaceflight Directory 1987 have confirmed these deductions, these examples remain illustrative of the approach to be used. (1) In 1963, the launch designated B NU has no identified payload. While we can infer that there was indeed a launch and that there were three pieces associated with that launch (B NU 1, B NU 2, and B NU 3), we have no way of knowing which object was the payload or what the payload was. Now, normally the payload is the first object identified with the launch, but this can be a misleading assumption without further evidence. In this case, pieces 1 and 2 have decayed and piece 3 is in a heliocentric orbit. This could suggest that piece 3 is the payload. So far, we have conflicting information. But let's examine the information more closely. This launch was a Soviet launch occurring on 1 November 1962 and was the only Soviet launch in the period 25 October - 3 November. The Illustrated Encyclopedia of Space Technology, on page 150, shows that on this date the Soviets launched the Mars 1 spacecraft. Due to equipment failure it missed Mars and would have gone into a heliocentric orbit. Hence, B NU 3 is Mars 1! (2) The first launch of 1963 (1963 001) was also a Soviet launch, occurring on 4 January 1963. It is not identified in the Satellite Situation Report. Reference to The Illustrated Encyclopedia of Space Technology shows that the Soviets conducted an unannounced Luna-series lunar soft-landing attempt which only achieved earth orbit. All three catalogued pieces decayed shortly thereafter. Without additional information, there is no way of specifying which piece was the payload and we can only say that it decayed in January 1963. [Use of The R.A.E. Table of Earth Satellites 1957-1982 indicates that 1963 001A is believed to be Sputnik 25.] (3) While reading through The Illustrated Encyclopedia of Space Technology in the Chapter entitled "Military Space Systems", we find the following reference on page 82: Ironically, the most mysterious satellite is not a reconnaissance craft but a military Comsat -- the Satellite Data System. Launched into a highly elliptical orbit similar to that used by the Russian Molniya Comsats, it is used to communicate with US nuclear forces in the polar regions. No photos of this satellite have been released and disclosure of orbital elements is delayed. The first was launched in August 1973. Examining the launches for August 1973 reveals that there were only two US launches that entire month (other than the one supporting Intelsat 4 F-7) and that one of them was a Defense Meteorological Satellite Program (DMSP) satellite. Therefore, the remaining launch, on 21 August, must have been the first Satellite Data System launch (SDS 1). And true to the reference, the current elements are not maintained. [The R.A.E. Table of Earth Satellites 1957-1982, however, shows this to be the second SDS launch. Yet Jane's Spaceflight Directory 1986 seems to suggest that this payload is not SDS 1 or 2, illustrating the difficulty of determining the identity of military payloads.] Many of the previously unidentified objects were eliminated in just such a fashion. Unfortunately, there are still many more (250+ objects) left to be identified. But the search will continue! Final Comments While this data base is a fairly comprehensive source of data on orbital satellites, it still has ways to go to be really complete. Many satellites remain to be identified and there are bound to be a few errors that slipped by the very thorough checking and cross-checking. If any errors are found, please notify me either by mail at the address listed at the beginning of this document or leave a message on the Celestial BBS, (513) 427-0674. I will continue to attempt to identify all the satellites and update the data base semi-annually with the release of the Satellite Situation Report. Any information regarding the identity of the remaining unidentified objects will be welcome. Please send information, including reference(s), to me by mail or leave me a message on the Celestial BBS. - TS Kelso References 1. Aviation Week and Space Technology. 2. The Complete Encyclopedia of Space Satellites, Giovanni Caprara, New York: Portland House, 1986. 3. Deep Black: Space Espionage and National Security, William E. Burrows, New York: Random House, 1986. 4. The Encyclopedia of US Spacecraft, Bill Yenne, New York: Exeter Books, 1985. 5. The Encyclopedia of Soviet Spacecraft, Douglas Hart, New York: Exeter Books, 1987. 6. Guardians: Strategic Reconnaissance Satellites, Curtis Peebles, Novato, CA: Presidio Press, 1987. 7. The History of Manned Spaceflight, David Baker, New York: Crown Publishers, Inc., 1981. 8. The Illustrated Encyclopedia of Space Technology, Kenneth Gatland, New York: Harmony Books, 1981. 9. Jane's Spaceflight Directory, Reginald Turnill (Editor), London: Jane's Publishing Company Limited, 1984. 10. Jane's Spaceflight Directory 1986, Reginald Turnill (Editor), London: Jane's Publishing Company Limited, 1986. 11. Jane's Spaceflight Directory 1987, Reginald Turnill (Editor), London: Jane's Publishing Company Limited, 1987. 12. Jane's Spaceflight Directory 1988-89, Reginald Turnill (Editor), London: Jane's Publishing Company Limited, 1988. 13. The Pictorial History of World Spacecraft, Bill Yenne, New York: Exeter Books, 1988. 14. The R.A.E. Table of Earth Satellites: 1957-1982, D.G. King-Hele, et al., New York: John Wiley & Sons, 1983 (Second Edition). 15. Satellite Situation Report, NASA, Project Operations Branch, Code 513, Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, MD. 16. The Soviet Manned Space Program: An Illustrated History of the Men, the Missions, and the Spacecraft, Phillip Clark, New York: Orion Books, 1988.