Re: USA-32 et al.

Phillip Clark (psclark@dircon.co.uk)
Sun, 18 May 1997 18:24:41 +0100 (BST)

On Sun, 18 May 1997, VideoCosmos wrote:

> Hi everybody,
> Of three satellites launched by first three Titan 23G's,
> USA-32 (19460, 1988-078A) and USA-81 (21949, 1992-023A) are
> regularly observed and are relatively easy to see. On the
> contrary, I've never seen a mention of USA-45 (20220, 1989-072A)
> observed.
> Does the fact mean that USA-45 was of another type or just
> that this bird was missed initially due to some difficulties
> and never recovered? If the latter is true, we can possibly
> re-discover it with some assumptions on the structure of this
> constellation. If I modelled USA-32 and USA-81 correctly, USA-81
> plane is 90 deg to the West of USA-32. Maybe USA-45 is
> 90 deg to the East, or it bissects the 32/81 spacing? What do
> you think?

This is the revised write-up which I have prepared for the new edition of 
Jane's Space Directory:-

        -----------------
        TITAN-23G FERRETS
        -----------------
        The latest class of ferret satellites was not identified 
        until 1992 when Russia's TASS news agency reported on 22 
        April that a third ELINT satellite was about to be 
        launched on a Titan-2.   In fact, only three launches 
        appear to have taken place in this series.
        
        The first launch which used a Titan-23G vehicle placed 
        USA 32 into a near-circular 85 deg, 790 km orbit in 
        September 1988.   Although a White Cloud payload had 
        been expected for the Titan launch, this orbit was 
        totally unlike those found within the White Cloud 
        programme.   A year later USA 45 launched, but TASS 
        claimed that a technical failure had meant that the 
        satellite burned up in the atmosphere seven days after 
        launch.   The USAF claimed that the launch had been 
        successful, suggesting that the fault had been with the 
        satellite itself (similar to the Landsat 6 loss four 
        years later).   USA 81 was launched in April 1992 and in 
        1995 it was claimed that the programme had ended.
        
        Amateur visual observers have tracked USA 32 and USA 81 
        in orbit and the orbits in the accompanying table are 
        based upon these observations.   The orbital plane of 
        USA 81 is 90 deg to the west of that for USA 32.   
        Apparent confirmation that USA 45 was a similar 
        satellite comes from the fact that its orbital plane 
        would have been 90 deg to the east of that for USA 32 if 
        it had reached the same 85 deg, 790 km orbital slot.
        
        
        --------------------------------------------------------
        Launches of Titan-23G Ferret Missions
        
        Launch Date  Satellite  Incl   Period   Perigee   Apogee
                                 deg     min       km       km
        
        1988 Sep  5   USA 32    85.0    100.6     784       791 
        1989 Sep  6   USA 45          Low Earth Orbit ?
        1992 Apr 25   USA 81    85.0    100.7     792       792
        
        In the absence of orbital data from USSPACECOM the 
        orbits shown above are based upon visual observations of 
        the first and third satellites: USA 45 appears to have 
        remained in a low orbit from which it decayed on 13 
        September 1989.
        --------------------------------------------------------

Phillip Clark

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Phillip S Clark                                       25 Redfern Avenue
Molniya Space Consultancy                             Whitton
Compiler/Publisher, Worldwide Satellite Launches      Middx   TW4 5NA
Editor, Jane's Space Directory                        U.K.
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