NORAD switches 75-82 A and B; 78-18 A and B

Bart De Pontieu (BDP@MPE.MPE-GARCHING.MPG.DE)
Fri, 05 Jan 1996 18:53:22 +0100 (CET)

The latest Satellite Situation Report contains the following entries :

 8197 75-082A  KIKU 1 (ETS 1)        JPN   105.9  47.0  1102   975   2.1
 8352 75-082B  N-1 R/B               JPN   105.9  47.0  1099   972   1.7
10674 78-018A  UME 2 (ISS-B)         JPN   107.2  69.4  1220   974   1.9
10675 78-018B  N-1 R/B               JPN   107.1  69.4  1216   973   1.7

I think NORAD has switched the payload and the rocket in both cases. 
78- 18 B is really the payload Ume 2, and 75- 82 B is really the payload
Kiku 1.

Ume 2 has a twin sister which was launched in 1976, called Ume 1. In 
'Solar Terrestrial Environmental Research in Japan' of 1981, I found an
article about the Ume-satellites. Ume 2 was an identical copy of Ume 1. It
was launched because Ume 1 failed after a few months in orbit.
Ume 2 (also called Ionospheric Sounding Satellite - ISS b) is a small
cylindrical satellite about 0.7 meters high and 0.8 meters in diameter. It
has 4 huge booms. Two of 36.8 m, two of 11.4 m (from tip-to-tip). The pairs 
are diametrically located with respect to the cylinder axis. The satellite 
was originally spin stabilized with a nominal spin rate of 13.6 rpm 
(i.e. 4.41 seconds). 

Guess what the initial flash periods of 78-18 B (as reported in the PPAS
archive of the Belgian Working Group Satellites) were ? 

Name     Date     Time (UT)  Obs                FP    Remarks
-------------------------------------------------------------------
78- 18 B 78-03-28 19:35.7    PW             40  2.20  F'fF'f
78- 18 B 78-04-06 19:51.7    PW             50  2.196 F'fF'f
78- 18 B 78-07-23 21:13.4    BD   44.1      20  2.21  F'F'F'Mffff
78- 18 B 78-08-18 23:05:58   BD             20  2.21
78- 18 B 78-08-24 20:46:38   BD             60  1.11
78- 18 B 78-08-24 22:04:30   BD             40  1.11
78- 18 B 78-08-28 20:46:38   BD   66.5      60  1.108 dp, F'F'Mffff
78- 18 B 78-08-28 22:36:52   BD             20  2.22
78- 18 B 78-09-03 21:36      LA             10  2.18
78- 18 B 78-09-03 21:37      KDL            45  2.24
78- 18 B 78-09-04 20:48      KDL            15  2.22
78- 18 B 78-09-04 20:50.4    PW             50  2.264 F'fF'f
78- 18 B 78-10-11 04:39      VB             52  2.224 F'F'
78- 18 B 78-12-05 18:01.0    PW             75  2.244 F'fF'f
78- 18 B 78-12-06 17:16.0    PW                 2.241 F'fF'f
78- 18 B 79-03-24 20:21:17   BD             10  2.24
78- 18 B 79-04-27 21:26.5    PW             40  2.41
78- 18 B 79-06-25 00:51:47   BK             20  1.12
78- 18 B 79-07-17 21:35:31   BD   44.7      20  2.23
78- 18 B 80-08-14 21:40:44   BD   45.9      20  2.29
78- 18 B 82-12-20 18:36:30   HK   31.2 0.1  13  2.40  mag +6.3-inv
78- 18 B 83-01-16 04:36      HK        1.4  20  2.360 mag +5.3-inv

ISS-b worked for 2-3 years (haven't found exact information).

The flash periods reported initially are just too close to the spin rate
to be coincidence. Also, look at what PW reports : F'fF'f
(i.e. a bright specular flash, followed by a fainter specular one, etc...)
That is exactly what you would expect from a set-up with 4 booms, 2 big
ones and 2 small ones.

76- 19 A (Ume 1) is identical in appearance (to 78- 18 B) : specular
flashes with a low and almost constant period.

What about the rockets ?
The late German observer Horst Koehnke observed 76-19 B 20 times between 1976 
and 1980. It was steady 5 times, slowly var 13 times and twice seen flashing 
(once with 3.48 and once with 2.20). The latter two observations are
possibly occasions where HK was observing 76-19A. Average mag over all these 
passes was 7.85.
HK observed 78-18 A 3 times, once steady and twice slowly var.
Average mag was 8.6. And Mike McCants has 'a couple of observations of 78 18A 
at intrinsic magnitude 7'.
The N-1 third stage is pretty faint and usually not flashing.

The correct identification of 78- 18 B as Ume 2 has been a well known fact
for a long time in the Belgian Working Group Satellites, thanks to the late
Horst Koehnke. 

That NORAD has possible also switched A and B in the 75- 82 launch is something
new. One of those two objects (75- 82 A and 75- 82 B) is identical with ETS-I
(Engineering Test Satellite) , also called Kiku 1. On p. 981 of Astronautica
Acta, vol. 7, there is an interesting picture of ETS-I. It looks remarkably
similar to Ume 2, i.e. it has four long booms and is covered with solar
cells. The main body is a 26-hedron with about 80 cm diameter. It was also
spin-stabilized, unfortunately I haven't been able to find the nominal
spin rate of this satellite. The list of observations (as reported in the
PPAS of the BWGS) contains several indications that 75- 82 B is the payload 
and not the rocket !

75- 82 B 76-03-19 19         HB                 4.35  different max

The different max probably refers to the set-up with two different sets
of antennae.

75- 82 B 76-03-20 20         HB                 4.35  different max
75- 82 B 76-03-28 19         HB                 8.72  different max
75- 82 B 76-08-07 22         HB                 2.2   different max

The reporting of a double and a half period fit in perfectly with the four
antennae set-up.

75- 82 B 76-08-08 21         HB                 8.85  different max
75- 82 B 76-08-15 21         HB                 4.45  different max

75- 82 B 76-10-07 04         RE             10  4.25
75- 82 B 76-11-01 18         HB                 4.25  different max
75- 82 B 77-03-13 19         HB                 9.0
75- 82 B 77-08-01 21         LA                 9.21  sf
75- 82 B 77-08-04 22         HB                 9.2   sm
75- 82 B 77-08-05 22         HB                 4.6   sm
75- 82 B 81-10-01 20:21:36   BK             57  2.681

I know that ETS-1 was functional until April 1980 at the least, which may
be reflected in the very limited change of the spin period during the time
after launch.

Furthermore, the initial flash period lies very close to the initial
spin period of Ume, probably not a coincidence.

Though the case is less strong than for Ume 2, just based on analogy, I
think it's safe to say that NORAD screwed up also with the 75- 82 launch.

It would be interesting to have recent observations of 75- 82 B and 75- 82 A.
If NORAD hasn't switched them by now, I would be willing to bet a lot of
money on it that 75- 82 A will be faint and steady, and 75- 82 B will be
flashing with a flash period well below 10 s. 

There are two other N-1 launches that left the rocket body in orbit :
82- 87 and 80-18.

The PPAS contains only one observation each for 82-87 A and B :

82- 87 A 82-10-15 19:44      BD   30.9      10  3.09
82- 87 B 91-04-09 21:02:14   PN                       S

Admittedly not much data to work with, but I would bet that NORAD has the
82-87 launch correct, i.e. the 82- 87 A is the payload Kiku 4 (#13492) and
the B-object really is the N-1 rocket body.

We have no PPAS data on 80-18. The payload is in geostationary orbit, the
rocket body is in a highly eccentric orbit with perigee 256 km and apogee
at 16952 km, inclination 24.5. Here NORAD was helped by the different
orbits of payload and rocket.

Who observes 82- 87 A, B and 75- 82 A, B and reports their observations 
on SeeSat-L ? Here are the most recent elements from oig :

1 08352U 75082B   96002.94668676 -.00000104 +00000-0 +28315-4 0 08553
2 08352 046.9934 207.9504 0085607 319.0134 040.4297 13.60033282009530
1 08197U 75082A   96003.00943577 -.00000116 +00000-0 +12503-4 0 04566
2 08197 046.9916 228.7152 0086596 297.0940 062.1097 13.59262142009328
1 13492U 82087A   96004.10947235 -.00000114  00000-0  33643-5 0  4484
2 13492  44.6199 254.8201 0010123 171.9698 188.1282 13.70308565666853
1 13493U 82087B   96003.13487234 -.00000070 +00000-0 +58779-4 0 06815
2 13493 044.6278 018.0250 0175200 307.3866 051.1097 13.43867287654903

Thanks to all observers who contributed their measurements (mentioned in
this message) to the Photometric Periods of Artificial Satellites database :

BD  Bram Dorreman, Achel, Belgium
BK  Bertus Kroon, the Netherlands
HB  Hermann Boehnhardt, Garching, Germany
HK  Horst Koehnke, Stade/Elbe, Germany
KDL Kris Delcourte, Belgium
LA  Georges Lauwers, Belgium
MM  Mike McCants, Austin, Texas
PN  Pierre Neirinck, Dunkerque, France
PW  Patrick Wils, St-Katelijne-Waver, Belgium
RE  Russell Eberst, Edinburgh, UK
VB  Isi Vandenbrouck, Mechelen, Belgium

Cheers,
   Bart De Pontieu <bdp@mpe.mpe-garching.mpg.de>