Subscribe free to our newsletters via your
. 24/7 Space News .




SPACEWAR
Photograph of Spy Satellite IGS-1B Captured in Its Final Orbits
by Ralf Vandebergh for Space Safety Magazine
Los Angeles CA (SPX) Oct 29, 2012


IGS-1A and 1B satellites.

IGS-1B is a Japanese Information Gathering Satellite that was launched on March 28, 2003 together with its companion IGS-1A on board a H2A rocket. Both satellites were delivered into a 486 x 491 km orbit with an inclination of 97 degrees. The satellites orbited within 37 minutes of each other.

In 2007 it was announced by officials that IGS-1B was malfunctioning due to a loss of power. Since that time the satellite's orbit was observed to degrade.

The expected announcement of its upcoming uncontrolled atmospheric reentry finally happened on Thursday, July 26, 2012 at 9:52 GMT. Reentry was located over the Pacific Ocean, about 1,300 kilometers north-east of New Zealand. It is plausible that a considerable amount of fuel was still onboard during reentry of IGS-1B.

It's companion IGS-1A is still in orbit. In the last years, I regularly pointed my camera to IGS-1A and IGS-1B without any spectacular results; the images revealed not much detail. These satellites appeared to be reasonably difficult objects to capture in their original orbits.

That changed July 25, when I was able to capture IGS-1B just 13 hours before its reentry in an almost overhead pass in favorable atmospheric conditions. The altitude of the satellite at that time had already dropped below 200 km.

The upper set of images show original unprocessed color frames from my video-camera attached to a 10 inch aperture reflecting telescope. It was one of the objects with the highest angular speed I have captured so far using my fully-manual tracking method.

We see clearly the typical golden color of the foil wrapped around the satellite. The stronger processing used in the grayscale images on the bottom show interesting detail.

Beside the solar panels - which from this angle are seen only slightly illuminated by sunlight - we see some nice detail on the satellite-body appearing as some knots and ridges that are confirmed by the other images of this frame-set.

Searching the web for any pre-launch images of this satellite to compare with, I found out that there actually doesn't exist published factory-images of IGS-1B or a comparable satellite of this type, only some sketches illustrating the approximate configuration of the satellites (see illustration on top, left).

As the website Spaceflight 101 puts it: "Ground-Based images of classified spacecraft are extremely rare as most of these vehicles are in classified orbits," making the efforts put into obtaining telescopic photography of this type of satellites all the more worthwhile.

Ralf Vandebergh is an Astrophotographer and independent journalist specializing in high resolution imaging of spacecraft in orbit.

.


Related Links
Space Safety Magazine
Military Space News at SpaceWar.com






Comment on this article via your Facebook, Yahoo, AOL, Hotmail login.

Share this article via these popular social media networks
del.icio.usdel.icio.us DiggDigg RedditReddit GoogleGoogle








SPACEWAR
China rocket puts Venezuela satellite into orbit
Beijing (AFP) Sept 29, 2012
A Chinese rocket on Saturday successfully launched a Venezuelan earth-observation satellite into orbit, state media said. The satellite, dubbed "Generalissimo Francisco de Miranda" after the major Venezuelan independence figure, was launched from the northwest Jiuquan base in the Gobi desert using a 'Long March' class rocket, said Xinhua. The launch comes four years after the first-ever ... read more


SPACEWAR
Study: Moon basin formed by giant impact

NASA's LADEE Spacecraft Gets Final Science Instrument Installed

Astrium presents results of its study into automatic landing near the Moon's south pole

European mission to search for moon water

SPACEWAR
Opportunity Undertakes Survey Drives Of Local Area

Assessing Drop-Off to Mars Rover's Observation Tray

Valles Marineris - the largest canyon in the Solar System

Curiosity Rover Collects Fourth Scoop of Martian Soil

SPACEWAR
New NASA Online Science Resource Available for Educators and Students

'First' Pakistan astronaut wants to make peace in space

Space daredevil Baumgartner is 'officially retired'

NASA must reinvest in nanotechnology research, according to new Rice University paper

SPACEWAR
China to launch 11 meteorological satellites by 2020

China makes progress in spaceflight research

Patience for Tiangong

China launches civilian technology satellites

SPACEWAR
Packed Week Ahead for Six-Member Crew

New crew docks with ISS: Russia

ISS Crew Gets Ready for New Expedition 33 Trio

New ISS Crew Confirmed

SPACEWAR
SpaceX capsule completes successful first mission

S. Korea sets new window for rocket launch

Pleiades 1B joins its launcher at the Spaceport for Arianespace's Soyuz mission in November

S. Korea readies third bid to join global space club

SPACEWAR
New Study Brings a Doubted Exoplanet 'Back from the Dead'

New small satellite will study super-Earths for ESA

Most Planetary Systems are 'Flatter than Pancakes'

Glitch could end NASA planet search

SPACEWAR
Outdoor wear often coated in harmful chemicals: Greenpeace

French Magpie start-up leaches gold from water with modern alchemy

U.S. unveils new supercomputer

Google unveils large tablet, revamped Nexus lineup




The content herein, unless otherwise known to be public domain, are Copyright 1995-2014 - Space Media Network. AFP, UPI and IANS news wire stories are copyright Agence France-Presse, United Press International and Indo-Asia News Service. ESA Portal Reports are copyright European Space Agency. All NASA sourced material is public domain. Additional copyrights may apply in whole or part to other bona fide parties. Advertising does not imply endorsement,agreement or approval of any opinions, statements or information provided by Space Media Network on any Web page published or hosted by Space Media Network. Privacy Statement