CHAMP

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  1. CHAMP launch delayed to mid July 2000
  2. CHAMP press conference on June 27, 2000 at IABG Ottobrunn
  3. CHAMP shipment by plane to Archangelsk and by helicopter to cosmodrome Plesetzk on June 29/30, 2000
  4. CHAMP space craft and German team on its way to cosmodrome Plesetzk on June 30, 2000
  5. CHAMP spacecraft and German team arrived safely at cosmodrome Plesetsk on June 30,2000. Customs passed and s/c plus payload functional tests initiated
  6. CHAMP Satellite functional tests in Plesetsk on schedule. (status July 4, 2000)
  7. CHAMP Satellite functional tests in Plesetsk finalized. Filling cg tanks started. (status July 5, 2000)
  8. NASA network dress rehearsal: July 6, 2000; GSOC-Oberpfaffenhofen
  9. Launch preparations in Plesetsk (satellite payload, rocket) nominal and on schedule, cg tank filling complete.(status July 6, 2000)
  10. CHAMP mounted on launcher adapter and ready for integration into COSMOS fairing. (status July 10, 2000)
  11. COSMOS rocket mating to transportation train. (status July 12, 2000)
  12. CHAMP satellite and adapter successfully mounted on COSMOS rocket, fairing closed. (status July 11, 2000; 13:30 UTC)
  13. CHAMP battery charging and power checkout. (status July 13, 2000)
  14. Roll out to launch pad (23:30 h to 3:00 h UTC, July 13/14, 2000)
  15. Positioning of COSMOS rocket to vertical finished at July 14, 2000; 8:00:00 UTC
  16. CHAMP launch rehearsal started: July 14, 2000; GSOC-Oberpfaffenhofen

  17. go1 decision: July 15, 2000; 3:45:00 UTC
  18. Final battery charging till: July 15, 2000; 5:00:00 UTC
  19. Rocket fueling process: July 15, 2000; 6:20:00 - 8:50:00 UTC
  20. Final preparations for launch: July 15, 2000; 10:40 - 11:44 UTC
  21. Plesetsk: Clear blue sky and a temperature of 28 - 30 degrees expected at launch time
  22. Launch operations: July 15, 2000; 11:40 - 12:00 UTC

  23. Lift off! CHAMP launch from Plesetsk cosmodrome: July 15, 2000; 11:59:59.682 UTC

  24. STAR accelerometer successfully turned on on July 19, 2000; 12:42 UTC
  25. First high precision accelerometer in orbit (STAR on CHAMP) delivers fascinating data; July 20, 2000
  26. First indications of exellent magnetic cleanliness of CHAMP spacecraft; July 21, 2000
  27. Digital ion drift meter switched on to high voltage and running nominally. First data being analysed; July 26, 2000
  28. Technical commissioning of CHAMP S/C and all science instruments completed on July 29, 2000
  29. CHAMP mission has entered the accomodation and calibration phase; August 2, 2000
  30. CHAMP in SEP (Sun Earth Pointing) mode in period August 4, 10:55 - 12:45 UTC; since then back in FPM (Fine Pointing Mode); August 8, 2000
  31. CHAMP in FPM, but MMU (Mass Memory Unit) syncronisation problem at 00:58 UTC; September 10, 2000
  32. CHAMP MMU (Mass Memory Unit) disynchronisation at Oct 7, 16:55 UTC; switched to redundant unit at Oct 8, 06:06 UTC; October 8, 2000
  33. CHAMP in SEP (Sun Earth Pointing) mode from October 19, 22:40:55 UTC to October 20, 7:37:49 UTC; since then back in FPM (Fine Pointing Mode); October 23, 2000
  34. The planned distribution of a CHAMP sample data set (one day) of all gravity and magnetic instruments with exception of the ion drift meter will be released on week 49, two weeks later than originally announced in newsletter No.1 and information distributed earlier elsewhere. Information about the data set will be distributed through newsletter No.2; December 1, 2000
  35. CHAMP COSPAR number fixed to 2000-039B (for ILRS: 0003902); November 22, 2000
  36. Due to an unforseen data outage the automated processing chain for the generation of CHAMP orbit predictions has been interrupted from December 2 to December 3, 2000. With IRV set 264, disseminated on December 4, the automated processing chain was reinitialized; December 5, 2000
  37. The official COSPAR number for CHAMP (ILRS convention) 0003902 has been adopted in the CHAMP orbit prediction products generated at GFZ; December 5, 2000 00:00:00 UTC
  38. On Sunday, February 11, the CHAMP radio occultation experiment was switched on for a short test period (one revolution). First preliminary results of the GFZ RO analysis group are shown on the figure below; February 13, 2001
  39. CHAMP STAR Accelerometer recorded impact of X-2 class SUN flare from 10. April 2001, see ACC and OVM data on the figure below; April 12, 2001
  40. CHAMP Announcement of Opportunity released; May 28, 2001
  41. CHAMP will go into its 5 000th revolution on June 4, 2001 at 23:46 UTC
  42. Newsletter No.4 information on CHAMP STAR Accelerometer Data Products; June 15, 2001
  43. Calibration Manoeuvre - Rotation by 90 deg. (yaw axis); Oct.07 20:27 UT to Oct.08 08:30 UT; since then back to nominal attitude; Oct.08, 2001
  44. Newsletter No.7 holds new information on CHAMP GPS Level-1 Data Availability; November 13, 2001
  45. On March 5 new GPS s/w version uploaded to the spacecraft. No GPS data available in the time period 7:10 to 22:15 UTC; Mar. 6, 2002
  46. On April 23, 2002 CHAMP goes into its 10.000th revolution; Apr. 20, 2002
  47. In the time period June 10 to June 11 the CHAMP orbit altitude uplift manoeuvre is scheduled. The uplift rate is planned to be about 20 km and the eccentricity will be changed from 0.003 to 0.001; June 10, 2002
  48. First thruster manoeuvre of the CHAMP orbit altitude uplift was successfully executed at 10:34 UTC; June 10, 2002
  49. The next 10 burn commands of the CHAMP orbit altitude uplift have successfully been uploaded to CHAMP at 12:45 UTC; June 10, 2002
  50. 15 burns have successfully been executed at 14:00 UTC, final 7 burns have been initiated; June 11, 2002
  51. 22 thruster burns were carried out in the time period June 10, 13:57 UTC until June 11, 23:02 UTC. Perigee height was increased by 21.4 km, apogee height by 4.65 km. Eccentricity was reduced from 0.0032 to 0.0019. CHAMP is continuing routine operation; June 12, 2002
  52. The CHAMP orbit manoeuvre has successfully been completed; June 12, 2002
  53. No data between 09:03 and 22:20 UTC due to an intermediate onboard data handling problem. Afterwards data quality of a few instruments degraded for some hours; June 30, 2002
  54. Today at 12:33 UTC CHAMP is orbiting the Earth since 2 years; July 15, 2002.
  55. 2 Years anniversary of CHAMP mission, read newsletter No. 10; July 15, 2002
  56. On November 6, 2002 a 2nd CHAMP 90�-Slew Manoeuvre is planned. Read newsletter No. 11; November 4, 2002
  57. Slew manoeuvre successfully executed; November 6, 2002
  58. Spacecraft commanded into nominal orientation on Nov.6 19:44 UTC; November 6, 2002
  59. New CHAMP-only global gravity field model EIGEN-2 available as level-4 product. Read newsletter No. 12; Dec. 5, 2002
  60. CHAMP orbit change maneuvre starting on December 9, 2002. Read newsletter No. 12; Dec. 5, 2002
  61. CHAMP orbit change maneuvre: 20 burns have been successfully executed at 13:00 UTC, final 3 burns have been initiated; Dec. 9, 2002
  62. The CHAMP orbit change maneuvre has been successfully completed after the execution of 23 planned burns at Dec. 10, 18:00 UTC; Dec. 11, 2002
  63. New CHAMP-only global gravity field model EIGEN-2 available as level-4 product. Read newsletter No. 12; Dec. 5, 2002
  64. Second CHAMP Science Meeting postponed to Sep 1 - 4, 2003; Jan. 2, 2003
  65. First announcement: 2nd CHAMP Science Meeting, information now online; March 27, 2003
  66. Today CHAMP is orbiting the Earth since 1000 days; April 11, 2003
  67. Today CHAMP is celebrating his 3rd birthday. On 12:33 UTC CHAMP will enter into the 16958th revolution around the Earth. CHAMP is showing an extremly good performance and the mission has provided until now almost 3 million highly valuable scientific products on the Earth�s gravity field,magnetic field and atmosphere. We wish CHAMP a long life and hope that he will continue to deliver uninterrupted data series for the benefit of Earth Sciences; July 15, 2003
  68. Improved CHAMP only gravity model EIGEN-3p available (visit SCIENCE RESULTS); Oct. 1, 2003
  69. New Combination Gravity Field Model EIGEN-CG01C; June 24, 2004



GFZ, CHAMP
Aug 25, 2004, webadmin A.Helm