Jonathan’s Space Report No. 570 2006 Sep 9
Shuttle and Station
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OV-104 Atlantis was launched at 1514:55 UTC on Sep 9 on mission STS-115. The RSRM-94 solid rocket boosters separated at 1517 UTC and the Orbiter’s main engines shut down at 1523 UTC, followed by separation of external tank ET-118. ET-118 and Atlantis were then in a 58 x 220 km x 51.6 deg orbit. ET-118 made one partial orbit of the Earth, reentering over the Pacific. Atlantis fired its OMS engines at apogee at 1552 UTC to raise the orbit to 228 x 285 km.
Atlantis will carry the P3/P4 truss segments to the Station, including a large new set of solar panel arrays. P3 carries a rotary joint to rotate the solar arrays, and an attachment point for external payloads. P4 carries two Solar Array Wings, and an Integrated Equipment Assembly with batteries and controllers as well as a thermal control system radiator. P3 and P4 were attached to each other on the ground and form a single unit; P3 will be connected to the end of the P1 segment on the Station (P2 was the name for a segment which was intended for an earlier version of the Station design but was never built).
Location Cargo Mass Bay 1-2 Orbiter Docking System 1800 kg? Bay 3P APC with SPDU 20 kg? Bay 3-12 Truss segment P3/P4 15821 kg Sill OBSS 201 450 kg? Sill RMS 301 390 kg -------------------------------------------------------- Total cargo: 18481 kg?
Note: NASA uses a different definition of “cargo”.
Note: OBSS serial number from Bill Harwood’s page,
http://www.cbsnews.com/network/news/space/current.html
SPDU is a (Shuttle?) power distribution unit. The OBSS is the Orbiter Boom Sensor System, which can be attached to the RMS (Remote Manipulator System).
Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter
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MRO was inserted into a 426 x 43000 km x 93.3 deg orbit around Mars on 2006 Mar 10. During aerobraking the periapsis was lowered to only 105 km, and friction with the atmosphere lowered to apoapsis. On Aug 30 several months of aerobraking were completed and MRO riased its periapsis to 210 km. After another burn on Sep 5, the spacecraft was in an approximately 289 x 440 km x 92.5 deg orbit around Mars, close to its final science orbit.
Voyager 1
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On 2006 Aug 13 at 2113 UTC, Voyager 1 reached 100 AU from the Sun. Pioneer 10 is at 91.2 AU, Voyager 2 is at 80.4 AU, Pioneer 11 at 70.4 AU.
SJ-8
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China launched the Shi Jian 8 satellite on Sep 9 from the Jiuquan space center into a 177 x 445 km x 63.0 deg orbit. SJ-8, unlike earlier SJ satellites, is a recoverable satellite derived from earlier FSW reconnaissance and microgravity satellites. It will study the exposure of seeds to microgravity and radiation. The Xinhua news agency reports that the launch vehicle was a CZ-2C. Both CZ-2C and uprated CZ-2D rockets are used for the recoverable satellites.
Based on orbital data, I estimate that the launch time was 0700 UTC.
H-2A
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Japan’s H-2A F8 second stage, which was used to launch the Daichi (ALOS) remote sensing satellite in January, appears to have exploded. 21 debris objects were cataloged around Sep 8.
Koreasat
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Koreasat 5 (also called Mugunghwa 5) was launched on Aug 22 by a Sea Launch Zenit-3SL into equatorial geostationary transfer orbit. The Alcatel Alenia Spacebus 4000C1 satellite will provide Ku-band capacity for Korea Telecom and Ka-band and SHF band transponders for the South Korean government’s Agency for Defense Development.
Table of Recent Launches
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Date UT Name Launch Vehicle Site Mission INTL.
DES.
Jul 4 1838 Discovery (STS-121) Shuttle Kennedy LC39B Spaceship 28A
Leonardo (MPLM-1) Module 28
Jul 10 1208 Insat 4C GSLV Sriharikota SLP Comms F02
Jul 12 1453 Genesis 1 Dnepr Dombarovskiy Tech 29A
Jul 21 0420 Kosmos-2422 Molniya-M Plesetsk LC16/2 Early warn 30A
Jul 26 1943 BelKA ) Dnepr Baykonur F03
Baumanets )
Unisat-4 )
PICPOT )
ICECube-1 )
ION )
RINCON )
AeroCube-1 )
CalPoly CP1 )
SEEDS )
nCube-1 )
HAUSAT-1 )
MEROPE )
CalPoly CP2 )
KUTESat )
SACRED )
Voyager )
ICECube 3 )
Jul 28 0705 Kompsat-2 Rokot Plesetsk Imaging 31A
Aug 4 2148 Hot Bird 8 Proton-M/Briz-M Baykonur LC200/39 Comms 32A
Aug 11 2215 JCSAT-10 ) Ariane 5ECA Kourou ELA3 Comms 33A
Syracuse 3B) Comms 33B
Aug 22 0327 Koreasat 5 Zenit-3SL SL Odyssey Comms 34A
Sep 9 0700? SJ-8 Chang Zheng 2C Jiuquan Micrograv. 35A
Sep 9 1515 Atlantis (STS-115) Shuttle Kennedy LC39B Spaceship 36A
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