Jonathan’s Space Report No. 717 2015 Nov 1 Somerville, MA
Jonathan’s Space Report No. 717 2015 Nov 1 Somerville, MA
International Space Station
Expedition 45 is underway under the command of Scott Kelly, with flight engineers Mikhail Kornienko, Oleg Kononenko, Sergey Volkov, Kimiya Yui, and Kjell Lindgren.
NanoRacks/PlanetLabs Flock-2b satellite deploys continued until Oct 7. However, two satellites (Flock 2b-11 and 12) were not released due to a problem with the deployer. The NRCSD-6 deployer, with the two stuck satellites, was removed from the Kibo airlock on Oct 26 and will be returned to Earth on a future Dragon mission.
On Oct 28 Astronauts Kelly and Lindgren made a spacewalk in suits EMU 3003 and 3010. The Quest airlock was depressurized from abotu 1200 UTC to 1919 UTC. They removed a thermal cover from a failed MBSU unit, added thermal covers to the AMS-02 particle physics experiment, installed cabling for the future IDA docking adapters, and lubricated part of the LEE-B end of the Canadarm-2. Part of the LEE lubing and the IDA wiring, as well as the installation of a vent on Node 3, were omitted due to lack of time.
NROL-55
United Launch Alliance flew Atlas mission AV-058 from Vandenberg on Oct 8 to place two NRO satellites and a cluster of cubesats in orbit. Hobbyists quickly tracked USA 264 and “USA 264 debris”, actually thought to be a clandestine active payload, in a 1014 x 1201 km x 63.4 deg orbit. The satellites are understood to be NRO/Navy signals intelligence satellites, the latest successors to the GRAB/POPPY series and probably codenamed INTRUDER.
Following deployment of the main payloads, AV-058 made two further burns to a 496 x 800 km x 64.8 deg orbit and deployed the cubesats from GRACE, the fourth NPS Cubesat Launcher flown on an Atlas Aft Bulkhead Carrier.
The cubesats are:
Aerocube-5c and 7 from Aerospace Corporation
The AMSAT-OSCAR-85 (Fox-1A) amateur radio satellite from AMSAT-NA
BisonSat from Salish Kootenai College in Montana
Alaska Research Cubesat 1 from U. Alaska Fairbanks
Three SMDC Nanosatellite Program (SNAP-3) communications satellites for
the US Army Strategica Missile Defence Command, named ALICE, EDDIE and JIMI
The Low Mass Radio Science Transponder experiment from JPL
Two PropCube ionospheric-propagation-study satellites from
Tyvak Nanosystems and USN Postgrad.School, named Flora and Merryweather
Two SINOD-D satellites with software-defined radio demonstrations from SRI International.
Apstar 9
Apstar 9, for Hong Kong based APT Satellite, was launched on Oct 16 from Xichang. The satellite uses a CAST/Beijing DFH-4 bus and has C- and Ku-band communications payloads.
Tianhui-1 03
The third Tianhui-1 cartography satellite was launched on Oct 26, into the same local-time orbital plane as its two siblings. This was the 12th Chinese orbital launch this year and the 9th in the past 2 months.
Turksat
The second Turksat-4 satellite for Turk Telecom was launched on a Proton on Oct 16. The 4900-kg satellite is a Mitsubishi Electric-built DS-2000 model with C, Ku and Ka-band communications payloads; it will be located at 50 E.
GPS 73
Space Vehicle No 73 was added to the GPS constellation on Oct 31 when ULA’s Atlas AV-060 delivered it to a 12-hour circular orbit. The satellite, model IIF flight 11, is nicknamed ‘Altair’.
Cassini
Cassini flew a mere 49 km from the surface of Enceladus at 1524 UTC on Oct 28. This E-21 encounter followed an 1839 km E-20 flyby of Enceladus at 1043 UTC on Oct 14.
Dawn
Dawn began its descent from the High to Low Altitude Mapping Orbits on Oct 23. The HAMO was 1470 km from Ceres; LAMO is expected to be at 380 km altitude above the mean Ceres radius, orbiting over the world’s poles. Unfortunately the detailed orbital data for Dawn on JPL Horizons haven’t been updated for some time.
WF1190F
A small object perhaps only a metre or two in size, detected by optical telescopes of the Catalina Sky Survey in translunar orbit, has been identified with previous observations dating back to 2009. The object may well be an object left over from 1960s lunar missions; its frequent close approaches to the Moon make it challenging to work the orbit backwards and identify it with a specific mission. Following a 47000 km lunar encounter on Jul 13, WT1190F was left in an orbit with a 680000 km apogee and a perigee which, due to continuing lunar and solar gravity effects, is being forced down to negative values. WT1190F is now on its final orbit of the Earth, falling inwards from lunar distance to a predicted Nov 13 reentry over the Indian Ocean east of Sri Lanka.
There are about 25 lost objects of this small size in translunar orbits, including Explorer 33, Prognoz 9, Luna 4, Surveyor D-2, the Apollo 15/16/17 SIM Bay covers, at least six Molniya Blok-L final stages from lunar-related missions, three other small rocket stages and half a dozen despin weights. In most of these cases there’s been no tracking data on these objects since they were launched in the 1960s and 1970s.
Errata:
In JSR 716 under ‘Chinese Satellites 2’, I omitted the description of the Kaituo-1 satellite from Shenzen DFH Co., which is testing electric propulsion Hall thrusters, and its DCBB subsatellite, a 2U cubesat which has an amateur radio payload. Under the ISS section, the vehicle docked at Zvezda is of course Progress M-29M.
Table of Recent Orbital LaunchesDate UT Name Launch Vehicle Site Mission INTL. Catalog Perigee Apogee Incl NotesTable of Recent Suborbital Launches
km km degSep 2 0437 Soyuz TMA-18M Soyuz-FG Baykonur LC1 Spaceship 43A S40885 401 x 402 x 51.7 at ISS
Sep 2 1018 MUOS 4 Atlas V 551 Canaveral SLC41 Comms 44A S40887 3802 x 35786 x 19.1
Sep 11 0208 GalileoSat-9 ) Soyuz-ST-B/Fregat CSG ZLS Navigation 45A S40889 23545 x 23610 x 57.4
GalileoSat-10 ) Navigation 45B S40890 23554 x 23700 x 57.4
Sep 12 1504 Tongxin Jisshu SW1 Chang Zheng 3B Xichang LC2 Comms 46A S40892 195 x 35814 x 27.1
Sep 14 0442 Gaofen 9 Chang Zheng 2D Jiuquan LC603 Imaging 47A S40894 618 x 664 x 98.0 1100LT SSO
Sep 14 1900 Ekspress AM-8 Proton-M/DM-03 Baykonur LC81/24 Comms 48A S40895 35814 x 35890 x 0.0 GEO drift
Sep 17 1202 S-CUBE ISS, LEO Astronomy 98-67GY S40898 397 x 408 x 51.6
Sep 17 1213 SERPENS ISS, LEO Tech 98-67GX S40897 396 x 408 x 51.6
Sep 19 2301 Kaituo-1 ) Tech/Comms 49A? S40899 515 x 536 x 97.5
DCBB ) Tech 49P S40912 513 x 536 x 97.5
Luliang-1 ) Chang Zheng 6 Taiyuan LC16 Comms 49F S40904 517 x 538 x 97.5
Zhineng hao ) Tech 49B S40900 515 x 536 x 97.5
Xingchen 1 ) Tech 49 515 x 536 x 97.5
Xingchen 2 ) Tech 49 515 x 536 x 97.5
Xingchen 3 ) Tech 49 515 x 536 x 97.5
Xingchen 4 ) Tech 49 515 x 536 x 97.5
Naxing-2 ) Tech 49G? S40905 519 x 541 x 97.5
Zijing-1 ) Tech 49 519 x 541 x 97.5
Kongjian Shiyan 1) Tech 49 519 x 541 x 97.5
Zheda Pixing 2A ) Tech 49C S40901 516 x 536 x 97.5
Zheda Pixing 2B ) Tech 49D S40902 516 x 536 x 97.5
Zidingxiang-2 ) Tech/Comms 49K S40908 520 x 542 x 97.5
Xiwang-2A ) Comms 49E S40903 499 x 532 x 97.5
Xiwang-2B ) Comms 49N S40911 519 x 539 x 97.5
Xiwang-2C ) Comms 49H S40906 519 x 539 x 97.5
Xiwang-2D ) Comms 49J S40907 519 x 539 x 97.5
Xiwang-2E ) Comms 49L S40909 519 x 538 x 97.5
Xiwang-2F ) Comms 49M S40910 518 x 541 x 97.5
Sep 23 2200 Kosmos-2507) Rokot Plesetsk LC133/3 Comms 50A S40920 1502 x 1508 x 82.5
Kosmos-2508) Comms 50B S409210 1494 x 1507 x 82.5
Kosmos-2509) Comms 50C S40922 1496 x 1506 x 82.5
Sep 25 0141 Pujiang-1 ) Chang Zheng 11 Jiuquan SLS-E Tech? 51A S40925 468 x 486 x 97.3
Shangkeda-2 ) Tech? 51B S40926 466 x 487 x 97.3
NJUST-2? ) Tech? 51C S40927 466 x 487 x 97.3
NJFA-1? ) Tech? 51D S40928 466 x 487 x 97.3
Sep 28 0430 Astrosat ) Astronomy 52A S40930 633 x 650 x 6.0
LAPAN-A2 ) Tech 52B S40931 631 x 650 x 6.0
ExactView-9 ) PSLV-XL Sriharikota FLP Comms (AIS) 52C S40932 630 x 650 x 6.0
Lemur-2-Joel ) Comms/Atm 52D S40933 629 x 650 x 6.0
Lemur-2-Peter ) Comms/Atm 52E S40934 634 x 650 x 6.0
Lemur-2-Jeroen ) Comms/Atm 52F S40935 635 x 650 x 6.0
Lemur-2-Chris ) Comms/Atm 52G S40936 635 x 650 x 6.0
Sep 29 2313 Beidou DW20 Chang Zheng 3B/G2 Xichang LC3 Navigation 53A S40938 190 x 35881 x 55.0
Sep 30 1630 Sky Muster ) Ariane 5 Kourou ELA3 Comms 54A S40940 180 x 35563 x 6.0
ARSAT-2 ) Comms 54B S40941 205 x 35550 x 6.0
Oct 1 1649 Progress M-29M Soyuz-U Baykonur LC1 Cargo 55A S40944 400 x 408 x 51.6 Docked ISS
Oct 2 1028 Morelos-3 Atlas V 421 Canaveral SLC41 Comms 56A S40946 4790?x 35800?x 27.0?
Oct 5 1405 GOMX-3 ) ISS, LEO Comms (ADS-B)98-67GZ S40948? 395 x 408 x 51.6
AAUSAT-5 ) Comms (AIS) 98-67HA S40949? 395 x 408 x 51.6
Oct 6 0115 Flock 2b-1 ) ISS, LEO Imaging 98-67HB S40950 400 x 404 x 51.6
Flock 2b-2 ) Imaging 98-67HC S40951 398 x 406 x 51.6
Oct 6 0430 Flock 2b-3 ) ISS, LEO Imaging 98-67HD S40952 399 x 405 x 51.6
Flock 2b-4 ) Imaging 98-67HE S40953 401 x 403 x 51.6
Oct 6 0831 Flock 2b-5 ) ISS, LEO Imaging 98-67HF S40954 396 x 409 x 51.6
Flock 2b-6 ) Imaging 98-67HG S40955 396 x 409 x 51.6
Oct 6 1145 Flock 2b-7 ) ISS, LEO Imaging 98-67HH S40956 396 x 408 x 51.6
Flock 2b-8 ) Imaging 98-67HJ S40957 397 x 408 x 51.6
Oct 7 0010 Flock 2b-9 ) ISS, LEO Imaging 98-67HK S40962 397 x 408 x 51.6
Flock 2b-10) Imaging 98-67HL S40963 397 x 408 x 51.6
Oct 7 0413 Jilin-1 Optical A ) Chang Zheng 2D Jiuquan Imaging 57A? S40958 640 x 665 x 97.8
Jilin-1 Video 1 ) Imaging 57B? S40959 640 x 664 x 97.8
Jilin-1 Video 2 ) Imaging 57C? S40960 639 x 664 x 97.8
Jilin-1 Tech Demo ) Imaging 57D? S40961 639 x 664 x 97.8
Oct 7 1225 Flock 2b-13 ) ISS, LEO Imaging 98-67HM S40979 395 x 408 x 51.7
Flock 2b-14 ) Imaging 98-67HN S40980 396 x 408 x 51.7
Oct 8 1249 USA 246 ) Atlas V 401 Vandenberg SLC3E Sigint 58A S40964 1014 x 1201 x 63.4
USA 246 Payload 2 ) Sigint 58R S40981 1014 x 1201 x 63.4
Aerocube-5C ) Tech 58B S40965 500 x 802 x 64.8
Aerocube-7 ) Tech 58C S40966 500 x 802 x 64.8
AMSAT-OSCAR-85 ) Com/Tech 58D S40967 500 x 802 x 64.8
Bisonsat ) Tech 58E S40968 500 x 802 x 64.8
ARC-1 ) Tech 58F S40969 500 x 802 x 64.8
SNAP-3 ALICE ) Comms 58G S40970 500 x 802 x 64.8
LMRST ) Tech 58H S40971 500 x 802 x 64.8
SNAP-3 EDDIE ) Comms 58J S40972 500 x 802 x 64.8
PropCube-3 Merryweather Sci 58K S40973 500 x 802 x 64.8
SINOD-D 1 ) Tech 58L S40974 500 x 802 x 64.8
SNAP-3 JIMI ) Comms 58M S40975 500 x 802 x 64.8
PropCube-1 Flora ) Sci 58N S40976 500 x 802 x 64.8
SINOD-D 3 ) Tech 58P S40977 500 x 802 x 64.8
Oct 16 1616 Apstar 9 Chang Zheng 3B Xichang Comms 59A S40982 190 x 41767 x 27.2
Oct 16 2040 Turksat 4B Proton-M/Briz-M Baykonur Comms 60A S40984 35717 x 35759 x 0.0
Oct 26 0710 Tianhui 1-03 Chang Zheng 2D Jiuquan Imaging 61A S40988 490 x 500 x 97.4 1330LT SSO
Oct 31 1613 GPS SVN 73 Atlas V 401 Canaveral SLC41 Navigation 62A S41019 20426 x 20485 x 55.0
Date UT Payload/Flt Name Launch Vehicle Site Mission Apogee/km TargetSep 3 1701 NASA 36.291US Black Brant 9 White Sands, NM Solar UV 287 White Sands
Sep 11 1100 S-520-30 S-520 Uchinoura, Kyushu Physics 312 Phillipine Sea
Sep 16 1906 NASA 39.012DR Black Brant XI Andoya, Norway Ionos/Calib 299 Norwegian Sea
Sep 30 0828 M51 RVs M-51 Landes, France Test 500? Atlantic O.
Oct 2 0539 O-STATES 1 S31/Orion Kiruna, Sweden Atmosphere 246 ESRANGE Area B, Sweden
Oct 7 2307 NASA 36.310GT Black Brant 9 Wallops I, Virginia Tech/Atmos 164? Atlantic O.
Oct 11 Emad RV Emad ?, Iran Test 200? Iran?
Oct 19 1409 O-STATES 2 S31/Orion Kiruna, Sweden Atmosphere 244 ESRANGE Area B, Sweden
Oct 21 1245 GT216GM RV Minuteman 3 Vandenberg LF04 Training 1300? Kwajalein
Oct 28 1130 4 RVs Yars Plesetsk Test 1000? Kura, Kamchatka
Oct 30 Topol RV Topol Plesetsk Test 1000? Kura, Kamchatka
Oct 30 R-29RM RV x 4? Sineva K-117 Bryansk, Barents Sea Test 1000? Kura, Kamchatka
Oct 30 R-29 RV x 4? Volna K-223 Podolsk,Sea of Okhotsk Test 1000? Chizha?, Kanin Penisula
..
| Jonathan McDowell | |
| Somerville MA 02143 | inter : planet4589 at gmail |
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