Jonathan's Space Report
No. 848 2025 Aug 17 Somerville, MA, USA
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Library Relocation
------------------
The date of my departure to the UK is slipping at about the rate that the JWST launch date used to slip.
Still hoping for a positive update in about a month, but looks likely that I won't be moving till the new year.
International Space Station
---------------------------
Expedition 73 continues.
The Crew-11 mission was launched on Aug 1 at 1543 UTC on Dragon Endeavour C206 flight 6,
carrying Zena Cardman, Mike Fincke, Kimiya Yui and Oleg Platonov. Endeavour docked
at IDA-3 at about 0626:56 UTC Aug 2.
Crew-10, with McClain, Ayers, Onishi, and Peskov, undocked from IDA-2 at 2215 UTC Aug 8.
The deorbit burn was carried out on Aug 9 at 1439:47 for 17m34s. The trunk was jettisoned
at 1458 UTC and reentered over the Pacific near 129W 24N. Dragon Endurance splashed down
near 117.7W 32.5N off the coast of San Diego at 1533:40 UTC (assuming the EXIF metadata
in NASA's splashdown photo is correct to the second; a post on nasaspaceflight.com
claims that MCC reports a time of 1533:44 UTC).
On Aug 14 at 0428 UTC Progress MS-30 fired its engines for a 1.0 m/s reboost of the ISS orbit.
Chinese Space Station
---------------------
Astronauts Cheng Dong and Wang Jie made a 6.5hr spacewalk to install more debris panels
on Aug 15, from around 0817 UTC (hatch open) to 1447 UTC (hatch close).
Starlink
--------
Starlink Group 17-3 (24 Ku sats) was launched on Jul 19 from Vandenberg.
Starlink Group 10-26 (28 Ku sats) was launched on Jul 27 from Canaveral.
Starlink Group 17-2 (24 Ku sats) was launched on Jul 27 from Vandenberg.
Starlink Group 10-29 (28 Ku sats) was launched on Jul 30 from Canaveral.
Starlink Group 13-4 (19 Ku sats) was launched on Jul 31 from Vandenberg. Two Starshield sats were also aboard.
Starlink Group 10-30 (28 Ku sats) was launched on Aug 4 from Canaveral.
Starlink Group 17-4 (24 Ku sats) was launched on Aug 14 from Vandenberg.
Starlink Group 10-20 (28 Ku sats) was launched on Aug 14 from Canaveral.
Transporter 14
--------------
Space Force orbital data for the Transporter 14 objects were released on Jul 19.
However, of the 69 expected payloads, as of Aug 15 we don't yet know which cataloged object maps to which satellite
for 22 of them.
One object, 64558, was at first identified by Space-Track as 'Falcon 9 debris', unusual for Transporter
launches - either a deployer cover of some kind or perhaps insulation material that accidentally separated;
it has been recategorized as 'Unknown'.
Object 64577, possibly Echostar Lyra-3, has raised its orbit from 600 to 650 km.
Other Falcon 9 flights
-----------------------
On Jul 22 SpaceX launched two O3b mPOWER satellites from Canaveral to medium Earth orbit.
The second stage was left in a 2651 x 6998 km x 9.7 deg orbit.
On Jul 23 SpaceX launched the TRACERS mission from Vandenberg to 0956 LTDN SSO. Payloads included:
TRACERS T1/T2, a pair of SWRI/U Iowa/NASA Heliophysics Small Explorer satellites to study particles, fields and
field reconnection events at the northern magnetic cusp. Each satellite has a mass of about 200 kg and a
span of 13.7 metres across the electric field antennae.
LIDE, an ESA/Tyvak International 12U cubesat to test K/Ka-band 5G communications signal relay.
Bard, a York Space Systems satellite with a JHU/NASA payload for support of legacy and current
communications protocols.
REAL, a NASA/U. Dartmouth Heliophysics Explorer 3U cubesat with the Relativistic Electron Atmospheric Loss
payload to measure radiation belt particles.
EPIC Athena, a USAF Space Test Program payload using a NovaWurks HiSat bus carrying a lightweight version
of the NASA-LaRC CERES Earth radiation budget payload.
Skykraft 4, a five-satellite cluster to test ADS-B air traffic communications. The satellites are deployed
attached to one another and were scheduled to separate seven days later, i.e. on Jul 30. However,
no additional objects have yet been cataloged.
On Aug 11 SpaceX launched 24 more Amazon Kuiper satellites.
Vega-C
------
On Jul 26 Arianespace launched Vega mission VV27 with the four CO3D satellites with optical imagers
to create a global digital surface model, and the MicroCarb satellite for global CO2 monitoring.
The Z9 third stage fell in the Arctic; the AVUM made two burns to a 500 km orbit to deploy the C03D
quartet, two more burns to a 650 km orbit to deploy MicroCarb, and a fifth burn to deorbit, with
reentry over the Indian Ocean.
Gilmour Space Eris
-------------------
Gilmour Space Eris flight 1 wsa launched from Bowen Spaceport, Australia at about
2235 UTC Jul 29. The rocket ascended about 20 to 50 metres while maintaining
vertical attitude but translating sideways, and impacted near the pad after
a 20 second flight.
NISAR
------
The NISAR radar satellite was launched on Jul 30. The 2393 kg satellite carries a 12 m diameter
deployable reflector for L-band and S-band SAR radio imaging. NISAR is a joint project
between India and the USA and was developed by ISRO and JPL.
Rocket Lab
----------
On Aug 5 Electron 69 placed the Japanese QPS-SAR-12 (Kushinada-I) radar satellite in orbit.
METOP
-----
Eumetsat's METOP Second Generation METOP-SG flight A1 was launched on an Ariane 62,
flight VA264, launcher 6003, from Kourou on Aug 13.
METOP SG-A1 has a mass of 4040 kg wet 3250 kg dry and carries the Microwave Sounder, the IASI-NG interferometer,
the METImage imger, the 3M imager, the RO radio occultation sounder, and the European Commission Copernicus
program's Sentinel 5A UV-to-NIR imaging spectrometer. The Ariane 6003 upper stage made its deorbit
burn over the eastern US about 0235 UTC for entry over the Indian Ocean.
Vulcan
------
ULA's third Vulcan flight, the first with the 4-solid VC4S variant, was launched on Aug 13.
It placed a classified sat and the NTS-3 navigation technology satellite in geosynch orbit.
The Centaur stage and a debris object were left in the deployment near-GEO orbit.
Meanwhile, three more classified sats were released from the LDPE-2 ESPA ring tug in near-sync orbit.
SAST launches
-------------
On Jul 27 SAST launched a CZ-6A from Taiyuan with a set of Weixing Hulianwang Digui 05 zu weixing
(Guowang/Xingwang) internet satellites built by CAST, to a 996 x 1006 km x 86.5 deg orbit.
There were probably 5 satellites in the group; the upper stage remains in a slightly lower
838 x 991 km orbit.
On Aug 4 SAST launched a CZ-12 from Hainan Commercial Spaceport with
nine Weixing Hulianwang Digui 07 zu weixing internet satellites built
by Yinhe (Galaxy Aerospace/Nantong), to a 50 deg orbit.
The upper stage was left in orbit following a small perigee lowering burn.
CALT launches
--------------
On Jul 30 CALT launched a CZ-8A from the Hainan Commercial Spaceport with a set of nine
Weixing Hulianwang Digui 06 zu weixing internet satellites built by SECM, to a 50 deg orbit.
The upper stage was left in orbit following a small perigee lowering burn.
On Aug 13 CALT launched at CZ-5B/YZ-2 from Wenchang placing ten Weixing Hulianwang
Digui 08 zu weixing internet satellites built by CAST in an 86 deg orbit.
The CZ-5B core stage was suborbital and probably reentered over the Antarctic
west of Chile. The YZ-2 stage made two burns to the 1100 km deployment orbit,
followed by a deorbit burn likely to the Indian Ocean around 85W 10S.
Shuang Quxian
--------------
Xingye Rongyao (Interstellar Glory, iSpace) launched a Shuang Quxian 1
(Hyperbola-1) rocket on Jul 29, placing the Hangsheng HS-9 (Enshi Xidou
Shanquan) commercial imaging cubesat in 1031 LTDN sun-sync orbit for
Hangsheng Weixing. After deploying the payload, the upper stage lowered its perigee from 500 to 272 km
to reduce its orbital lifetime.
KZ-1A
------
CASIC/EXPACE launched a KZ-1A on Jul 31 from Xichang with a Pakistan Remote Sensing Satellite,
PRSC-S1, for Pakistan's SUPARCO. PRSC-S1 may be a SAR satellite.
Changzheng Houjian
------------------
China Long March Rocket Co. launched a Jielong-3 from the Dongfeng Hangtian barge off the coast of Rizhao
in Aug 8, placing 11 nav augmentation sats in orbit for Geely Konggu Jituan. The JL-3 upper stage
made a perigee lowering burn and reentered sometime on Aug 12 at an unknown location.
Landspace
---------
Landspace launched the third Zhuque-2E methalox vehicle from Jiuquan on Aug 15. However, it failed
to reach orbit due to a second stage failure. It is thought that four test Guowang
payloads (Weixing Hulianwang Jishu Shiyan Weixing 7-01 to 7-04) were aboard.
Lyra 4
------
The secret commercial satellite launched by Electron on Jun 28 has been acknowledged as Echostar Australia's Lyra-4.
Errata
-------
There were two GHGSat satellites on Transporter 14 (C12 Pierre and C13 Valmay), not just one. I also
forgot to mention GRUS-3 Alpha (AXELSPACE, Japan; imaging) and BRO 18 (Unseen Labs, France; commercial sigint).
Table of Recent Orbital (and near-Orbital) Launches
---------------------------------------------------
Date UT Name Launch Vehicle Site Mission INTL. Catalog Perigee Apogee Incl Notes
Jul 8 0821 Starlink Group 10-28 Falcon 9 Canaveral LC40 Comms 147 265 x 273 x 53.2
Jul 13 0504 Dror-1 Falcon 9 Canaveral LC40 Comms 148A 202 x 61959 x 24.2
Jul 14 2134 Tianzhou-9 Chang Zheng 7 Wenchang LC201 Cargo 149A 202 x 340 x 41.5
Jul 16 0205 Starlink Group 15-2 Falcon 9 Vandenberg SLC4E Comms 150 265 x 279 x 70.0
Jul 16 0630 Kuiper KF-01 Falcon 9 Canaveral LC40 Comms 151 456 x 464 x 51.9
Jul 19 0352 Starlink Group 17-3 Falcon 9 Vandenberg SLC4E Comms 152 267 x 280 x 97.6
Jul 22 2112 O3b mPOWER 9 Falcon 9 Canaveral LC40 Comms 153A 2657 x 7074 x 9.6
O3b mPOWER 10 Comms 153B 2654 x 7018 x 9.7
Jul 23 1813 TRACERS T1 Falcon 9 Vandenberg SLC4E Sci 154 588 x 594 x 97.7
TRACERS T2 Sci 154
Bard Tech 154
LIDE Tech 154
REAL Tech 154
Skykraft 4A Comms 154
Skykraft 4B Comms 154
Skykraft 4C Comms 154
Skykraft 4D Comms 154
Skykraft 4E Comms 154
Jul 25 0554 Ionosfera-M No. 3 Soyuz-2-1b/Fregat Vostochniy PU1S Sci 155 819 x 822 x 98.6
Ionosfera-M No. 4 Sci 155 819 x 822 x 98.6
Nahid 2 Tech? 155 495 x 503 x 97.4
Innosat16 Tech? 155
Innosat3 Tech? 155
Geoskan-1 Tech? 155
Geoskan-2 Tech? 155
Geoskan-3 Tech? 155
Geoskan-4 Tech? 155
Geoskan-5 Tech? 155
Geoskan-6 Tech? 155
239Alferov Tech? 155
AstroLine-1 Tech? 155
AstroLine-2 Tech? 155
AstroLine-3 Tech? 155
AstroLine-4 Tech? 155
ANSAT-1 Tech? 155
SCH-619 Tech? 155
SM-3.1 Tech? 155
CSTP-4.4 Tech? 155
Jul 26 0203 CO3D F1 to F4 Vega-C Kourou Sci 156 499 x 500 x 97.5
MicroCarb Sci 156 642 x 665 x 98.0
Jul 26 0901 Starlink Group 10-26 Falcon 9 Canaveral Comms 157 262 x 272 x 53.2
Jul 27 0431 Starlink Group 17-2 Falcon 9 Vandenberg Comms 158 267 x 280 x 97.6
Jul 27 1003 Weixing Hulianwang Digui 05 Chang Zheng 6A Taiyuan Comms 159 996 x 1008 x 86.5
Jul 29 0411 Enshi Xidou Shanquan Shuang Quxian 1 Jiuquan Imaging 160 496 x 511 x 97.4
Jul 29 2235? Eris Flight 1 Eris Bowen Test F06 -6378 x 0 x 20
Jul 30 0337 Starlink Group 10-29 Falcon 9 Canaveral Comms 161 266 x 273 x 53.2
Jul 30 0749 Weixing Hulianwang Digui 06 Chang Zheng 8A Hainan LC1 Comms 162 866 x 876 x 50.0
Jul 30 1210 NISAR GSLV Mk II Satish Dhawan SLP Radar 163A 734 x 749 x 98.4
Jul 31 0200 PRSC-S1 Kuaizhou-1A Xichang Radar? 164A 544 x 555 x 41.1
Jul 31 1835 Starlink Group 13-4 Falcon 9 Vandenberg Comms 165 312 x 326 x 97.6
USA 549, USA 550 Imaging? 165 312 x 326 x 97.6
Aug 1 1543 Dragon Crew-11 Falcon 9 Kennedy LC39A Spaceship 166A 192 x 214 x 51.6
Aug 4 0757 Starlink Group 10-30 Falcon 9 Canaveral LC40 Comms 167A 265 x 274 x 53.2
Aug 4 1021 Weixing Hulianwang Digui 07 Chang Zheng 12 Hainan LC2 Comms 168A 893 x 905 x 50.0
Aug 5 0410 Kushinada-I Electron Mahia LC1B Radar 169A 569 x 582 x 42.0
Aug 8 1631 Geely 04 zu 01 to 11 Jielong-3 DFHT, Rizhao Nav 170 583 x 602 x 50.0
Aug 11 1235 Kuiper KF-02 (1-24) Falcon 9 Canaveral LC40 Comms 171 456 x 465 x 51.9
Aug 12? USA 551, 552, 553 LDPE 2, GEO Tech? 22-144 35800 x 35800 x 0?
Aug 13 0037 METOP SG-A1 Ariane 62 Kourou Weather 172 802 x 806 x 97.7
Aug 13 0056 USA 554 Vulcan VC4S Canaveral LC41 Tech 173 35700 x 35800 x 0?
NTS 3 Nav 173 35700 x 35800 x 0?
Aug 13 0643 Weixing Hulianwang Digui 08 Chang Zheng 5B/YZ2 Wenchang LC101 Comms 174 1080 x 1110 x 86.5
Aug 14 0505 Starlink Group 17-4 Falcon 9 Vandenberg SLC4E Comms 175 265 x 278 x 97.6
Aug 14 1229 Starlink Group 10-20 Falcon 9 Canaveral LC40 Comms 176 264 x 275 x 53.2
Aug 15 0117 Weixing Huilianwang Jishu 07 Zhuque-2 Jiuquan LC96A Unk F07 -5000?x500? x97?
Table of Recent Suborbital Launches
-----------------------------------
New Shepard NS-34 took off at 1242:23 UTC Aug 3 to 106.9 km
apogee; flight duration 10m5s. J.D. Russell (space traveller 713) made
his second flight; Lionel Pitchford, Gokhan Erdem, Sun Yuchen (Justin
Sun), Arvinder Bahal, and Deborah Martorell became space travellers 753
to 757.
Date UT Payload Rocket Site Mission Apogee Target
Jul 15 0300 S-310-46 S-310 Uchinoura Ionos. 127 Pacific
Jul 18 1900 SNIFS Black Brant IX White Sands Solar UV 350 White Sands
Jul 20 Test Qased Shahroud Test 500? Arabian Sea?
Jul 24 0130? MUFFIN Terrier Oriole? Wallops Target 100? Atlantic
Aug 3 1242 NS-34 New Shepard W Texas Tourist 107 W Texas
Aug 12 1000 RockSat-X Terrier Imp.Mal. Wallops Education 160? Atlantic
.-------------------------------------------------------------------------.
| Jonathan McDowell | |
| Somerville MA 02143 | inter : planet4589 at gmail |
| USA | twitter: @planet4589 |
| |
| JSR: https://www.planet4589.org/jsr.html |
| Back issues: https://www.planet4589.org/space/jsr/back |
| Subscribe/unsub: https://www.planet4589.org/mailman/listinfo/jsr |
'-------------------------------------------------------------------------'
|
