[JSR] Jonathan's Space Report, No. 635
Jonathan McDowell
jcm at www.planet4589.org
Thu Dec 2 07:46:46 EST 2010
Jonathan's Space Report
No. 635 2010 Dec 2; en route Somerville to Tokyo
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Shuttle and Station
-------------------
Astronauts Yurchikin, Wheelock and Walker left the Station aboard Soyuz
TMA-19 on Nov 26. They undocked from Rassvet at 0123 UTC concluding
Expedition 25 after 62.0 days. The Soyuz deorbit burn was at 0355 UTC
and landing in Kazakhstan at 0446 UTC. There were some problems with the
pressure in the descent module, but the crew landed safely.
Expedition 26 is now underway with crew commander Scott Kelly, flight engineer-2
Aleksandr Kaleri and flight engineer-3 Oleg Skripochka remaining on the
Station. Soyuz TMA-01M is docked at Poisk, Progress M-07M at Zvezda, and
Progress M-08M at Pirs.
STP S26
-------
As part of the USAF Space Test Program, STP mission S26 was launched
from Kodiak, Alaska on Nov 20 carrying a set of small payloads into orbit.
STPSat-2 is a 135 kg Ball/AeroAstro SIV satellite with technology experiments.
Falconsat 5 is a 161 kg US Air Force Academy satellite carrying experiments
to study plasma and the ionosphere.
FASTRAC 1 and 2 are 30 kg satellites developed by the University of Texas
at Austin with USAF fuding for formation flying experiments.
Fastsat-HSV was developed by NASA-Marshall and companies in Huntsville, Alabama
and carries ionospheric and atmospheric experiments, a USAF experiment, and
the Nanosail-D2 which will be ejected in about a week to deploy a 3-meter-size
solar sail.
The Radio Aurora Explorer is the National Science Foundation's first satellite,
a 3kg 3U cubesat built by the University of Michigan to study the aurora
by picking up ground-based radar signals.
O/OREOS is a 5 kg 3U cubesat for NASA's Ames Research Center carrying life
sciences experiments to study microbes in free fall and the effects of
ultraviolet light on organic materials.
The Minotaur's GCA (Guidance Control Assembly) fourth stage achieved a
637 x 661 km x 72 deg orbit using its Orion 38 solid motor. A HAPS
(Hydrazine auxiliary propulsion system) fifth stage was mounted on it,
with the primary payloads attached to a Multi Payload Adapter mounting
plate on top of that. After deployment of the payloads, the HAPS
separated from the GCA, made two rocket burns, and then released two
ballast masses in a higher (circa 1200 km) orbit, demonstrating the
capability of the Minotaur IV to deliver payloads to multiple orbits in
a single mission.
NROL-32
-------
The National Reconnaissance Office NROL-32 mission was launched from
Cape Canaveral on Nov 22. It placed a secret satellite in orbit;
I concur with the majority of analysts that it is probably a
geostationary signals intelligence satellite.
ZX-20A
------
China launched the Zhongxing-20A military communications satellite on
Nov 24. Meanwhile, the Beidou DW6 navigation satellite launched on Oct
31 is now in a 35774 x 35797 km x 1.8 deg geostationary orbit at 160.0E,
and the SJ-12 satellite has begun a rendezvous with the SJ-6/4A (SSN 37180)
satellite, following its inspection of SJ-6/3B in Aug-Sep.
Arianespace
------------
Ariane vehicle L556, mission V198, placed two communications satellites
in orbit. The Intelsat IS-17 is a Loral LS-1300-Omega with a launch mass
of 5540 kg and a dry mass of 2393 kg, carrying Ku and C band payloads.
It will be stationed over the Indian Ocean at 66E. Hylas 1, for the UK
company Avanti Communications, is an Indian ISRO I2K satellite with an
advanced Astrium-UK communications payload. Hylas, much smaller than IS-17,
has a mass of 2570 kg full, 1125 kg dry and has a Ka-band payload for
European broadband service. Its stubby solar panels probably only have a
span of 9 meters rather than the 36 m incorrectly reported by the EADS
and Ariane press kits.
Table of Recent (orbital) Launches
----------------------------------
Date UT Name Launch Vehicle Site Mission INTL.
DES.
Oct 1 1100 Chang'e 2 Chang Zheng 3C Xichang Lunar probe 50A
Oct 6 0049 SJ-6/4A ) Chang Zheng 4B Taiyuan ? 51A
SJ-6/4B ) ? 51B
Oct 7 2310 Soyuz TMA-01M Soyuz-FG Baykonur LC1 Spaceship 52A
Oct 14 1853 Sirius XM-5 Proton-M/Briz-M Baykonur LC81/24 Radio 53A
Oct 19 1710 Globalstar-2 M073 ) Soyuz-2-1a/Fregat Baykonur LC31 Comms 54F
Globalstar-2 M074 ) Comms 54B
Globalstar-2 M075 ) Comms 54E
Globalstar-2 M076 ) Comms 54C
Globalstar-2 M077 ) Comms 54D
Globalstar-2 M079 ) Comms 54A
Oct 27 1511 Progress M-08M Soyuz-U Baykonur LC1 Cargo 55A
Oct 28 2151 Eutelsat W3B ) Ariane 5ECA Kourou ELA3 Comms 56A
BSAT-3B ) Comms 56B
Oct 31 1626 Beidou DW6 Chang Zheng 3C Xichang Nav 57A
Nov 2 0059 Meridan Soyuz-2-1a/Fregat Plesetsk LC43/3 Comms 58A
Nov 5 1837 Fengyun 3 (01)B Chang Zheng 4C Taiyuan Weather 59A
Nov 6 0220 COSMO-SkyMed 4 Delta 7420-10 Vandenberg SLC2W Radar 60A
Nov 14 1729 SkyTerra 1 Proton-M/Briz-M Baykonur Comms 61A
Nov 20 0125 STPSat-2 ) Minotaur IV Kodiak Tech 62A
Falconsat-5 ) Tech 62E
Fastsat-HSV ) Tech 62D
Fastrac 1 ) Tech 62F
Fastrac 2 ) Tech 62
O/OREOS ) Science 62C
RAX ) Science 62B
Nanosail-D ) Tech 62
S26 Ballast A) Dummy 62J
S26 Ballast B) Dummy 62K
Nov 21 2258 USA 223 Delta IVH Canaveral SLC37B Sigint? 63A
Nov 24 1609 Zhongxing 20A Chang Zheng 3A Xichang Comms 64A
Nov 26 1839 Intelsat IS-17 ) Ariane 5ECA Kourou ELA3 Comms 65A
Hylas 1 ) Comms 65B
Table of Recent (suborbital) Launches
----------------------------------
Date UT Payload/Flt Name Launch Vehicle Site Mission Apogee/km
Oct 7 0310 RV x 3? Bulava TK-208, White Sea R&D 1000?
Oct 21 1700 NASA 36.230DR Black Brant IX San Nicolas Target 100?
Oct 27 1015 Mapheus-2 Nike Orion Kiruna Micrograv 153
Oct 28 0959 RV Topol Plesetsk Op Test 1000?
Oct 28 1030 RV x 4? Sineva K-117, Barents Sea Op Test 1000?
Oct 28 RV x 4? Volna K-433, Okhotsk Op Test 1000?
Oct 29 0210? RV x 3? Bulava TK-208, White Sea R&D 1000?
Oct 30 0306 MRT-9 Castor 4B Kauai Target 150?
Oct 30 0309 Aegis KV SM-3 DDG-174, Pacific Interceptor 150?
.-------------------------------------------------------------------------.
| Jonathan McDowell | phone : (617) 495-7176 |
| Somerville MA 02143 | inter : jcm at www.planet4589.org |
| USA | jcm at cfa.harvard.edu |
| |
| JSR: http://www.planet4589.org/jsr.html |
| Back issues: http://www.planet4589.org/space/jsr/back |
| Subscribe/unsub: http://www.planet4589.org/mailman/listinfo/jsr |
'-------------------------------------------------------------------------'
More information about the JSR
mailing list