[JSR] Jonathan's Space Report, No. 684
Jonathan McDowell
jcm at planet4589.org
Sat Aug 24 01:10:37 EDT 2013
Jonathan's Space Report
No. 684 2013 Aug 24, Somerville, MA
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International Space Station
----------------------------
Expedition 36 is underway. The crew are commander Pavel Vinogradov,
Flight Engineers FE-2 Alexandr Misurkin, FE-3 Chris Cassidy, FE-4
Yurchikin, FE-5 Parmitano and FE-6 Nyberg. Ferry ship Soyuz TMA-08M is
at Poisk and TMA-09M at Rassvet. Cargo ship ATV-4 is at the Zvezda module.
On Aug 3 Japan launched the fourth H-II Transfer Vehicle, Kounotori-4,
to deliver cargo to the ISS. HTV carries pressurized cargo that will
be transferred through the Harmony module hatch and an external pallet
whose payloads will be installed using the robot arms.
Mass of HTV-4 is very roughly 16000 kg.
The EP carries the Space Test Program H4 package to be installed on
ELC1, a spare Main Bus Switching Unit for ELC2, and a spare SARJ Utility
Transfer Assembly for ELC4. The MBSU is around 100 kg; I haven't been
able to find masses for STP-H4 and UTA, but they are each probably
around 300 to 400 kg (send me better data if you have it!)
The pressurized cargo is packaged in 8 HTV Resupply Racks and includes
the FROST freezer, the Kirobo robot, NASA's RRM Task Board 3
robotics experiment, and two J-SSOD cubesat launchers. The J-SSODs
will be taken outside via the Kibo science airlock and will eject
their passengers. One J-SSOD carries three 1U cubesats: Vietnam's
PicoDragon, and the US company NanoSatisifi's Arudsat-X and Ardusat-1,
which use Arduino open-source processors to run experiments.
The other J-SSOD carries TechEdSat-3p, a 3U cubesat from NASA-Ames and San Jose State
University, which will deploy an 0.6m `Exobrake' sail to test a way to increase
the cubesat's drag and make it reenter quickly.
HTV 4 reached the ISS on Aug 9, holding 10 metres off the Station until the Canadarm-2
robot arm captured it at 1122 UTC. The arm berthed the module on the Harmony node
at 1528 UTC, and it was firmly bolted to ISS ten minutes later. The hatch to the
pressurized cabin of the HTV was opened at 1111 UTC Aug 10. On Aug 11 at 2107 UTC
the Canadarm removed the Exposed Pallet (EP) from the HTV, and at 0359 UTC Aug 12
the EP was installed on the end of the Kibo Exposed Facility pallet. The equipment
on the EP will be relocated to the ELC pallets on the truss
using the Japanese and Canadian robot arms.
On Aug 19 the fabric covers on ESA's ATV WAL-6 antenna, which is mounted on the forward end
of the Zvezda module, floated away and was spotted near the Station by Chris Cassidy.
As of Aug 21 it had not been cataloged.
On Aug 16 astronauts Yurchikin and Misurkin made a spacewalk (VKD-34) from the Pirs
airlock using the Orlan-MK 5 and 6 spacesuits. They installed the Vinovlivost Panel 2
exposure experiment on Poisk, and routed cables for the MLM module that Russia
plans to launch to the Station. The airlock was depressurized around 1410 UTC
and the hatch was opened at 1436 UTC; hatch was closed again at 2205 UTC and
repressurization began at 2208 UTC.
On Aug 22 Yurchikin and Misurkin went outside again for VKD-35, this time using
suits 4 and 6 respectively. They retrieved the BLTS-N laser comms experiment,
replacing it with the DPN/VRM adjustable mount. The mount was incorrectly
assembled, but after a delay it was decided to install it anyway and take out
the incorrect orientation by swivelling the DPN articulated arm.
An Earth observing camera will
be installed on the mount in a future spacewalk. The astronauts also inspected and
tightened the remaining WAL antenna covers, obtained samples of the exterior
of the Poisk module, and waved the Russian flag to celebrate the country's flag day.
Airlock depress/repress was around 1110 UTC and 1735 UTC; hatch open/close was
from 1134 to 1732 UTC.
Some notes on the hardware for these two spacewalks:
Spacesuit Orlan-MK No. 4 was launched on Progress M-65 in Sep 2008 and has been used
for 9 spacewalks.
Spacesuit Orlan-MK No. 5 was launched on Progress M-66 in Feb 2009 and has been used
for 9 spacewalks.
Spacesuit Orlan-MK No. 6 was launched on Progress M-02M in May 2009 and has been used
for 10 spacewalks.
The WAL-6 antenna was launched on Progress M-52 in Feb 2005 and installed on a 2005 Mar 28
spacewalk.
Vinoslivost Panel 2 was launched on Progress M-14M in Jan 2012, was taken
outside to be installed on Poisk on 2012 Feb 16 and retrieved on 2013 Jun 24.
I am not sure if this is the same 'Panel 2' that was then taken outside on Aug 16
and installed on Poisk, or a replacement. Progress M-19M delivered a `Vinoslivost
sample changer' so perhaps it's the same panel loaded with a new set of exposure samples.
The BTLS-N lasercom experiment was launched on Progress M-10M in Apr 2011 and installed
durin an EVA on 2011 Aug 3.
The DPN and VRM were delivered recently on Progress M-20M.
WGS 6
------
The US military X/Ka-band communications satellite WGS 6 was launched
from Cape Canaveral on Aug 8, expanding the Wideband Global Satcom
constellation. The Delta 4 rocket reached a 185 x 6880 km x 25.6 deg
parking orbit at 0049 UTC and then an approximately 440 x 66900 km x
24.0 deg supersynchronous transfer orbit at 0100 UTC; the satellite
separated from the rocket at 0109 UTC. This WGS satellite was funded by
Australia, and the Australian Defense Force also makes use of the network.
Shiyan 7
---------
A Chinese satellite launched on Jul 19, after maneuvering
close to Chuangxin-3 on Aug 6 and Aug 9, has completed an unexpected
rendezvous in a 564 x 610 km x 97.7 deg orbit with the Shi Jian 7 (SJ-7)
satellite launched in 2005. The rendezvous was spotted by a Hong Kong
based space expert who uses the twitter handle @cosmic_penguin, and
further analysed by Bob Christy of zarya.info.
The satellite is one of three from the Jul 19 launch. All three
satellites are being tracked by the US but we're not sure which is which
- we are pretty confident that the satellite China calls Chuangxin-3 is
the one the US labels 'Payload B'. However, we don't know which of
Shiyan-7 (SJ-7) and Shi Jian 15 (SJ-15) is 'Payload A' (in a fixed
orbit) and which is 'Payload C' (the one making rendezvous with SJ-7). I
think, for reasons that are not terribly compelling, that Payload C is
probably Shiyan-7, although Bob Christy now suggests that it may be
SJ-15. Note: do not confuse the "Shiyan" (Experiment) and "Shi Jian"
(Practice) series of satellites.
In any case, Payload C was orbiting close to SJ-7 for the period Aug 19 to 20
in a 564 x 610 km orbit, and then manuevered away to a 560 x 604 km orbit.
The mission of target satellite SJ-7 is mysterious; it undergoes
occasional orbital manuevers, lasting a few days, of up to 10 km in
height, interspersed with long periods of quiescent decay. After launch
to a 546 x 571 km orbit, minor orbit maneuvering occured on 2005 Jul
29-30, 2005 Nov 22, 2005 Dec 3, 2006 Jan 18, 2006 Mar 16, and 2006 Jul
13. On 2006 Jul 28-30 the apogee was raised by 14 km. After a two year
pause, on 2008 Apr 21 the perigee was tweaked up, and on May 3 down
again, followed by further manuevers on 2008 Aug 22-Oct 21 and orbit
lowering on 2009 Jan 6-13, leaving it in a 519 x 543 km orbit until 2012
Apr 21, when a week of maneuvers raised the orbit to 533 x 593 km.
Further orbit raising on 2012 Dec 10-13 and 2013 Jan 11-13 raised the
orbit further to 565 x 611 km, the highest to date in its mission.
Kompsat-5
---------
South Korea's KARI agency has launched its first X-band SAR satellite,
the `No. 5 Multi-Purpose Satellite' (damogjeogsil-yong-wiseong 5-ho, KOMPSAT-5).
The KOMPSAT-5 satellite (also known as Arirang-5) was launched
from the Russian missile base at Yasniy/Dombarovskiy on Aug 22 aboard a
Dnepr rocket (recycled R-36M missile). The satellite is in a 553 x 552 km x 97.6
deg sun-synchronous orbit with a 17:59LT descending node; it has a mass
of about 1400 kg.
Herschel/Planck
---------------
In May 2009 the Herschel infrared space telescope and the Planck microwave background
observatory were launched aboard a single Ariane 5, and were stationed at the Earth-Sun L2 Lagrange
Point 1.5 million km towards midnight. After completing their very successful missions this
year, the spacecraft have now been sent into solar orbit and will be deactivated. Herschel departed
L2 on Apr 1 and was turned off on Jun 17; it is in a 1.04 x 1.06 AU x 0.19 deg solar orbit.
Planck departed L2 on Aug 14 for a 1.00 x 1.10 AU x 0.1 deg orbit and will be switched
off on Oct 23.
Strela/Rokot
-------------
Three Russian Strela-3/Rodnik-S military communications satellites were launched
by a Rokot vehicle in January, as noted in JSR 673. Two of those
satellites, Kosmos-2482 and Kosmos-2484, maneuvered to their
operational 115.86 min, 1472 x 1515 km orbit, which involved raising
their apogees by around 10 km over a period of a month. Kosmos-2483,
however, remains in its original 115.76min, 1477 x 1502 km insertion
orbit. An Aug 6 article from RIA Novosti reveals that the Rokot's Briz
upper stage malfunctioned, presumably at the satellite deployment stage.
Russia has announced it plans to resume Rokot launches in September.
According to the rating scheme I described in JSR 669, reaching the
correct insertion orbit but having one of three primary payloads fail to
separate (or separate with a fatal problem) gets a success score of 0.75.
It is a relatively minor failure; however for cruder statistical pass/fail purposes
I consider '0.75 or less to be a failure' (JSR 669)
so if K-2483 is a failure then the entire launch is now - just barely - a failure by my count.
In 17 orbital launches since 2000 the Rokot/Briz-KM has had three
problems: the complete launch failure of Cryosat (score 0.0), the
delivery of GEO-IK-2 to an unusable orbit (score 0.40) and this flight
(two of three payloads apparently just fine). This gives a weighted
success rate for Rokot of 15.15/17.0 = 0.89. (The 1994 test launch of
Rokot used the earlier Briz-K stage; because of that and the long gap
before the second launch I'm not including it in the stats).
The Novosti article suggested that the problems caused failure of one
satellite, presumable 2483. An article in Kommersant suggests that
Kosmos-2482 and 2484 also separated incorrectly and were only recovered
after special actions, and that Kosmos-2483 is now in fact operating
despite its lack of orbit change. I'll score 'non fatal separation
problems' as 0.90 per major payload, which if this report is correct
would change this flight's score to 0.68 if 2483 is dead, or 0.90 if it
is operating. I forgot to include this category of failure in my JSR669
list - it would also include a few cases where an upper stage's residual
thrust caused it to bump into the payload after separation without
causing major damage.
Erratum
--------
The SGTRC box is part of the SGANT Ku-band comm system - not
S-band as I mistakenly reported in JSR 682.
Table of Recent (orbital) Launches
----------------------------------
Date UT Name Launch Vehicle Site Mission INTL.
Jul 1 1811 IRNSS-1A PSLV-XL Sriharikota LP1 Navigation 34A
Jul 2 0238 Glonass-M No. 48 ) Proton-M/DM-03 Baykonur LC81/24 Navigation F02
Glonass-M No. 49 ) Navigation F02
Glonass-M No. 50 ) Navigation F02
Jul 15 0927 SJ-11-05 Chang Zheng 2C Jiuquan Early Warn 35A
Jul 19 1300 MUOS 2 Atlas V 551 Canaveral SLC41 Comms 36A
Jul 19 2337 Shi Jian 15 ) Chang Zheng 4C Taiyuan Tech 37C
Shiyan 7 ) Surveill. 37A
Chuangxin 3 ) Tech 37B
Jul 25 1954 Alphasat ) Ariane 5ECA Kourou ELA3 Comms 38A
Insat 3D ) Ariane 5ECA Kourou ELA3 Weather 38B
Jul 27 2045 Progress M-20M Soyuz-U Baykonur LC31 Cargo 39A
Aug 3 1948 Konoutori 4 H-IIB Tanegashima LP2 Cargo 40A
Aug 8 0029 WGS 6 Delta 4M+(5,4) Canaveral SLC37 Comms 41A
Aug 22 1439 Arirang-5 Dnepr Yasniy Sh370/13 Imaging 42A
Suborbital launches
-------------------
NASA flight 36.239DS carried the VERTIS solar spectrometer from NRL.
Flight 46.005UO carried the Rocksat-X student experiment payload.
Table of Recent (suborbital) Launches
----------------------------------
Date UT Payload/Flt Name Launch Vehicle Site Mission Apogee/km
Jul 4 1431 NASA 21.140GE Black Brant V Wallops I. Ionosphere 135?
Jul 4 1431 NASA 41.090GE Terrier Imp. Orion Wallops I. Ionosphere 160?
Jul 5 1829? FTG-07 Target? LV-2? Kwajalein Target 1000?
Jul 5 1835 FTG-07 CE-I EKV GBI Vandenberg Intercept 1000?
Jul 12 Jericho RV Jericho III Palmachim R&D test 300?
Jul 15 0553 MAPHEUS 4 VS-30 ESRANGE,Kiruna Micrograv 151
Jul 20 0200 S-310-42 S-310 Uchinoura Atmos sci 139
Jul 20 0257 S-520-27 S-520 Uchinoura Atmos sci 316
Aug 8 1810 NASA 36.239DS Black Brant IX White Sands Solar UV 280
Aug 12 0345 Prithvi RV Prithvi II Chandipur Training 100?
Aug 13 1000 Rocksat-X Terrier Imp. Mal. Wallops I Education 151
Aug 15 PAC-3 Target Juno? Ft Wingate? Target 100?
.-------------------------------------------------------------------------.
| Jonathan McDowell | phone : (617) 495-7176 |
| Somerville MA 02143 | inter : planet4589 at gmail |
| USA | jcm at cfa.harvard.edu |
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