From jcm at planet4589.com Sun Dec 8 16:35:09 2019 From: jcm at planet4589.com (Jonathan McDowell) Date: Sun, 08 Dec 2019 16:35:09 -0500 Subject: [JSR] Jonathan's Space Report, No. 772 Message-ID: <20191208213509.AB6A5B000F1@server.planet4589.com> Jonathan's Space Report No. 772 2019 Dec 8 Somerville, MA --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- International Space Station --------------------------- Expedition 61 continues. On Nov 20 the J-SSOD No. 12 deployer, delivered on HTV 8, was moved outside the Kibo airlock with the JEM RMS robot arm. Three cubesats were ejected: RWASAT-1, built by the University of Tokyo in collaboration with Rwanda's Ministry of Trade and Industry; NARSSCube-1 from the Egyptian Space Agency; and AQT-D from the University of Tokyo which is testing a water thruster. On Nov 22 Parmitano and Morgan carried out spacewalk EVA-60, the second in the series to repair the cooling system of the AMS-02 particle physics experiment. The Quest airlock was depressurized from 1200 to 1835 UTC, and the hatch was opened at 1201 UTC and closed at 1833 UTC. The astronauts made cuts in cooling pipes, depressurizing the old cooling system and preparing for installation of the new pump. On Nov 29 the Progress MS-12 cargo ship undocked from the Pirs module at 1025 UTC, performed a deorbit burn at 1339 UTC and entered the atmosphere over the South Pacific at 1411 UTC. Its debris impacted the ocean at about 1419 UTC. On Dec 2 Parmitano and Morgan carried out spacewalk EVA-61. The airlock was depressurized from 1127 to 1733 UTC. They carried the 158 kg Upgraded Tracker Thermal Pump Systme (UTTPS) to the AMS-02 experiment and installed it there, connecting fluid lines. On Dec 5 SpaceX launched Dragon CRS-19 on its way to the ISS. The Falcon 9 first stage landed on the OCISLY droneship. The second stage reportedly remained in orbit for several hours, possibly changing its inclination before deorbiting southwest of Australia. Unfortunately no TLEs are available for it. I suspect the stage's mission was to simulate a GEO 3-burn deployment mission. In Dragon's trunk are: HISUI (Hyperspectral Imager Suite) for Japan's Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry; to be installed at EFU 8 on the JEM Exposed Facility. Mass about 600 kg; I believe it was developed by Japan Space Systems. Li-Ion battery/Adapter Plate, to replaced one that failed after installation. In the cabin are: RiTS (Robotic Tool Stowage), a box that can store both of the RELL leak locators, to be EVA-installed outside ISS. Cubesats CIRiS (Utah State), CryoCube-1 (NASA KSC), QARMAN (Von Karman Inst,, Belgium), SORTIE (Astra LLC/UNMC), EdgeCube (Sonoma State U), MakerSat 1 (NW Nazarene U), and AztechSat-1 (UPAEP, Puebla, Mexico). On Dec 6 Roskosmos launched Progress MS-13 from Baykonur. Both cargo ships (Dragon and Progress) are scheduled to arrive at ISS in the next few days. On Dec 5 at 1840 UTC the S.S. Roger Chaffee (Cygnus NG-11) lowered its orbit from 462 x 469 km to 212 x 376 km; on Dec 6, probably about 1620 UTC, it was deorbited over the south Pacific with impact near 140W 45S at about 1655 UTC. NG-11 arrived at ISS Apr 19 and left on Aug 6, spending time demonstrating extended operations. Beidou ------- China launched two more Beidou navigation satellites on Nov 23. Beidou 50 and 51 are satellites M19 and M20 in the Beidou-3 medium Earth orbit series. Meanwhile, Beidou 49 has been found in its target inclined geosynchronous orbit (IGSO). Kosmos-2542 ----------- Russia launched a Soyuz-2-1V on Nov 25. The Blok I second stage reached a 289 x 364 km x 97.9 deg orbit; the Volga third stage then fired to reach a 367 x 857 km x 97.9 deg orbit and deployed at least one payload. It's not entirely clear if the two objects in the higher orbit are payload and Volga stage, or two payloads with the Volga having deorbited itself. However Russian press statements imply only a single payload, with a mission to observe other satelites. Ariane VA250 ------------ Arianespace flight VA250 used launch vehicle Ariane 5 L5108. The payloads were TIBA-1, a 5600 kg AirbusDS Eurostar 3000 Ka-band satellite for the Egyptian Space Agency, and Inmarsat GX5, a 4007 kg Thales Alenia Spacebus 4000B2 Ka-band satellite for Inmarsat's Global Xpress fleet. Tiba is the Arabic name for the ancient city known in English as Thebes and in ancient Egyptian as Waset. It's unclear why the satellite's name is always rendered in upper case in English transliteration. PSLV-C47/Cartosat-3 -------------------- ISRO launched PSLV C47 from Sriharikota on Nov 27 to place the Cartosat-3 high resolution imaging satellite in sun-sync orbit. Cartosat-3's main camera has a resolution of 0.25m. The PS4 fourth stage also deployed the Meshbed 3U cubesat, an antenna test satellite for Analytical Space of Cambridge, MA, and a dozen Planet SuperDove imaging cubesats. GF-12 ----- China launched the Shanghai-built Gao Fen 12 high resolution SAR radar satellite on Nov 27. Electron 10 ----------- Rocket Lab's tenth mission, dubbed 'Running Out Of Fingers', was launched from New Zealand on Dec 6. The main payload was the 75 kg ALE-2 for Astro Live Experiences (Tokyo), which plans to create artificial meteors for entertainment. Several small PocketQube payloads were also put in orbit. The PQ sats are smaller than a 1U cubesat; a 1P is 0.25 kg, 0.05m cube. The PQ deployers were developed by Alba Orbital of Glasgow, and ejected: NOOR 1A and 1B, 3P satellites with communications test payloads for Stara Space of Los Angeles, built by Alba Orbital. SMOG-P, a 1P from Budapest Univ. of Tech and Economics, mapping radio-frequency `pollution' from terrestrial emitters ATL-1, a 2P from ATL Ltd of Csapas, Hungary, also with a spectrum monitoring payload. FossaSat, a 1P from Fossa Systems of Madrid. TRSI-Sat, a 1P from Paul Kocyla of Aachen, formerly of STADOKO and now operating as 'TRSI Club' and 'My Radar'. The first stage performed a controlled reentry and impacted the ocean. The second stage reached a 180 x 409 km orbit at 0827 UTC. At apogee at 0908 UTC, the kick stage fired to a 398 x 415 km orbit and deployed ALE-2. It appears another small burn may have been done at 0916 UTC, with the PQs deployed to an orbit with a 50 km lower perigee at 0918 UTC. KZ-1A launches --------------- On Dec 7 two Kuaizhou-1A rockets were launched from Taiyuan within 6 hours. The first, KZ-1A Y2, placed the Jilin-1 GaoFen 2B imaging satellite in 1000LTDN sun-sync orbit for Chuangguang Satellite. The second put six small satellites in 1600 LTDN sun-sync orbit: HEDE-2A/2B with AIS payloads for HEDE Aerospace's Tian Xingzhe (Skywalker) constellation; Tianyi-16 and 17 remote sensing satellites for Tianyi Research; and Tianqi-4A/4B with IoT relay payloads for Guodian Gaokeji YG. Table of Recent Orbital Launches ---------------------------------- Date UT Name Launch Vehicle Site Mission INTL. Catalog Perigee Apogee Incl Notes Nov 2 1359 S.S. Alan Bean Antares 230+ MARS LA0 Cargo 71A S44701 186 x 257 x 51.6 Nov 3 0322 Gao Fen 7 ) Chang Zheng 4B Taiyuan LC9 Imaging 72A S44703 489 x 518 x 97.5 1030LT SSO Huangpu-1 ) Imaging? 72C S44706 485 x 505 x 97.5 Dianfeng ) Imaging 72D S44705 485 x 505 x 97.5 Sudan Kexue Shiyan ) Tech 72B S44704 487 x 504 x 97.5 Nov 4 1743 Beidou DW49 Chang Zheng 3B Xichang Navigation 73A S44709 35674 x 35887 x 58.7 Nov 11 1456 Starlink 1007 ) to ) 74A S44713 298 x 303 x 53.0 Starlink 1017 ) Falcon 9 Canaveral SLC40 Comms to Starlink 1019 ) 74BM S44772 298 x 303 x 53.0 to ) Starlink 1065 ) Starlink 1067 ) Starlink 1068 ) Nov 13 0340 Jilin-1 Gaofen 02A Kuaizhou-1A Jiuquan Imaging 75A S44777 532 x 546 x 97.5 1000LT SSO Nov 13 0635 Ningxia-1 01 ) Chang Zheng 6 Taiyuan Sigint 76A S44779 886 x 898 x 45.0 Ningxia-1 02 ) Sigint 76B S44780 886 x 898 x 45.0 Ningxia-1 03 ) Sigint 76C S44781 886 x 898 x 45.0 Ningxia-1 04 ) Sigint 76D S44782 886 x 898 x 45.0 Ningxia-1 05 ) Sigint 76E S44783 886 x 898 x 45.0 Nov 17 1000 KL-Alpha-A ) Kuaizhou-1A Jiuquan Comms 77A S44785 1044 x 1058 x 88.9 KL-Alpha-B ) Comms 77B S44786 1045 x 1432 x 88.8 Nov 20 0850 RWASAT-1 ISS, LEO Tech 98-67QV? 411 x 420 x 51.6 Nov 20 0910 NARSSCube-1 ISS, LEO Tech 98-67QW? 411 x 420 x 51.6 Nov 20 0925 AQT-D ISS, LEO Tech 98-67QX? 411 x 420 x 51.6 Nov 23 0055 Beidou DW50 ) Chang Zheng 3B Xichang LC3 Navigation 78A S44793 21533 x 22193 x 55.0 Beidou DW51 ) Navigation 78B S44794 21533 x 22193 x 55.0 Nov 25 1752 Kosmos-2542? Soyuz-2-1V Plesetsk LC43/4 Tech 79A S44797 383 x 863 x 97.9 Nov 26 2123 TIBA-1 ) Ariane 5ECA Kourou ELA3 Comms 80A S44800 259 x 35753 x 5.0 Inmarsat GX5 ) Comms 80B S44801 256 x 35719 x 5.0 Nov 27 0358 Cartosat-3 ) PSLV-XL Sriharikota SLP Imaging 81A S44804 500 x 519 x 97.5 0930LT Meshbed ) Tech 81C S44806 500 x 517 x 97.5 Flock 4p-1 ) Imaging 81L S44814 500 x 517 x 97.5 Flock 4p-2 ) Imaging 81K S44813 500 x 517 x 97.5 Flock 4p-3 ) Imaging 81J S44812 500 x 517 x 97.5 Flock 4p-4 ) Imaging 81J S44811 500 x 517 x 97.5 Flock 4p-5 ) Imaging 81Q S44818 500 x 517 x 97.5 Flock 4p-6 ) Imaging 81P S44817 500 x 517 x 97.5 Flock 4p-7 ) Imaging 81N S44816 500 x 517 x 97.5 Flock 4p-8 ) Imaging 81M S44815 500 x 517 x 97.5 Flock 4p-9 ) Imaging 81D S44807 500 x 517 x 97.5 Flock 4p-10) Imaging 81E S44808 500 x 517 x 97.5 Flock 4p-11) Imaging 81F S44809 500 x 517 x 97.5 Flock 4p-12) Imaging 81G S44810 500 x 517 x 97.5 Nov 27 2352 Gao Fen 12 Chang Zheng 4C Taiyuan Radar 82A S44819 595 x 599 x 97.9 0700LT Dec 5 1729 Dragon CRS-19 Falcon 9 Canaveral SLC40 Cargo 83A S44821 203 x 378 x 51.7 Dec 6 0818 ALE-2 ) Electron Mahia LC1 Tech 84A S44824 397 x 415 x 97.0 NOOR 1A ) Com 84 NOOR 1B ) Com 84 SMOG-P ) Sigint 84 TRSI-Sat ) Tech 84 FossaSat-1) Tech 84 ATL-1 ) Sigint/Tech 84 Dec 6 0934 Progress MS-13 Soyuz-2-1A Baykonur LC31 Cargo 85A S44833 186 x 219 x 51.6 Dec 7 0255 Jilin-1 Gaofen 02B Kuaizhou-1A Taiyuan Imaging 86B S44837 531 x 544 x 97.5 Dec 7 0852 HEDE-2A ) Kuaizhou-1A Taiyuan Comms 87 S44839 495 x 511 x 97.4 HEDE-2B ) Comms 87 Tianqi-4A ) Comms 87 Tianqi-4B ) Comms 87 Tianyi-16 ) Imaging 87 Tianyi-17 ) Imaging 87 Table of Recent Suborbital Launches ----------------------------------- Date UT Payload/Flt Name Launch Vehicle Site Mission Apogee/km Target Nov 15 0935 TEXUS 56 VSB-30 Kiruna Micrograv 256 ESRANGE Nov 16 1402 RV Agni 2 Kalam Island Test 600? Indian O. Nov 22 1030? RV DF-41 Taiyuan Test 1000? Gobi Desert Nov 22 1519 SL-14 SpaceLoft XL Spaceport America Micrograv 92 White Sands? Nov 26 0743 ICI 5 Terrer Imp.Malemute Svalbard Ionosphere 253 Arctic Nov 28 Topol-E RV Topol' Kapustin Yar Reentry test 1000? Balkhash Nov 28 0759 RV DPRK MLRS Ryonpo Test 97 Sea of Japan Nov 28 0759 RV DPRK MLRS Ryonpo Test 97 Sea of Japan Nov 30 1350 Agni 3 RV Agni 3 Kalam Island Test 500? Indian O. .-------------------------------------------------------------------------. | 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 | '-------------------------------------------------------------------------' From jcm at planet4589.com Sun Dec 8 16:42:30 2019 From: jcm at planet4589.com (Jonathan McDowell) Date: Sun, 08 Dec 2019 16:42:30 -0500 Subject: [JSR] Jonathan's Space Report, No. 772 [Corrected] Message-ID: <20191208214230.A06F3B003E4@server.planet4589.com> Jonathan's Space Report No. 772 [Corrected] 2019 Dec 8 Somerville, MA --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Note: Apologies - I sent the wrong file out first time; this is the correct one. International Space Station --------------------------- Expedition 61 continues. On Nov 20 the J-SSOD No. 12 deployer, delivered on HTV 8, was moved outside the Kibo airlock with the JEM RMS robot arm. Three cubesats were ejected: RWASAT-1, built by the University of Tokyo in collaboration with Rwanda's Ministry of Trade and Industry; NARSSCube-1 from the Egyptian Space Agency; and AQT-D from the University of Tokyo which is testing a water thruster. On Nov 22 Parmitano and Morgan carried out spacewalk EVA-60, the second in the series to repair the cooling system of the AMS-02 particle physics experiment. The Quest airlock was depressurized from 1200 to 1835 UTC, and the hatch was opened at 1201 UTC and closed at 1833 UTC. The astronauts made cuts in cooling pipes, depressurizing the old cooling system and preparing for installation of the new pump. On Nov 29 the Progress MS-12 cargo ship undocked from the Pirs module at 1025 UTC, performed a deorbit burn at 1339 UTC and entered the atmosphere over the South Pacific at 1411 UTC. Its debris impacted the ocean at about 1419 UTC. On Dec 2 Parmitano and Morgan carried out spacewalk EVA-61. The airlock was depressurized from 1127 to 1733 UTC. They carried the 158 kg Upgraded Tracker Thermal Pump Systme (UTTPS) to the AMS-02 experiment and installed it there, connecting fluid lines. On Dec 5 SpaceX launched Dragon CRS-19 on its way to the ISS. The Falcon 9 first stage landed on the OCISLY droneship. In Dragon's trunk are: HISUI (Hyperspectral Imager Suite) for Japan's Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry; to be installed at EFU 8 on the JEM Exposed Facility. Mass about 600 kg; I believe it was developed by Japan Space Systems. Li-Ion battery/Adapter Plate, to replaced one that failed after installation. In the cabin are: RiTS (Robotic Tool Stowage), a box that can store both of the RELL leak locators, to be EVA-installed outside ISS. Cubesats CIRiS (Utah State), CryoCube-1 (NASA KSC), QARMAN (Von Karman Inst,, Belgium), SORTIE (Astra LLC/UNMC), EdgeCube (Sonoma State U), MakerSat 1 (NW Nazarene U), and AztechSat-1 (UPAEP, Puebla, Mexico). Dragon was captured by the Canadarm-2 at 1005 UTC Dec 8 and berthed on the Harmony nadir port at 1247 UTC. The Dragon's Falcon 9 second stage remained in orbit for several hours and then restarted to make a 20s duration out-of-plane deorbit burn to reenter southwest of Australia. This was to simulate a GEO 3-burn deployment mission. My estimate is that after separation from Dragon at 1739 UTC, it was in a 204 x 378 km x 51.6 deg orbit until about 2225 UTC when it made a 1.8 km/s burn to about -31 x 280 km x 58.5 deg, reentering in the target zone shortly after 2300 UTC, having completed 3 orbits of the Earth. Unfortunately it was not cataloged and no TLEs are available for it; the old rule was that things that completed one orbit should get a catalog number but this rule is no longer being followed. On Dec 6 Roskosmos launched Progress MS-13 from Baykonur. It is expected to reach ISS on Dec 9. On Dec 5 at 1840 UTC the S.S. Roger Chaffee (Cygnus NG-11) lowered its orbit from 462 x 469 km to 212 x 376 km; on Dec 6, probably about 1620 UTC, it was deorbited over the south Pacific with impact near 140W 45S at about 1655 UTC. NG-11 arrived at ISS Apr 19 and left on Aug 6, spending time demonstrating extended operations. Beidou ------- China launched two more Beidou navigation satellites on Nov 23. Beidou 50 and 51 are satellites M19 and M20 in the Beidou-3 medium Earth orbit series. Meanwhile, Beidou 49 has been found in its target inclined geosynchronous orbit (IGSO). Kosmos-2542 ----------- Russia launched a Soyuz-2-1V on Nov 25. The Blok I second stage reached a 289 x 364 km x 97.9 deg orbit; the Volga third stage then fired to reach a 367 x 857 km x 97.9 deg orbit and deployed its payload, probably to be codenamed Kosmos-2542. The Volga then appears to have deorbited within 24 hours. On Dec 6 the payload released a subsatellite reported by the Russian press as a satellite-inspector; this will probably be codenamed Kosmos-2543. Ariane VA250 ------------ Arianespace flight VA250 used launch vehicle Ariane 5 L5108. The payloads were TIBA-1, a 5600 kg AirbusDS Eurostar 3000 Ka-band satellite for the Egyptian Space Agency, and Inmarsat GX5, a 4007 kg Thales Alenia Spacebus 4000B2 Ka-band satellite for Inmarsat's Global Xpress fleet. Tiba is the Arabic name for the ancient city known in English as Thebes and in ancient Egyptian as Waset. It's unclear why the satellite's name is always rendered in upper case in English transliteration. PSLV-C47/Cartosat-3 -------------------- ISRO launched PSLV C47 from Sriharikota on Nov 27 to place the Cartosat-3 high resolution imaging satellite in sun-sync orbit. Cartosat-3's main camera has a resolution of 0.25m. The PS4 fourth stage also deployed the Meshbed 3U cubesat, an antenna test satellite for Analytical Space of Cambridge, MA, and a dozen Planet SuperDove imaging cubesats. GF-12 ----- China launched the Shanghai-built Gao Fen 12 high resolution SAR radar satellite on Nov 27. Electron 10 ----------- Rocket Lab's tenth mission, dubbed 'Running Out Of Fingers', was launched from New Zealand on Dec 6. The main payload was the 75 kg ALE-2 for Astro Live Experiences (Tokyo), which plans to create artificial meteors for entertainment. Several small PocketQube payloads were also put in orbit. The PQ sats are smaller than a 1U cubesat; a 1P is 0.25 kg, 0.05m cube. The PQ deployers were developed by Alba Orbital of Glasgow, and ejected: NOOR 1A and 1B, 3P satellites with communications test payloads for Stara Space of Los Angeles, built by Alba Orbital. SMOG-P, a 1P from Budapest Univ. of Tech and Economics, mapping radio-frequency `pollution' from terrestrial emitters ATL-1, a 2P from ATL Ltd of Csapas, Hungary, also with a spectrum monitoring payload. FossaSat, a 1P from Fossa Systems of Madrid. TRSI-Sat, a 1P from Paul Kocyla of Aachen, formerly of STADOKO and now operating as 'TRSI Club' and 'My Radar'. The first stage performed a controlled, instrumented reentry and impacted the ocean. The second stage reached a 180 x 409 km orbit at 0827 UTC. At apogee at 0908 UTC, the kick stage fired to a 398 x 415 km orbit and deployed ALE-2. It appears another small burn may have been done at 0916 UTC, with the PQs deployed to an orbit with a 50 km lower perigee at 0918 UTC. KZ-1A launches --------------- On Dec 7 two Kuaizhou-1A rockets were launched from Taiyuan within 6 hours. The first, KZ-1A Y2, placed the Jilin-1 GaoFen 2B imaging satellite in 1000LTDN sun-sync orbit for Chuangguang Satellite. The second put six small satellites in 1600 LTDN sun-sync orbit: HEDE-2A/2B with AIS payloads for HEDE Aerospace's Tian Xingzhe (Skywalker) constellation; Tianyi-16 and 17 remote sensing satellites for Tianyi Research; and Tianqi-4A/4B with IoT relay payloads for Guodian Gaokeji YG. Starlink flight 0 ------------------ After several months at 550 km the main group of flight 0 (2019-029) satellites have lowered their orbits to 530 km. Satellites lowering orbit below 530 km constellation: - Starlink 26 (44240/29F) is undergoing rapid orbit lowering and is now at 455 km and falling. - Starlink 46 (44246/29M), previously stored in a 390 km orbit, is also lowering and is now at 309 km, lower even than Starlink 67. - Starlink 67 (44278/29AV) continues slow decay in an elliptical 300 x 325 km orbit. - Starlink 60 (44723/29AQ) continues slow decay in a 416 x 425 km orbit. Satellites in storage orbit below 530 km constellation: - Starlink 29 (44243/29J) in 440 x 448 km - Starlink 52 (44259/29AA) in 443 x 445 km - Starlink 43 (44257/29Y) in 477 x 479 km - Starlink 80 (44282/29AZ) in 492 x 497 km - Starlink 48 (44289/29BG) in 507 x 508 km Satellites lowering orbits toward 530 km constellation: - Starlink 37 (44252/29S), 41 (44277/29AU), 22 (44236/29B), 64 (44275/29AS) at 547 to 551 km and descending. 47 of 60 satellites are in 530 km orbit: - Starlink 21, 23, 24, 25, 27, 28, 30-36, 40, 42, 44, 45, 49, 50, 51, 53-59, 61, 62, 62, 65, 66, 68-79, 81 Starlink flight 1 ------------------ The flight 1 (2019-074) satellites, in a plane 36 deg east of the flight 0 batch, split into two groups on Nov 24, with 40 satellites ceasing their ascent at 350 km and 20 satellites continuing to ascend steadily - passing 435 km as of Dec 8. Satellites in the lower group are: 1007-1017, 1019-1021, 1023-1037, 1040, 1044, 1047, 1048, 1049, 1051, 1052, 1057, 1059, 1060, 1068. Satellites in the ascending group are: 1022, 1038, 1039, 1041-1043, 1045, 1046, 1050, 1043-1056, 1058, 1061-1065, 1067 Reports of visual observations of these satellites as naked-eye objects continue. Parker Solar Probe ------------------ After completing three perihelia (2018 Nov 6 0329UTC, 2019 Apr 4 2240UTC, 2019 Sep 1 1740UTC) at 0.166AU, Parker is in a 0.166 x 0.938 AU x 3.4 deg solar orbit approaching its second Venus flyby. It will be in the Venusian sphere of influence from 0605 Dec 26 to 0626 Dec 27, with a flyby on Dec 26 1815 UTC in a 3008 x -16349 km x 3.6 deg hyperbola (i.e., passing 3008 km above Venus' surface). This will lower its solar orbit perihelion to 0.130 AU. Perhelion 4 will be at 0938 UTC (0939 TDB) Jan 29 at a distance of 0.1296 AU from the center of the Sun and a heliocentric inertial velocity of 109.18 km/s (393,000 km/hr or 0.36 millilight). The corresponding kinematic Lorentz factor is 1.0 + 6.5E-8. The gravitational redshift z is slightly larger, 1.0 + 7.6E-8. Table of Recent Orbital Launches ---------------------------------- Date UT Name Launch Vehicle Site Mission INTL. Catalog Perigee Apogee Incl Notes Nov 2 1359 S.S. Alan Bean Antares 230+ MARS LA0 Cargo 71A S44701 186 x 257 x 51.6 Nov 3 0322 Gao Fen 7 ) Chang Zheng 4B Taiyuan LC9 Imaging 72A S44703 489 x 518 x 97.5 1030LT SSO Huangpu-1 ) Imaging? 72C S44706 485 x 505 x 97.5 Dianfeng ) Imaging 72D S44705 485 x 505 x 97.5 Sudan Kexue Shiyan ) Tech 72B S44704 487 x 504 x 97.5 Nov 4 1743 Beidou DW49 Chang Zheng 3B Xichang Navigation 73A S44709 35674 x 35887 x 58.7 Nov 11 1456 Starlink 1007 ) to ) 74A S44713 298 x 303 x 53.0 Starlink 1017 ) Falcon 9 Canaveral SLC40 Comms to Starlink 1019 ) 74BM S44772 298 x 303 x 53.0 to ) Starlink 1065 ) Starlink 1067 ) Starlink 1068 ) Nov 13 0340 Jilin-1 Gaofen 02A Kuaizhou-1A Jiuquan Imaging 75A S44777 532 x 546 x 97.5 1000LT SSO Nov 13 0635 Ningxia-1 01 ) Chang Zheng 6 Taiyuan Sigint 76A S44779 886 x 898 x 45.0 Ningxia-1 02 ) Sigint 76B S44780 886 x 898 x 45.0 Ningxia-1 03 ) Sigint 76C S44781 886 x 898 x 45.0 Ningxia-1 04 ) Sigint 76D S44782 886 x 898 x 45.0 Ningxia-1 05 ) Sigint 76E S44783 886 x 898 x 45.0 Nov 17 1000 KL-Alpha-A ) Kuaizhou-1A Jiuquan Comms 77A S44785 1044 x 1058 x 88.9 KL-Alpha-B ) Comms 77B S44786 1045 x 1432 x 88.8 Nov 20 0850 RWASAT-1 ISS, LEO Tech 98-67QV? 411 x 420 x 51.6 Nov 20 0910 NARSSCube-1 ISS, LEO Tech 98-67QW? 411 x 420 x 51.6 Nov 20 0925 AQT-D ISS, LEO Tech 98-67QX? 411 x 420 x 51.6 Nov 23 0055 Beidou DW50 ) Chang Zheng 3B Xichang LC3 Navigation 78A S44793 21533 x 22193 x 55.0 Beidou DW51 ) Navigation 78B S44794 21533 x 22193 x 55.0 Nov 25 1752 Kosmos-2542? Soyuz-2-1V Plesetsk LC43/4 Tech 79A S44797 383 x 863 x 97.9 Nov 26 2123 TIBA-1 ) Ariane 5ECA Kourou ELA3 Comms 80A S44800 259 x 35753 x 5.0 Inmarsat GX5 ) Comms 80B S44801 256 x 35719 x 5.0 Nov 27 0358 Cartosat-3 ) PSLV-XL Sriharikota SLP Imaging 81A S44804 500 x 519 x 97.5 0930LT Meshbed ) Tech 81C S44806 500 x 517 x 97.5 Flock 4p-1 ) Imaging 81L S44814 500 x 517 x 97.5 Flock 4p-2 ) Imaging 81K S44813 500 x 517 x 97.5 Flock 4p-3 ) Imaging 81J S44812 500 x 517 x 97.5 Flock 4p-4 ) Imaging 81J S44811 500 x 517 x 97.5 Flock 4p-5 ) Imaging 81Q S44818 500 x 517 x 97.5 Flock 4p-6 ) Imaging 81P S44817 500 x 517 x 97.5 Flock 4p-7 ) Imaging 81N S44816 500 x 517 x 97.5 Flock 4p-8 ) Imaging 81M S44815 500 x 517 x 97.5 Flock 4p-9 ) Imaging 81D S44807 500 x 517 x 97.5 Flock 4p-10) Imaging 81E S44808 500 x 517 x 97.5 Flock 4p-11) Imaging 81F S44809 500 x 517 x 97.5 Flock 4p-12) Imaging 81G S44810 500 x 517 x 97.5 Nov 27 2352 Gao Fen 12 Chang Zheng 4C Taiyuan Radar 82A S44819 595 x 599 x 97.9 0700LT Dec 5 1729 Dragon CRS-19 Falcon 9 Canaveral SLC40 Cargo 83A S44821 203 x 378 x 51.7 Dec 6 0800? Kosmos-2543? Kosmos-2542, LEO Inspector 79D S44835 368 x 858 x 97.9 Dec 6 0818 ALE-2 ) Electron Mahia LC1 Tech 84A S44824 397 x 415 x 97.0 NOOR 1A ) Com 84 348 x 403 x 97.0 NOOR 1B ) Com 84 348 x 403 x 97.0 SMOG-P ) Sigint 84 348 x 403 x 97.0 TRSI-Sat ) Tech 84 348 x 403 x 97.0 FossaSat-1) Tech 84 348 x 403 x 97.0 ATL-1 ) Sigint/Tech 84 348 x 403 x 97.0 Dec 6 0934 Progress MS-13 Soyuz-2-1A Baykonur LC31 Cargo 85A S44833 186 x 219 x 51.6 Dec 7 0255 Jilin-1 Gaofen 02B Kuaizhou-1A Taiyuan Imaging 86B S44837 531 x 544 x 97.5 Dec 7 0852 HEDE-2A ) Kuaizhou-1A Taiyuan Comms 87 S44839 495 x 511 x 97.4 HEDE-2B ) Comms 87 495 x 511 x 97.4 Tianqi-4A ) Comms 87 495 x 511 x 97.4 Tianqi-4B ) Comms 87 495 x 511 x 97.4 Tianyi-16 ) Imaging 87 495 x 511 x 97.4 Tianyi-17 ) Imaging 87 495 x 511 x 97.4 Table of Recent Suborbital Launches ----------------------------------- Date UT Payload/Flt Name Launch Vehicle Site Mission Apogee/km Target Nov 15 0935 TEXUS 56 VSB-30 Kiruna Micrograv 256 ESRANGE Nov 16 1402 RV Agni 2 Kalam Island Test 600? Indian O. Nov 22 1030? RV DF-41 Taiyuan Test 1000? Gobi Desert Nov 22 1519 SL-14 SpaceLoft XL Spaceport America Micrograv 92 White Sands? Nov 26 0743 ICI 5 Terrer Imp.Malemute Svalbard Ionosphere 253 Arctic Nov 28 Topol-E RV Topol' Kapustin Yar Reentry test 1000? Balkhash Nov 28 0759 RV DPRK MLRS Ryonpo Test 97 Sea of Japan Nov 28 0759 RV DPRK MLRS Ryonpo Test 97 Sea of Japan Nov 30 1350 Agni 3 RV Agni 3 Kalam Island Test 500? Indian O. .-------------------------------------------------------------------------. | 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 | '-------------------------------------------------------------------------' From jcm at planet4589.com Fri Dec 27 02:04:26 2019 From: jcm at planet4589.com (Jonathan McDowell) Date: Fri, 27 Dec 2019 02:04:26 -0500 Subject: [JSR] Jonathan's Space Report, No. 773 Message-ID: <20191227070426.EA0EDB0011B@server.planet4589.com> Jonathan's Space Report No. 773 2019 Dec 27 Somerville, MA --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- International Space Station --------------------------- Expedition 61 continues. Progress MS-13 docked with the Pirs module at 1038 UTC Dec 9. On Dec 12 Dextre was used to remove the HISUI payload from Dragon CRS-19's trunk and hand it to the JEM-RMS arm, which installed it on Kibo Exposed Facility EFU 8. On Dec 13 Dextre removed the new Li-ion battery from the trunk and stored it on the Dextre EOTP. On Aug 16, the flight support equipment (FSE) adapter from the BCDU removed earlier this year from ESP3 was moved from ESP3 to the EOTP, and the new battery replaced it there at ESP3 Site 6. Starliner --------- On Dec 20 ULA launched flight AV-080, the first Atlas V N22, from Cape Canaveral, The N22 has two solid boosters, a dual engine Centaur with two RL10-A4-1 engines (the first DEC to fly since 2004) and carries the Boeing CST-100 Starliner spaceship, flying on its Orbital Flight Test (OFT) without a crew. The mission was to test launch and landing and to rendezvous and dock with ISS, delivering 272 kg of cargo and carrying an instrumented anthropomorphic test dummy (ATD) dubbed 'Rosie', AV-080's Centaur reached its targeted 73 x 181 km x 51.6 deg orbit. Boeing Space's Starliner, vehicle SC3, separated at 1150 UTC. Starliner set its master event timer reading data from the launch vehicle, but apparently because of a software (interface) mistake the value was read into the Boeing vehicle from an incorrect location in the ULA vehicle's memory, resulting in an 11 hour offset. Starliner was meant to fire its Aerojet Rocketdyne OMAC thrusters at 1207 UTC to raise its orbit, but due to the software timing error this did not occur. After comms problems possibly related to a TDRS handover, a contingency RCS burn was finally commanded by the ground, possibly at around 1216 UTC, which raised perigee by an unknown (to me) amount. Further RCS burns at unknown times over the next half hour or so raised perigee further and placed Starliner in a 180 x 221 km x 51.6 deg orbit. During the period before the burn, the timer error meant that Starliner was in an incorrect software state and used up too much propellant controlling its attitude. This precluded the planned rendezvous with ISS. Later on Dec 20 Starliner raised its orbit to around 250 km and tested extension and retraction of its docking apparatus as well as other systems tests. SC3 then returned on Dec 22, landing at about 106.420W 32.952N near the runway at White Sands Space Harbor, New Mexico. The flight did demonstrate the basic design of the vehicle including its life support system and its ability to safely return to Earth; I do not expect the omitted rendezvous or the software issues to create major delays to the programme or to require a further uncrewed test flight. Starliner consists of the following components, with very approximate guesstimated masses: Height Dia Mass Crew Module 2.2m 4.5m 8.3t? - about 6.4t dry without crew/cargo Service Module 2.5m 4.5m 3.3t? (dry) - Jettisoned during end of mission, after deorbit burn SM propellant - - 2.3t? ----------------------------------- Total at Cen sep 13.9t? Ascent cover 0.3m 1.7m 0.1t? - Jettisoned suborbital, before Centaur ignition Aeroskirt 1.8m 4.5m 1.0t? - Jettisoned suborbital, 20s after Centaur ignition ----------------------------------- Total at launch 15.0t? The SM has 20 6kN OMAC thrusters for orbit adjust (plus 4 x 180 kN abort engines and 28 RCS thrusters). The CM includes a 750 kg base heat shield, a 150 kg forward heat shield, and two 34 kg drogue chutes, as well as about 90 kg of hydrazine, all of which are jettisoned in the atmosphere prior to landing. Landing mass is about 7200 kg including crew and cargo. Starliner is built in Boeing's facility at the C3PF (former OPF3) at Kennedy Space Center; spacecraft development is carried out there (and possibly at the new Boeing Space headquarters in Titusville) and mission control is at a Boeing control room in the mission control building at NASA-JSC/Houston. Here is the approximate timeline of the mission as far as I can estimate it for now: (times UTC, as always) - I expect a number of these details to change as better info becomes available. Dec 20 1136:43 Launch by Atlas V/N22 from SLC41 1141:12 Atlas cutoff 1141:18 Atlas separation 1141:24 Starliner ascent cover jettisoned 1141:28 Centaur AV-080 main engine burn 1 1141:48 Starliner aeroskirt jettisoned 1148:37 AV-080 shutdown, reach 73 x 181 km x 51.6 deg orbit 1151:37 Starliner separates from AV-080 1202 AV-080 propellant `blowdown' 1207:38 Planned Starliner OMAC orbit insertion burn does not occur Excessive attitude control thruster use 1215? Commanded RCS burn performs initial orbit insertion Initial orbit UNKNOWN; burn start time UNKNOWN 1234 AV-080 Centaur reentered and hits ocean SW of Australia 1300? Further RCS burn(s); reach 180 x 221 km x 51.6 deg orbt. Burn start time UNKNOWN. 2200? OMAC burn 1, 20 m/s?, to approx 214 x 242 km x 51.6 deg orbit 2235? OMAC burn 2, 20 m/s?, to 241 x 265 km x 51.6 deg orbit. [Times of these burns are highly uncertain] Dec 22 1223:47 Starliner OMAC deorbit, 150 m/s , 55 s burn; E of New Zealand 1224:42 Deorbit burn cutoff, orbit about -230 x 246 x 51.6 1225:59 Service Module jettison 1241:42 Entry interface, 120 km, 7.5 km/s over equatorial Pacific 1242? Service Module destructive reentry over equatorial Pacific 1253? Forward heat shield (FHS) separation at 3 km alt. 1253:06 Main parachutes deploy 1254:00? Base Heat Shield sep 1254:40? Airbags inflate 1257 Base Heat Shield impact 1257:55 CM landing at White Sands Space Harbor 106.420W 32.952N 1302:48 Forward heat shield touchdown Starliner SC1 was used for the pad abort test; SC2 will fly the CFT crewed flight next year; then SC3 will fly again on the PCM-1 mission to ISS. For that flight SC3 will have the name `Calypso', chosen by mission commander Suni Williams. SC2 has not yet been named; and it's not clear whether SC3 will retain the same name for later flights or if they'll get new names under each new commander. Glonass ------- The Glonass M-59 navigation satellite, Kosmos-2544, was launched from Plesetsk on Dec 11. PSLV-C48 --------- India's PSLV-C48 flight launched RISAT-2BR1, a 628 kg X-band synthetic aperture radar satellite. Also aboard were some secondary payloads: - the 100-kg-class Izanagi (QPS-SAR-1), a 3.6m-dia-antenna radar satellite from QPS Labs of Fukuoka, Japan; - the 22 kg 12U Cubesat 1HOPSAT from Hera Systems of San Jose; - the 3U Duchifat 3 from Herzliya Science Center, Israel - four SpireGlobal Lemur-2 satellites; - a 3U satellite, Tyvak-0092 (possibly also called COMMTRAIL), built by Tyvak for an unnamed Italian company for search-and-rescue applications; - a 6U satellite, Tyvak-0129, or Pathfinder Demo Test 1, a mission built by Tyvak for NASA-Ames to test a Busek electrospray thruster. Beidou ------- Beidou 52/53 were launched on Dec 16; they are CAST-built medium orbit Beidou 3 satellites M19 and M20. The previous Beidou double launch, Beidou 50/51, were Shanghai-built satellites M21 and M22 in the Beidou-3 system, and not M19/20 as I wrote in JSR 772. JCSAT ----- On Dec 17 SpaceX launched a Falcon 9 from Cape Canaveral. The first stage landed on the OCISLY droneshop. The second stage placed the JCSAT-18/Kacific-1 satellite in a subsynchronous transfer orbit. The satellite is jointly owned by Sky Perfect JSAT of Tokyo, which operates its Ku-band payload, and Kacific Broadband Satellite of Singapore, which has a Ka-band payload aboard. CSG/CHEOPS ---------- On Dec 18 Arianespace launched a Soyuz ST-A/Fregat from the Centre Spatial Guyanais to place several satellites in sun-synchronous orbit. The Soyuz third stage reached a -3189 x 608 km x 92.0 deg suborbital trajectory; the Fregat stage then fired to reach a 625 x 649 km x 97.8 deg orbit and deployed CSG-1, its primary payload, at 0917 UTC. CSG-1, the first COSMO-Skymed Second Generation satellite, is an X-band radar satellite for the Italian Space Agency and the Italian Ministry of Defense built by Thales Alenia/Torino. Fregat's second burn reached a 443 x 622 km x 98.0 deg orbit; the ASAP-S upper adapter (on which CSG-1 was mounted) was jettisoned. The third burn was to 445 x 829 km, followed by a fourth burn to 696 x 708 km for the deploy of CHEOPS at 1119 UTC. CHEOPS is ESA's Characterizing Exoplanets Satellite. The 273 kg satellite has a 0.3m aperture telescope and will measure the radii of known super-Earth and mini-Neptune exoplanets using transit photometry. The PI is Willy Benz (U. Bern). Fregat burn 5 and 6 went to 468 x 703 km and then to 509 x 527 km, following which three cubesats were deployed at 1305 UTC: ANGELS is a 12U cubesat built by Toulouse company Hemeria for the French space agency CNES. It carries a new version of the long-running ARGOS system which relays data from meteorological buoys. EyeSat is a 3U cubesat built by student interns at CNES/Toulouse, and carries the IRIS space telescope to study zodiacal light. OPS-SAT s a 3U cubesat built by TU Graz for ESA, with an advanced flight computer to act as a testbed for mission operations software. Fregat's final burn put it on a -112 x 522 km trajectory; it reentered over the south Pacific at 1509 UTC. CBERS-4A -------- The final China-Brazil Earth Resources Satellite, CBERS-4A, was launched by CZ-4B on Dec 20. Chang Zheng 4B s/n Y44 was launched from Taiyuan at 0322:29 UTC Dec 20. At T+11m39s the third stage finished its burn and entered a 615 x 635 km sun-synchronous orbit with an equator crossng at 10:30 local time. At T+13:18 the primary payload, the 1980 kg CBERS-4A China-Brazil Earth resources satellite, separated and became object 4489, 2019-093A. The CBERS satellites are part of the larger Chinese ZiYuan series, and so this is probably also ZY-1 04A. It was built by CAST/Beijing. CBERS-4A was mounted on an adapter covering the remaining payloads. The adapter separated into orbit at T+13:53. It is probably 2.0m high 2.9m dia. Next the Tianqin-1 satellite separated, at T+14:28. Tianqin-1 is a small (35 kg) technology development satellite for China's gravitational-wave-astronomy programme. The satellite was built by DFH Satellite Co. for Zhongshan Daxue (Sun Yat-sen University) and Huahzhong U. of Science and Technology. It also carries the CAS-6A amateur radio payload. At T+15:05 three further satellites separated: Tianyan-02, Yuheng and Shuntian. Tianyan-02 is also called Xingshidai-8; it is a 6U cubesat built by Weina Xingkong Keji (MinoSpace) for Gouxing Yuhang Keji (ADA Space) of Chengdu. It is also called "Kehuan shijie hao AI weixing" (SciFi World AI satellite) and is dedicated to the science fiction community. SF writers including Cixin Liu were invited to the launch. The satellite apparently has a low resolution Earth video imager. Yuheng and Shuntian were developed by the National University of Defense Technology in Changsha in collaboration with the Deya Innovation Research Institute of Foshan, in the Guangzhou region. They are prototype internet distribution satellites. It is unclear how big these sats are but I suspect they are 50-100 kg class. At T+15:47 the final four payloads separated: ETRSS-1, FloripaSat, Weilai-1R and Tianyan-01. ETRSS-1 is a 70 kg remote sensing satellite and was built by DFH Satellite for the Ethiopian Space Science and Technology Institute in Addis Ababa. It is Ethiopia's first satellite. FloripaSat is a 1U cubesat from the Universidade Federal de Santa Catarina, in the Brazilian city of Florianopolis. Weilai-1R is also known as BDS-AGR-1 and Guozhi henghao nianjing zhongyuan jinshui 1, and is a 65 kg imaging satellite for GZH-NHK BDS AGR Co. Ltd (Guozhi heng Beidou hao nianjing Agricultural Technology Co.) of Zhengzhou in Henan province. Tianyan-01 is also called Yizheng 1. It was built by Weina/Minospace for the Zhongxing kongjian yaogan (jiangsu) weixing jishu fuwu YG (China satellite space remote sensing (Jiangsu) satellite technology services co. ltd.), based in Yizheng, Jiangsu province. The 72 kg satellite carries a high resolution imager. At T+25 min the third stage restarted for a depletion burn which lowered its orbit to 447 x 620 km. Elektro-L --------- On Dec 24 Russia's Elektro-L No. 3 weather satellite was placed in geosynchronous orbit by a Proton-M with the now-rarely-used Energiya Blok DM-03 upper stage. Gonets ------ On Dec 26 Russia launched the last Khrunichev Rokot vehicle, based on the UR-100N missile with a Briz-KM upper stage. The rocket put three Gonets-M communications satellites in a 1500 km orbit. A passive 17 kg Blits-M laser reflector ball was also placed in orbit. Parker ------ The Parker Solar Probe passed 3008 km from Venus on Dec 26 at 1815 UTC, its second Venus flyby. Parker was within Venus' Hill sphere from Dec 26 0605 to Dec 27 0626 UTC. Once back in solar orbit its perhelion will be only 0.130 AU, compared to 0.166 AU before the flyby. Perihelion 4 is on Jan 29. Table of Recent Orbital Launches ---------------------------------- Date UT Name Launch Vehicle Site Mission INTL. Catalog Perigee Apogee Incl Notes Dec 5 1729 Dragon CRS-19 Falcon 9 Canaveral SLC40 Cargo 83A S44821 203 x 378 x 51.7 Dec 6 0800? Kosmos-2543? Kosmos-2542, LEO Inspector 79D S44835 368 x 858 x 97.9 Dec 6 0818 ALE-2 ) Electron Mahia LC1 Tech 84A S44824 397 x 415 x 97.0 NOOR 1A ) Com 84D S44827 348 x 403 x 97.0 NOOR 1B ) Com 84E S44828 348 x 403 x 97.0 SMOG-P ) Sigint 84J S44832 348 x 403 x 97.0 TRSI-Sat ) Tech 84G S44830 348 x 403 x 97.0 FossaSat-1) Tech 84F S44829 348 x 403 x 97.0 ATL-1 ) Sigint/Tech 84H S44831 348 x 403 x 97.0 Dec 6 0934 Progress MS-13 Soyuz-2-1A Baykonur LC31 Cargo 85A S44833 186 x 219 x 51.6 Dec 7 0255 Jilin-1 Gaofen 02B Kuaizhou-1A Taiyuan Imaging 86B S44837 531 x 544 x 97.5 Dec 7 0852 HEDE-2A ) Kuaizhou-1A Taiyuan Comms 87 S44839 495 x 511 x 97.4 HEDE-2B ) Comms 87 495 x 511 x 97.4 Tianqi-4A ) Comms 87 495 x 511 x 97.4 Tianqi-4B ) Comms 87 495 x 511 x 97.4 Tianyi-16 ) Imaging 87 495 x 511 x 97.4 Tianyi-17 ) Imaging 87 495 x 511 x 97.4 Dec 11 0854 Kosmos-2544 Soyuz-2-1B/Fregat Plesetsk LC43/3 Nav 88A S44850 19125 x 19150 x 64.8 Dec 11 0955 RISAT-2BR1) PSLV-QL Satish Dhawan Radar 89A S44852 564 x 574 x 37.0 Izanagi ) Radar 89 568 x 579 x 37.0 1HOPSAT ) Imaging 89 568 x 579 x 37.0 Duchifat-3) Tech 89 568 x 579 x 37.0 Tyvak-0092) SaR 89 568 x 579 x 37.0 Tyval-0129) Tech 89 568 x 579 x 37.0 Lemur-2-Unnamed) AIS/Met 89 568 x 579 x 37.0 Lemur-2-Unnamed) AIS/Met 89 568 x 579 x 37.0 Lemur-2-Unnamed) AIS/Met 89 568 x 579 x 37.0 Lemur-2-Unnamed) AIS/Met 89 568 x 579 x 37.0 Dec 16 0722 Beidou DW 52 ) Chang Zheng 3B/YZ1 Xichang LC3 Nav 90A S44864 21528 x 22192 x 55.0 Beidou DW 53 ) Nav 90B S44865 21528 x 22192 x 55.0 Dec 17 0010 JCSAT-18/Kacific-1 Falcon 9 Canaveral SLC40 Comms 91A S44868 272 x 20319 x 26.9 Dec 18 0854 CSG 1 ) Soyuz ST-A/Fregat CSG ELS Radar 92A S44873 622 x 623 x 97.8 CHEOPS ) Astronomy 92B S44874 698 x 709 x 98.2 ANGELS ) Comms 92D?S44876 508 x 527 x 97.4 EyeSat ) Astronomy 92E?S44877 508 x 527 x 97.4 OPS-SAT ) Tech 92F?S44878 508 x 527 x 97.4 Dec 20 0322 CBERS-4A ) Chang Zheng 4B Taiyuan Imaging 93A S44879 615 x 635 x 98.0 ETRSS-1 ) Imaging 93 Tianqin-1 ) Sci/Tech 93 BDSAGR-1 ) Imaging 93 Yuheng ) Comms 93 Shuntian ) Comms 93 Yizheng 1 ) Imaging 93 Xingshidai 8 ) Imaging 93 Dec 20 1136 Starliner OFT Atlas V N22 Canaveral LC41 Spaceship 94A S44900 180 x 221 x 51.6 Dec 24 1203 Elektro-L No. 3 Proton-M/DM-03 Baykonur LC81/24 Weather 95A S44903 35372 x 35571 x 0.6 Dec 26 2312 Gonets-M No. 24 Rokot Plesetsk LC133/3 Comms 96A S44905 1500 x 1508 x 82.5 Gonets-M No. 25 Comms 96B S44906 1500 x 1508 x 82.5 Gonets-M No. 26 Comms 96C S44907 1500 x 1508 x 82.5 Table of Recent Suborbital Launches ----------------------------------- On Dec 12 the US DoD's Strategic Capabilities Office and Northrop Grumman launched what was reported to be a development test for a new IRBM. The rocket flew from Vandenberg's Test Pad 1 west to the Pacific, apparently to a range of about 1200 km (and not 3000 km which the US defines as the lower end of IRBM range). Pictures suggest it was a single-stage Castor 4B with an MBRV-class reentry vehicle, probably surplus from the missile defense targets program. The Castor 4B solid motor is thought to no longer be in production; I conclude this was likely largely a propaganda exercise rather than actually representing a new capability. Date UT Payload/Flt Name Launch Vehicle Site Mission Apogee/km Target Nov 26 0743 ICI 5 Terrer Imp.Malemute Svalbard Ionosphere 253 Arctic Nov 28 Topol-E RV Topol' Kapustin Yar Reentry test 1000? Balkhash Nov 28 0759 RV DPRK MLRS Ryonpo Test 97 Sea of Japan Nov 28 0759 RV DPRK MLRS Ryonpo Test 97 Sea of Japan Nov 30 1350 Agni 3 RV Agni 3 Kalam Island Test 500? Indian O. Dec 10 0930 CHI Black Brant IX Svalbard Ionosphere 360 Arctic Dec 11 1753 New Shepard NS12 New Shepard West Texas Test 105 West Texas Dec 12 1630 IRBM Test Castor 4B? Vandenberg TP-01 Test 500? Pacific .-------------------------------------------------------------------------. | 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 | '-------------------------------------------------------------------------'