[JSR] Jonathan's Space Report, No. 772 [Corrected]
Jonathan McDowell
jcm at planet4589.com
Sun Dec 8 16:42:30 EST 2019
Jonathan's Space Report
No. 772 [Corrected] 2019 Dec 8 Somerville, MA
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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 |
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