[JSR] Jonathan's Space Report, No. 775
Jonathan McDowell
jcm at planet4589.com
Sun Feb 16 20:07:54 EST 2020
Jonathan's Space Report
No. 775 2020 Feb 17 Somerville, MA
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International Space Station
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Expedition 61 continued until undocking of Soyuz MS-13 on Feb 6, which began Expedition 62
under the command of Oleg Skripochka.
On Jan 29 the Cyclops deployer was used to deploy the USAF STPSAT-4
satellite delivered to ISS aboard NG-12. STPSAT-4/Cyclops was extracted
from the Kibo airlock and STPSAT-4 was ejected into orbit at 0720 UTC
Jan 29.
On Jan 31 at about 1115 UTC the Canadarm-2 unberthed Cygnus NG-12, the S.S. Alan Bean,
from the Unity nadir port. Cygnus NG-12 was released into orbit at 1436 UTC.
On Jan 31 to Feb 1 Cygnus NG-12 released seven cubesats from the Nanoracks NRCSD-E dispenser and
seven cubesats from the SEOPS/SpaceflightInc Slingshot system.
On Feb 6, Soyuz MS-13 undocked from Poisk at 0550 UTC carrying Skvortsov, Koch and Parmitano.
The spacecraft fired its deorbit engine at 0818 UTC, lowering perigee below the Earth's surface.
At 0846 UTC the orbital and service modules were jettisoned, and at 0850 UTC the descent module
began reentry, with landing in Kazakhstan at 0912 UTC Feb 6.
On Feb 15 Cygnus mission NG-13, the S.S. Robert Lawrence, was launched on an Antares from
Wallops Island on a mission to deliver cargo to the ISS.
NROL-151
--------
RocketLab flew its 11th Electron mission from New Zealand's Mahia Peninsula on Jan 31.
It placed a satellite for the US National Reconnaissance Office in low Earth orbit
with approximately 70 degrees inclination. The mission was designated NROL-151 and the
satellite is codenamed USA 294. Exact orbit of NROL-151 is not yet known. US registration
documents supplied to the UN are apparently stuck in a backlog - the latest made public
online covers up to early 2017.
OneWeb
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The second launch for the OneWeb constellation took off from Baykonur on Feb 6.
The Fregat upper stage carried a dispenser with 34 satellites, two on a `top hat'
deck K and four decks A, B, C, D with eight satellites each. The satellites were deployed
in a 443 km orbit and will use their on-board propulsion to raise to 1000 km.
(Spacecraft numbers in the table below are in deployment order; thanks to Cameron Meek for data.)
IGS O-7
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Japan's IGS O-7 (Information Gathering Satellite/Optical 7, or Joho shushu eisei kogaku 7 goki,
was launched on Feb 9 to sun-sync orbit with 1030 local time descending node.
Solar Orbiter
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The ESA-led Solar Orbiter probe, built by Airbus UK, was launched to an escape trajectory on Feb 10.
Solar Orbiter will enter a 0.513 x 0.991 AU x 1.9 deg solar orbit and make a Venus gravity assist
flyby on Dec 26. After more Venus and Earth flybys it will lower perihelion to about 0.3 AU
by 2022 and by 2028 will increase its orbital inclination to the ecliptic to 25 degrees, allow
imaging of the solar poles. Unlike Parker Solar Probe (which gets closer to the Sun) SO carries a
range of imaging instruments.
X-37 Secret Deployment
-----------------------
Sometime between 2017 and 2019 the US DoD covertly deployed three small
satellites from the orbiting X-37 spaceplane. Those satellites have
finally been added to the US satellite catalog as USA 295-297 (SSN
45169-45171) although with no orbital data provided. A page on Space-Track.org noted
that the three satellites are no longer in orbit; this adds weight to my guess that
they were deployed close to the beginning of the OTV-5 mission in 2017.
I welcome this step of acknowledging the satellites and hope that the
US will bring itself back into compliance with the UN Registration
Convention by providing basic orbital parameters for the satellites, even though
they are no longer up.
Simorgh
--------
Iran launched a Simorgh rocket from Khomeini Space Centre on Feb 9. The upper stage
underperformed or failed, and the payload - an imaging satellite called Zafar - fell in the
Indian Ocean after reaching a 540 km apogee.
Errata
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- There is still some confusion about which spacesuits were on which astronaut for the
recent EVAs. In particular, Andrey Krasilnikov tells me for EVA 64 it was
Morgan - EMU 3008 and Parmitano - EMU 3004.
- I put the wrong orbit in last time for Yinhe 1, it's in a 621 x 638 km orbit.
Table of Recent Orbital Launches
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Date UT Name Launch Vehicle Site Mission INTL. Catalog Perigee Apogee Incl Notes
Jan 7 0219 Starlink 1066 ) Falcon 9 Canaveral SLC40 Comms 01AS S44954 301 x 305 x 53.0
Starlink 1069-1104 ) Comms )
Starlink 1106-1119 ) Comms )
Starlink 1121-1126 ) Comms )
Starlink 1128 ) Comms ) 01A-01BM
Starlink 1130 ) Comms ) 44914-
Starlink 1144 ) Comms ) 44973
Jan 7 1520 TJS 5 Chang Zheng 3B Xichang Comms 02A S44978 195 x 35804 x 27.5
Jan 15 0253 Jilin-1 Kuanfu 1 ) Chang Zheng 2D Taiyuan Imaging 03A S45016 477 x 492 x 97.3
Sophie ) Imaging 03B S45017 475 x 492 x 97.3
Marie ) Imaging 03C S45018 477 x 493 x 97.3
Tianqi-5 ) Comms 03D?S45019 475 x 492 x 97.3
Jan 16 0302 Yinhe 1 Kuaizhou 1A Jiuquan Comms 04A S45024 621 x 638 x 86.4
Jan 16 2105 Eutelsat Konnect ) Ariane 5ECA Kourou ELA3 Comms 05B S45027 499 x 36234 x 6.0
GSAT-30 ) Comms 05A S45026 35775 x 35799 x 0.1
Jan 29 0720 STPSAT-4 ISS, LEO Tech 9867QY S45043 415 x 423 x 51.6
Jan 29 1406 Starlink 1120 ) Falcon 9 Canaveral SLC40 Comms )
Starlink 1127 ) Comms )
Starlink 1129 ) Comms )
Starlink 1131-1137) Comms ) 06A-06BM 276 x 291 x 53.0
Starlink 1139-1142) Comms )
Starlink 1145-1153) Comms )
Starlink 1155-1186) Comms )
Starlink 1190 ) Comms )
Starlink 1193-1196) Comms )
Jan 31 0256 USA 294 Electron Mahia LC1 Unknown 07A 45110 Unknown orbit x 70.0?
Jan 31? Aerocube-14A ) NRCSD-E/NG-12, LEO Tech 19071D S45114 459 x 474 x 51.6
Aerocube-14B ) Tech 19071E? S45115 459 x 474 x 51.6
Jan 31? Aerocube-15A ) NRCSD-E/NG-12, LEO Tech 19071F? S45116 459 x 474 x 51.6
Aerocube-15B ) Tech 19071G S45117 459 x 474 x 51.6
Jan 31 2230? SwampSat-2 ) NRCSD-E/NG-12, LEO Tech 19071J S45119 459 x 474 x 51.6
HuskySat-1 ) Tech 19071C S45113 459 x 474 x 51.6
Jan 31? Orbital Factory 2 NRCSD-E/NG-12, LEO Tech 19071H? S45118 459 x 474 x 51.6
Feb 1 1544 CIRiS Slingshot/NG-12,LEO Sci 19071K? S45120? 458 x 474 x 51.6
Feb 1 1943 ORCA-2 Slingshot/NG-12,LEO Tech 19071L? S45121? 459 x 473 x 51.6
Feb 1 2115 EdgeCube ) Slingshot/NG-12,LEO Rem.sen. 19071M? S45122? 459 x 473 x 51.6
MakerSat-1?) Tech 19071N? S45123? 459 x 473 x 51.6
Feb 1? MiniCarb Slingshot/NG-12,LEO Sci 19071P? S45124? 459 x 473 x 51.6
Feb 1? VPM Slingshot/NG-12,LEO Sci 19071Q? S45125? 459 x 473 x 51.6
Feb 1? Lynk Slingshot/NG-12,LEO Comms 19071R? S45126? 459 x 473 x 51.6
Feb 6 2142 OneWeb 0013 ) Soyuz 2-1B/Fregat Baykonur LC31 Comms 08A S45131 439 x 460 x 87.4
OneWeb 0021 ) Comms 08D S45134 439 x 464 x 87.4
OneWeb 0028 ) Comms 08K S45140 440 x 465 x 87.4
OneWeb 0026 ) Comms 08J S45139 440 x 465 x 87.4
OneWeb 0020 ) Comms 08C S45133 449 x 466 x 87.4
OneWeb 0051 ) Comms 08AA S45155 440 x 466 x 87.4
OneWeb 0059 ) Comms 08AH S45162 442 x 467 x 87.4
OneWeb 0036 ) Comms 08P S45144 443 x 467 x 87.4
OneWeb 0032 ) Comms 08L S45141 443 x 468 x 87.4
OneWeb 0058 ) Comms 08AG S45161 444 x 468 x 87.4
OneWeb 0022 ) Comms 08E S45135 446 x 467 x 87.4
OneWeb 0024 ) Comms 08G S45137 447 x 467 x 87.4
OneWeb 0044 ) Comms 08V S45150 447 x 467 x 87.4
OneWeb 0041 ) Comms 08T S45148 448 x 468 x 87.4
OneWeb 0039 ) Comms 08R S45146 448 x 468 x 87.4
OneWeb 0047 ) Comms 08X S45152 448 x 468 x 87.4
OneWeb 0056 ) Comms 08AE S45159 448 x 469 x 87.4
OneWeb 0062 ) Comms 08AJ S45163 448 x 470 x 87.4
OneWeb 0057 ) Comms 08AF S45160 448 x 472 x 87.4
OneWeb 0023 ) Comms 08F S45136 448 x 472 x 87.4
OneWeb 0038 ) Comms 08Q S45145 448 x 473 x 87.4
OneWeb 0054 ) Comms 08AD S45154 448 x 473 x 87.4
OneWeb 0049 ) Comms 08Z S45154 448 x 474 x 87.4
OneWeb 0035 ) Comms 08N S45143 449 x 475 x 87.4
OneWeb 0017 ) Comms 08B S45132 449 x 475 x 87.4
OneWeb 0065 ) Comms 08AK S45164 449 x 476 x 87.4
OneWeb 0025 ) Comms 08H S45138 451 x 476 x 87.4
OneWeb 0052 ) Comms 08AB S45156 451 x 476 x 87.4
OneWeb 0053 ) Comms 08AC S45157 452 x 476 x 87.4
OneWeb 0040 ) Comms 08S S45147 452 x 476 x 87.4
OneWeb 0033 ) Comms 08M S45142 453 x 476 x 87.4
OneWeb 0045 ) Comms 08W S45151 454 x 476 x 87.4
OneWeb 0048 ) Comms 08Y S45153 454 x 476 x 87.4
OneWeb 0043 ) Comms 08U S45149 455 x 476 x 87.4
Feb 9 0134 IGS O-7 H-IIA Tanegashima Imaging 09A S45165 477? x 506?x 97.4?
Feb 9 1515 Zafar Simorgh Khomeini Imaging F01 F01548 -2000? x 540 x 55
Feb 10 0403 Solar Orbiter Atlas V 411 Canaveral LC41 Probe 10A S45167 240 x-38671x32.9
Feb 15 2021 S.S. Robert Lawrence Antares 230+ Wallops MARS LA0A Cargo 11A S45175 195 x 267 x 51.6
Table of Recent Suborbital Launches
-----------------------------------
On Jan 7 Iran launched a series of Zulfiqar and Qiam-1 missiles against US military targets in Iraq.
The exact number and mix of missiles is unknown.
Date UT Payload/Flt Name Launch Vehicle Site Mission Apogee/km Target
Jan 7 2245? HE Warhead Zulfiqar ?, Iran Weapon 100? Al Asad, Iraq
Jan 7 2245? HE Warhead Zulfiqar ?, Iran Weapon 100? Erbil, Iraq
Jan 7 2245? HE Warhead Zulfiqar ?, Iran Weapon 100? Al Asad, Iraq
Jan 7 2245? HE Warhead Zulfiqar ?, Iran Weapon 100? Al Asad, Iraq
Jan 7 2245? HE Warhead Qiam-1 ?, Iran Weapon 100? Al Asad, Iraq
Jan 7 2245? HE Warhead Qiam-1 ?, Iran Weapon 100? Al Asad, Iraq
Jan 7 2315? HE Warhead Zulfiqar ?, Iran Weapon 100? Al Asad, Iraq
Jan 7 2315? HE Warhead Zulfiqar ?, Iran Weapon 100? Erbil, Iraq
Jan 7 2315? HE Warhead Qiam-1 ?, Iran Weapon 100? Erbil, Iraq
Jan 9 0800 S-310-45 S-310 Uchinoura Test 131 Pacific
Jan 19 RV K-4 Visakhapatnam Test 500? Indian Ocean
Jan 27 1340 Polar NOx 2 Black Brant 9 Poker Flat Aeronomy 260 Alaska
Feb 5 0833 FTU-2 Minuteman 3 Vandenberg Test 1300? Kwajalein
Feb 12 USN RVs Trident D5LE USS Maine, Pacific Test 1000? Wake Island
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| Jonathan McDowell | |
| Somerville MA 02143 | inter : planet4589 at gmail |
| USA | twitter: @planet4589 |
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