[JSR] Jonathan's Space Report, No. 790

Jonathan McDowell jcm at planet4589.com
Thu Mar 25 01:04:08 EDT 2021


Jonathan's Space Report
No. 790                                                        2021 Mar 25    Somerville, MA
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

International Space Station
---------------------------

Expedition 64 continues under the command of Sergey Ryzhikov.

On Feb 28 astronauts Rubins and Glover carried out spacewalk EVA-71 to begin
installing solar array modification kits. They used EMUs 3015 and 3009, with
SAFER 13 and 18.  The first mod kit was installed
on solar array mast canister 2B, on the P6 truss segment. Each 150 kg kit consists
of a truss consisting of three lower struts (left, middle, right) and 
an `upper triangle' with a mounting bracket. The new IROSA solar arrays,
to be launched later this year, will be installed on the brackets.
 
The work went more slowly than expected. The 2B kit was completed but with
some issues with the bolts. The upper triangle for the 4B kit was assembled but
not installed; it was tied to the 4B IEA and the work is expected to be completed
during the next spacewalk. Airlock depressurization was at 1101 UTC with
hatch open at 1111 UTC; hatch was closed at 1811 UTC and the airlock began
repressurization at 1816 UTC. Rubins reported she had an ear blockage, so
the repress was slower than usual and passed the 50 mbar level I use to mark
EVA at 1818 UTC.

On Mar 5 Rubins and Noguchi completed the work with EVA-72, installing
the 4B mod kit on the 4B mast canister and tightening the bolts on the
2B kit. The airlock was depressurized from 1133 to 1836 UTC; the hatch
was open from 1336 to 1828 UTC.

External Pallet 9 (EP9) was launched on the Japanese HTV 9 cargo ship in May 2020
and was installed on ISS on Jun 1. It now has nine old NiH batteries stowed on it.
Canadarm-2 unberthed the pallet from the MBS POA LEE mounting point on the mobile
transporter on the station truss on Mar 11 around 0200 UTC, and released EP9 into
space at 1330 UTC. EP9 with the nine batteries has a mass of around 2600
kg. It will remain in orbit for several years.

On Mar 13 Glover (EMU 3009) and Hopkins (EMU 3006) left the Quest airlock on
EVA-73. The airlock was depressurized at 1309 UTC and repressurized at 2003 UTC;
the hatch was open from 1314 to 1959 UTC. First the astronauts went to P6
and vented two old ammonia jumper cables that were used for the Early Ammonia Servicer
system prior to its 2007 jettison. One was moved to the Quest airlock. The astronauts
also installed a stiffener on the airlock thermal cover, and worked on the Bartolomeo
connectors that gave trouble on an earlier spacewalk. Cable routing to the CP9
camera position was completed and cable routing to the CP8 position was partially done.

On Mar 14 the JRMS arm extracted J-SSOD-16 from the Kibo airlock for
cubesat deployements. At 1120 UTC J-SSOD-16 ejected OPUSAT-II (Osaka
Prefectural University), GuaraniSat-1  (Paraguay), Maya-2 (Phillipines),
Tsuru (Kyushu Tech), RSP-01 (RymanSat club). Later the same day it
ejected Nichirin (WARP-01) for WarpSpace Co. Ltd, Tsukuba; TAU-SAT-1 for
Tel-Aviv University; and Sanko (STARS-EC) for Shizuoka Univ.

On Mar 19 Ryzhikov, Kud-Sverchkov and Rubins entered Soyuz MS-17 and flew it from the Rassvet
docking port to the Poisk docking port. Undocking was at 1638 UTC and redocking at 1712 UTC.

On Mar 22 around 0830 UTC the 50-kg-class Lawkanat-1 (MMSAT-1) satellite
was quietly ejected from the J-SSOD-M2 deployer, with no announcement
from JAXA. Lawkanat-1 is a joint Hokkaido-Myanmar Earth imaging
satellite whose deployment became controversial following the coup in
Myanmar. This satellite was launched to ISS on NG-15 and is similar to
the Diwata satellites. The satellite is owned by Myanmar, and the
Myanmar Aerospace Engineering University (MAEU) in Meiktila was involved
in the project. However, the Hokkaido University group issued a
statement making excessively clear that only they controlled the
satellite and that they would only give Myanmar data under very limited
circumstances.

As of Mar 25 the ISS visiting vehicle list was:
 Zvezda aft:    Progress MS-14
 Pirs:          Progress MS-16
 Poisk:         Soyuz MS-17
 Rassvet:       -
 IDA-2/PMA-2:   Dragon C207 (Resilience)
 IDA-3/PMA-3:   -
 Unity nadir:   Cygnus NG-15 (S.S. Katherine Johnson)
 Harmony nadir: -


YG-31
-----

The Yaogan 31 hao 03 zu (YG-31 Group 03) cluster of three signals
intelligence satellites was launched on Feb 24; 04 zu (Group 04) was 
launched on Mar 13.  YG-31 Group 01 was launched in Apr 2018 and Group   
02 was launched on Jan 29 this year.


PSLV-C51
--------

ISRO and New Space India Ltd launched a PSLV-DL from Satish Dhawan Space Centre
on Feb 28. The PS4 upper stage placed INPE/Brazil's 637 kg Amazonia-1 imaging satellite
in a 750 km orbit, and then made two burns to lower orbit to 500 km where
it deployed a set of small satellites:

  Sindhu Netra is a 10 kg AIS (ship tracking) satellite built by PES University, Bengaluru for DRDO
  SDsat (Satish Dhawan Sat) is a 4 kg satellite from Space Kidz India
  Three 0.25U university cubesats which together comprise the UnitySat mission:
   JITSat (Jeppiaar Inst of Technology, Sriperumbudur);
   GHRCEsat (G.H. Raisoni College of Engineering, Nagpur);
   Sri Shakthi Sat (Sri Shakthi Inst. of Engineering and Technology, Coimbatore).
  SAI-1 Nanoconnect-2 is a 2U cubesat from UNAM (Mexico City); it will test a software-defined-radio
    unit from Space AI Inc (San Francisco).
  Spacebee 76 to 87, 0.25U IoT comms satellites for Swarm Tech (US).

Arktika-M
----------

On Feb 28 Russia launched a Soyuz-2-1B from Baykonur with the first
Arktika-M weather satellite. The satellite will be placed in Molniya
orbit. In addition to weather imagers the 2200 kg satellite, using the
Lavochkin Navigator bus, also carries a search and rescue communications
relay payload.

Starlink
---------

Starlink launches were carried out on Mar 4 (mission V1.0-L17, KSC LC39A), Mar 11 (V1.0-L20, Canaveral LC40),
Mar 14 (V1.0-L21, KSC LC39A) and Mar 24 (V1.0-L22, Canaveral LC40). Each launch placed 60
Starlinks in orbit. The first stages landed successfuly on the droneships; the Mar 11 launch used
the JRTI and the others used the OCISLY. The second stages were deorbited except for the Mar 4
launch where the stage remained in orbit.

Soyuz cluster launch
--------------------

On Mar 22 GK Launch Services carried out a Soyuz-2-1a launch from Baykonur with the South Korean
CAS500-1 imaging satellite and a cluster of small satellites. The satellites were placed 
in 2300 LTDN sun-synch orbit. The Fregat upper stage went to a 494 x 509 km orbit to deploy CAS500-1,
then made two further burns to go to a 579 x 604 km orbit to deploy four GRUS weather satellites
for Japan's AXELSPACE, and then two further burns to a lower 535 x 560 km orbit for deployment
of the remaining satellites:
  ELSA-d, the Astroscale experiment which will release a target satellite and recapture it using
    a magnetic plate;
  Najm-1, an imaging satellite for King Abdul Aziz City of Sci and Tech built by LinaSpace of Virginia;
  Unisat-7, a satellite from Rome's Gauss srl which will release a set of picosatellites;
  DMSat-1, a UTIAS_SFL Nemo-V1 class small imaging satellite for MBRSC in the UAE;
and a set of cubesats in deployers from Aerospace Capital (Moscow) and ISILaunch (Delft).

The first Aerospace Capital 4 x 3U deployer has ChallengeOne for Telnet
Holding (Tunis), Lacunasat-2b for Lacuna Space (Harwell, UK), 3B5GSat
for Sateliot (Barcelona) and three 1U sats: GRB-Alpha (TU Kosice),
WildTrackCube (Roma-Sapienza), and KSU-Cubesat (King Saud U.)

The second Aerospace Capital deployer has the 6U OrbiKraft-Zorkiy for
Sputniks (Moscow), and the 3U NIU VsHE-DZZ for the VsHE economics
college (Moscow) and Sirius-DZZ for OTs Sirius (Sochi)

ISILaunch has four 12U deployers. The first one has Kepler-6 and 7
(@KeplerComms, Toronto); 2nd has ADELIS-SAMSON 1 and 2 (Technion U,
Haifa); 3rd has ADELIS-SAMSON-3 and a mass dummy. All these are 6U.
The final ISILaunch deployer has NanoSatC-Br-2 (INPE-CRS, Santa Maria,
2U); KMSL (Chosun U, Gwangju, 3U); Hiber-3 (Hiber, Delft); Beesat
5,6,7,8 (TU Berlin, 4 x 0.25U); & CANYVAL-C (Yonsei U, Seoul) which is a
2U+1U formation flying expt; the 2U is called Pumbaa and the 1U Timon.

Unisat-7 from GAUSS srl (Rome) will deploy several small subsatellites:
BCCSAT-1 (Bangkok Christian Coll, 1U); FEES (GPAP, Gussago, Italy,
0.3U); DIY-1 (DIYSat, Buenos Aires, 1P); SMOG-1 (BUTE Budapest, 1P); and
STECCO (Roma Sapienza, 6P). A 1P sat is a 0.05m cube.

OSIRIS-REX
----------

The OSIRIS-REX asteroid probe left asteroid Bennu's Hill sphere on Oct 22, and at
the time it was planned to send it straight back to Earth. It's now been decided
to do a final flyby to inspect the asteroid's state following the sampling and departure.
On Jan 14, at a distance from Bennu of 2194 km, O-REX fired its engines to return
towards Bennu and at about 0200 UTC Mar 25 it returned to the Hill sphere (gravitational
sphere of influence). The flyby will be on Apr 6 at a distance of 4 km.
The departure burn to head back to Earth is now scheduled for May 10.

Errata
-------

In the previous issue I reported 36 SpaceBEE on Transporter 1 ESPA-port B2; there were only 24.
The other 12 SpaceBEEs on the launch were on ION-SVC, as noted further down in the list.
Those SpaceBEEs had apparently not yet been deployed from ION-SVC as of Mar 24.
Also, the Dove satellites on port C1 are Flock 4s, not Flock 4c - sorry about that typo.

Progress MS-16 docked with Pirs on Feb 17, not Feb 16.

Table of Recent Orbital Launches
 ----------------------------------

Date UT       Name                           Launch Vehicle      Site            Mission  INTL.  Catalog  Perigee Apogee  Incl   Notes

Feb  1 0815?  Test payload?                    Shang Quxian 1      Jiuquan          Tech      F01 F01578 -6300?x   10?x 97?
Feb  2 2045   Kosmos-2549?                     Soyuz-2-1b          Plesetsk LC43/4  Sigint    08A S47546   240 x  899 x 67.1
Feb  4 0619   Starlink 1782     )              Falcon 9            Canaveral SLC40  Comms     09  S47548-  251 x  292 x 53.0
              Starlink 1806     )                                                                 S47607
              Starlink 1909     )
              Starlink 1938     )
              Starlink 1940     )
              Starlink 1951     )
              Starlink 1953-1971)
              Starlink 1975-1982)
              Starlink 1984     )
              Starlink 1986-1991)
              Starlink 1993-2008)
              Starlink 2021     )
              Starlink 2023-2025)
Feb  4 1536   Tongxin Jishu Shiyan 6          Chang Zheng 3B     Xichang LC3      Early Warn? 10A  S47613   195x x 35811 x 28.5     
Feb  8 1232   Flock 4s-48                                       ION-SCV 2, LEO      Imaging   06EJ S47617   523 x 541 x 97.5
Feb 10 1022   Flock 4s-45                                       ION-SCV 2, LEO      Imaging   06EP S47688   523 x 541 x 97.5
Feb 13 1200   Flock 4s-46                                       ION-SCV 2, LEO      Imaging   06EK S47684   523 x 541 x 97.5
Feb 14 1027   Flock 4s-47                                       ION-SCV 2, LEO      Imaging   06EL S47685   523 x 541 x 97.5
Feb 15 0445   Progress MS-16                   Soyuz-2-1a        Baykonur LC31      Cargo     11A S47618   190 x 221 x 51.6 
Feb 16 0400   Starlink 1528                     Falcon 9          Canaveral SLC40    Comms    12 S47667-   257 x 282 x 53.0
              Starlink 1609                                                                      S47680               
              Starlink 1645
              Starlink 1655
              Starlink 1669
              Starlink 1704
              Starlink 1761
              Starlink 1972-1974
              Starlink 1983
              Starlink 1985
              Starlink 1992
              Starlink 2009-2010
              Starlink 2012-2016
              Starlink 2018-2020
              Starlink 2022
              Starlink 2026-2028
              Starlink 2030-2033
              Starlink 2035-2044
              Starlink 2051-2054
              Starlink 2056-2060
              Starlink 2062
              Starlink 2064-2067
              Starlink 2078
              Starlink 2083
              Starlink 2090-2091
              Starlink 2095
Feb 16 1006   Flock 4s-44                                       ION-SCV 2, LEO      Imaging   06EM S47686  520 x 538 x 97.5
Feb 17 0956   Flock 4s-43                                       ION-SCV 2, LEO      Imaging   06EN S47687  520 x 538 x 97.5
Feb 20 1736   S.S. Katherine Johnson )        Antares 230+       Wallops Pad 0A     Cargo     13A  S47689  170 x 320 x 51.7
              ThinSat 2A             )                                              Tech      13   A09696  170?x 320?x 51.6
              ThinSat 2B             )                                              Tech      13   A09697  170?x 320?x 51.6
              ThinSat 2C             )                                              Tech      13   A09698  170?x 320?x 51.6
              ThinSat 2D             )                                              Tech      13   A09699  170?x 320?x 51.6
              ThinSat 2E             )                                              Tech      13   A09700  170?x 320?x 51.6
              ThinSat 2F             )                                              Tech      13   A09701  170?x 320?x 51.6
              ThinSat 2G             )                                              Tech      13   A09702  170?x 320?x 51.6
              ThinSat 2H             )                                              Tech      13   A09703  170?x 320?x 51.6
              ThinSat 2I             )                                              Tech      13   A09704  170?x 320?x 51.6
Feb 18 0946   Flock 4s-42                                       ION-SCV 2, LEO      Imaging   06EQ S47612  520 x 538 x 97.5
Feb 19 1011   Flock 4s-41                                       ION-SCV 2, LEO      Imaging   06
Feb 24 0222   Yaogan 31 hao 03 zu 01 xing )    Chang Zheng 4C       Jiuquan         Sigint    14A  S47691 1090 x 1097 x 63.4
              Yaogan 31 hao 03 zu 02 xing )                                         Sigint    14B  S47692 1090 x 1097 x 63.4
              Yaogan 31 hao 03 zu 03 xing )                                         Sigint    14C  S47693 1090 x 1097 x 63.4
Feb 26 0454   Amazonia-1     )                 PSLV-DL            Satish Dhawan FLP Imaging   15A  S47699  741 x  757 x 98.5
              Sindhu Netra   )                                                      Tech 
              Nanoconnect-2  )                                                      Tech      15C  S47701  491 x  506 x 97.5
              JITSat         )                                                      Tech 
              GHRCEsat       )                                                      Tech 
              Sri Shakthi Sat)                                                      Tech 
              SDSAT          )                                                      Tech      15W  S47721  498 x  511 x 97.5
              Spacebee-76    )                                                      Comms
                  to         )
              Spacebee-87    )                                                      Comms
Feb 28 0655   Arktika-M No. 1                  Soyuz-2-1B           Baykonur LC31   Weather   16A S47719 1027 x 39751 x 63.3
Mar  4 0825   Starlink 2068     )              Falcon 9             Kennedy LC39A   Comms     17A S47222  259 x   280 x 53.1
              Starlink 2107     )
              Starlink 2116     )
              Starlink 2125-2126)
              Starlink 2129     )
              Starlink 2131-2132)
              Starlink 2140-2144)
              Starlink 2146-2150)
              Starlink 2152     )
              Starlink 2154     )
              Starlink 2156-2164)
              Starlink 2168-2172)
              Starlink 2174-2185)
              Starlink 2189     )
              Starlink 2192-2198)
              Starlink 2210-2213)
              Starlink 2223     )
Mar 11 0813   Starlink 2257     )              Falcon 9               Canaveral LC40  Comms   18A S47787 258 x     278 x 53.1
              Starlink 2314-2315)
              Starlink 2319     )
              Starlink 2322     )
              Starlink 2334     )
              Starlink 2338     )
              Starlink 2341     )
              Starlink 2347     )
              Starlink 2373     )
              Starlink 2377     )
              Starlink 2379-2396)
              Starlink 2399-2403)
              Starlink 2406-2411)
              Starlink 2413     )
              Starlink 2415-2416)
              Starlink 2419-2420)
              Starlink 2422-2427)
              Starlink 2429     )
              Starlink 2431-2446)
              Starlink 2453     )
              Starlink 2456     )
Mar 11 1330?  EP9                                                  ISS, LEO     Garbage scow   9867RZ S47853  417 x 422 x 51.6
Mar 11 1751   Shiyan 9                         Chang Zheng 7A         Wenchang LC201  Tech/   19A     S47851  250 x35836 x 19.5
Mar 13 0219   Yaogan 31 hao 04 zu 01 xing)     Chang Zheng 4C         Jiuquan         Sigint  20A     S47854 1092 x 1098 x 63.4
              Yaogan 31 hao 04 zu 02 xing)                                            Sigint  20B     S47855 1090 x 1096 x 63.4
              Yaogan 31 hao 04 zu 03 xing)                                            Sigint  20C     S47856 1090 x 1096 x 63.4
Mar 14 1001   Starlink 2258     )              Falcon 9               KSC LC39A       Comms   21    
              Starlink 2280     )
              Starlink 2291     )
              Starlink 2293     )
              Starlink 2304     )
              Starlink 2310     )
              Starlink 2320-2321)
              Starlink 2323-2324)
              Starlink 2326-2333)
              Starlink 2336-2337)
              Starlink 2339-2340)
              Starlink 2342-2346)
              Starlink 2348-2372)
              Starlink 2374-2376)
              Starlink 2378     )
              Starlink 2397     )
              Starlink 2398     )
              Starlink 2405     )
Mar 14 1120   Hirogari    )                                        ISS, LEO           Tech   9867SA?
              GuaraniSat-1)                                                           Tech   9867SB?
              Maya-2      )                                                           Tech   9867SC?
              Tsuru       )                                                           Tech   9867SD?
              RSP-1       )                                                           Tech   9867SE?
Mar 14 1150   Nichirin                                             ISS, LEO           Tech   9867SF?
Mar 14 1430   TAU-SAT-01                                           ISS, LEO           Tech   9867SG?
Mar 14 1500   Sanko                                                ISS, LEO           Tech   9867SH?
Mar 22 0607   CAS500-1                         Soyuz-2-1a/Fregat      Baykonur LC31   Imaging 22A    S47932   495 x 510 x 97.4
              GRUS 1B                                                                 Imaging 22B    S47933   579 x 605 x 97.7
              GRUS 1C                                                                 Imaging 22C    S47934   579 x 605 x 97.7
              GRUS 1D                                                                 Imaging 22D    S47935   579 x 605 x 97.7
              GRUS 1E                                                                 Imaging 22E    S47936   579 x 605 x 97.7
              ELSA-d                                                                  Tech    22
              DMSat-1                                                                 Imaging 22
              Najm-1                                                                  Imaging 22
              Unisat-7                                                                Tech    22
              Kepler-6                                                                Comms   22
              Kepler-7                                                                Comms   22
              NanoSatC-Br 2                                                           Sci     22
              KMSL                                                                    Mgrav.  22
              CANYVAL-C                                                               Tech    22
              Hiber 3                                                                 Comms   22
              Beesat 5                                                                Tech    22
              Beesat 6                                                                Tech    22
              Beesat 7                                                                Tech    22
              Beesat 8                                                                Tech    22
              SAMSON 1                                                                Tech    22
              SAMSON 2                                                                Tech    22
              SAMSON 3                                                                Tech    22
              Lacunasat 2b                                                            Tech    22
              3B5GSAT                                                                 Comms   22
              ChallengeOne                                                            Tech    22
              GRB-Alpha                                                               Astron  22
              WildTrackCube-SIMBA                                                     Comms   22
              KSU-Cubesat                                                             Tech    22
              OrbiKraft-Zorkiy                                                        Tech    22
              NIU VsHE-DZZ                                                            Imaging 22
              Sirius-DZZ                                                              Imaging 22
Mar 22 0830   Lawkanat 1                                            ISS, LEO          Imaging 9867SJ
Mar 22 2230   Black Sky Global                Electron             Mahia LC1A         Imaging 23F?
              Centauri 3                                                              Comms   23
              Myriota 7                                                               Comms   23
              RAAF M2 A/B                                                             Comms   23
              Gunsmoke-J                                                              Comms   23
              Veery Hatchling                                                         Tech    23
Mar 24 0828   Starlink 1647                   Falcon 9             Canaveral LC40     Comms   24A
              Starlink 2087
              Starlink 2153
              Starlink 2216
              Starlink 2218
              Starlink 2226
              Starlink 2229
              Starlink 2239
              Starlink 2243
              Starlink 2254
              Starlink 2259-2268
              Starlink 2270-2273
              Starlink 2277-2279
              Starlink 2281-2290
              Starlink 2292
              Starlink 2294-2303
              Starlink 2305-2309
              Starlink 2311-2313
              Starlink 2316-2318
              Starlink 2325

Table of Recent Suborbital Launches
-----------------------------------

Date UT       Payload/Flt Name Launch Vehicle      Site                  Mission    Apogee/km    Target

Feb  3        RV                Ghaznavi           Somniani?             Test           80?      Arabian Sea?
Feb  4        ABM Target        B-611?             Taiyuan               Test          200?      Urumqi        
Feb  4        Interceptor       DF-21?             Urumqi?               Interceptor   100?      Takla Makan
Feb  5 0905   OS-X6B            OS-X6B             Jiuquan?              Test          300       Jiuquan?
Feb  9 2330   USN RV            Trident II        Sub, 76W 28N           Op. Test     1000?      S Atlantic
Feb 24 0749   GT237GM           Minuteman III      Vandenberg LF10       Op. Test     1300?      Kwajalein
Feb 27        HE RV             Zulfiqar           Sanaa?                Weapon        150?      Riyadh
Mar  3        Chem. release     Terr.Terr.Oriole   Wallops               Ionosphere    300?      Atlantic
Mar 12 1345   SOUREX            RH-560 Mk III     Satish Dhawan          Atmosphere    300?      Bay of Bengal

.-------------------------------------------------------------------------.
|  Jonathan McDowell                 |                                    |
|  Somerville MA 02143               |  inter : planet4589 at gmail       |
|  USA                               |  twitter: @planet4589              |
|                                                                         |
| JSR: https://www.planet4589.org/jsr.html                                 |
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