[JSR] Jonathan's Space Report, No. 814

Jonathan McDowell jcm at planet4589.com
Sat Dec 31 20:46:10 EST 2022


Jonathan's Space Report
No. 814                                                        2023 Jan  1      Somerville, MA
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Happy new year!

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

Expedition 68 continues.

On Dec 15 astronauts Prokop'ev and Petelin, in suits Orlan MKS-5 and
MKS-4, prepared to make spacewalk VKD-56 from the Poisk airlock to
continue ERA robot arm installation. However, when mission controllers
noticed a coolant leak spraying from Soyuz MS-22, the excursion was
paused just before hatch opening and, after a half-hour wait, was
cancelled. The airlock was depressurized below 50 mbar at 0154 UTC;
depressurization paused at 12 mbar at 0158 UTC and
the airlock began repressurization at 0249-0250 UTC.  (Thanks to
Anatoliy Yegorov for data).

On Dec 21 at 1342 UTC Progress MS-20 fired its engines to adjust the
station orbit in order to avoid a close pass by debris object 52960.

On Dec 22 astronauts Rubio and Cassada made spacewalk EVA-83 from the 
Quest airlock, installing the IROSA 4A solar array on the P4 truss.
The airlock was depressurized from 1311 to 2027 UTC. Spacesuits EMU 3013
and 3004 were used.

On Dec 29 the Nanoracks NRCSD-24 deployer, delivered by Dragon CRS-26, was
extracted from the Kibo airlock by the Japanese RMS arm. 8 cubesats
were deployed from NRCSD-24.

Chinese Space Station
----------------------

The Xi Wang 4 amateur radio satellite, an 8U cubesat, was ejected from a
deployer on the Tianzhou-5 cargo ship on Dec 18. Tianzhou-5 remains
docked to the CSS. (There was some suggestion that XW-4 was actually
deployed usin the Mengtian robot arm but this turns out to be an
incorrect report.) Xi Wang 4 is also called Macau Student Science Sat
and carries experiments from students in Macau.


CALT launches
-------------

CALT launched a CZ-11 on Dec 16 with Shiyan 21, a test satellite with an unknown mission.

CALT launched a CZ-3B on Dec 29 with Shiyan 10-02, a SAST test satellite in a highly
elliptical orbit, possibly for studying the radiation belts.

SAST launches
-------------

SAST launched a CZ-4C on Dec 12 with the SY-20A satellite from CAST and the SY-20B satellite
from SAST. Stage 3 made a perigee lowering burn at 0854 UTC.

SAST launched a CZ-2D on Dec 14 with another Yaogan-36 triplet.

SAST launched a CZ-4B on Dec 27 with the fourth Gao Fen 11 (Jianbing-16) spy satellite.

The JB-16 series satellites follow a pattern: they enter an elliptical 245 x 700 km orbit;
over a period of months the apogee is allowed to decay to 500 km, and then the
orbit is circularized.

 GF11 Satellite ID   Launch      Circ after Initial          Current           Plane
                                  (days)    Orbit            Orbit
 1         2018-063A 2018 Jul 31  253      248 x 694 x 97.4  488 x 503 x 97.3  10:27
 2         2020-064A 2020 Sep 7   192      248 x 694 x 97.3  494 x 495 x 97.4  13:18
 3         2021-107A 2021 Nov 20  145      248 x 694 x 97.5  489 x 500 x 97.4  09:28
 4         2022-176A 2022 Dec 27  -        245 x 697 x 97,3  -                 14:46

Ariane VA259
------------

Arianespace flight VA259, probably using Ariane vehicle L5118, flew from Kourou on Dec 13
and placed two C-band Intelsat Galaxy satellites in geotransfer orbit along with
the EUTMETSAT/ESA Meteosat Third Generation Imager-1 (MTG I-1) weather satellite.
MTG-I1, mass 3760 kg, was the top payload; inside the Sylda adapter were the two 3150 kg Maxar
FS1300-122 class Galaxy satellites stacked on each other on top of the ESC-D upper stage.

SWOT
----

The joint US-French water monitoring satellite, SWOT (Surface Water Ocean Technology),
uses a Ka-band radar interferometer and a nadir altimeter to measure sea surface heights
and study water volume and flow across the globe. The satellite was built by Thales Alenia (Cannes)
and has a mass of 2200 kg. The two KaRIn sensors are at either end of a 10 metre deployable boom.
The project is led by JPL and CNES.

It's not clear whether SWOT will be registered with the UN by the US or by France. The earlier
Jason 1 and 2 satellites were registered by France, but Jason 3 was registered by the US.

The Falcon 9 launch vehicle launched west from Vandenberg and then made a large turn to the south,
reaching an approximately 164 x 870 km x 77.6 deg transfer orbit at SECO-1. The first stage
landed back at Vandenberg on Landing Zone 4. Stage 2 coasted to apogee over Antarctica 
and circularized the orbit at 856 x 862 km x 77.6 deg at 1230 UTC. SWOT separated at 1239 UTC.
The second stage made a deorbit burn of over 200 m/s and reentered over 145W 4N at about 1340 UTC.

O3b mPOWER
-----------

The first two O3b mPOWER Ka-band broadband internet distribution satellites for SES O3b Networks
were launched by Falcon 9 on Dec 16 to a 2780 x 6990 km x 9.6 deg transfer orbit.
The Falcon 9 second stage was left in the same orbit.

Starlink
---------

Group 4-37 (54 satellites) was launched from Kennedy Space Center on Dec 17.

Group 5-1 (54 satellites) was launched from Cape Canaveral on Dec 28 to a new shell
at 43 degrees inclination, under the limited Gen2 Starlink licence but apparently
using the V1.5 model satellites.

Vega-C
------

The second Vega-C launch on Dec 21 was meant to put two Pleaides Neo
imaging satellites in 600 km sun-sync orbit. However, the Zefiro-40
second stage failed 2m27s after launch. Although stage 2 separation,
stage 3 ignition and fairing separation appear to have occurred on
schedule,  the vehicle crashed in the Atlantic about 8 min after launch
near 56W 18N after reaching an apogee of only 110 km.

Danuri
------

The South Korean lunar probe Danuri entered lunar orbit on Dec 16.
Target lunar orbit was 111 x 8647 km x 90.8 deg but observations by
Scott Tilley indicate the actual initial apolune was closer to 8930 km,
corresponding to a modest 4 m/s underburn. Further orbit adjustments
made over the succeeding days adjusted the orbit as planned and by Dec 31
Danuri was in a 102 x 120 km x 89.5 deg low lunar polar orbit.

EROS C3
-------

On Dec 30 SpaceX launched EROS C3 from Vandenberg to a retrograde orbit
for Israeli company ImageSat International. The EROS/Ofeq satellites are
operated by IAI and the Israeli military for intelligence gathering and
commercial imagery.  The Falcon 9 first stage landed back at
Vandenberg's LZ4.


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

Date UT       Name			     Launch Vehicle	 Site		 Mission  INTL.  Catalog  Perigee Apogee  Incl	 Notes
Dec  2 0750?  SpaceTuna-1                                                ISS, LEO             Sci   98067UL? 409 x 420 x 51.6
              PearlAfricaSat-1                                                                Tech  98067UM? 409 x 420 x 51.6
              ZimSat-1                                                                        Tech  98067UN? 409 x 420 x 51.6
              Taka                                                                            Tech  98067UP? 409 x 420 x 51.6
Dec  7 0115   Xingyun Jiaotong VDES SW                 Kuaizhou-11          Jiuquan           Comms   164A  737 x 749 x 98.4
Dec  8 1831   Gao Fen 5-01                             Chang Zheng 2D       Taiyuan          Imaging  165A  668 x 683 x 98.1
Dec  8 2227   OneWeb L15 (40 sats)                     Falcon 9             Kennedy LC39A    Comms    166   587 x 599 x 86.5
Dec  9 0635   Jilin-1 GF03D-44                         Jielong-3          TaiRui, Yellow Sea  Imaging 167   530 x 547 x 97.5
              Jilin-1 GF03D-45                                                                Imaging 167
              Jilin-1 GF03D-46                                                                Imaging 167
              Jilin-1 GF03D-47                                                                Imaging 167
              Jilin-1 GF03D-48                                                                Imaging 167
              Jilin-1 GF03D-49                                                                Imaging 167
              Jilin-1 GF03D-50                                                                Imaging 167
              Jilin-1 Pingtai 01A01                                                           Img/com? 167
              Fengtai Shaonian 2                                                              Comms  167
              Jinzijing 1-05                                                                  Imaging 167
              Jinzijing 1-06                                                                  Imaging 167
              Jiaotong-5                                                                      Comms  167
              Huoju-1                                                                         Bio    167
              Tianqi Xingzuo 07                                                               Comms  167
Dec 11 0738   Hakuto-R M1                              Falcon 9             Canaveral LC40    Lunar  168A 293 x 1134167 x 29.1
              Lunar Flashlight                                                                Lunar  168B 293 x 1134167 x 29.1
Dec 12 0822   Shiyan 20A                               Chang Zheng 4C       Jiuquan           Tech   169A 790 x 799 x 60.0
              Shiyan 20B                                                                      Tech   169B 790 x 799 x 60.0
Dec 13 2030   Galaxy 35                                Ariane 5ECA+         Kourou ELA3       Comms  170  250 x 35700 x 6
              Galaxy 36                                                                       Comms  170
              MTG-I1                                                                          Weather 170
Dec 14 0830   Zhixing 1B                               Zhuque-2             Jiuquan LC43/96   Tech    F05  -4500 x 400 x 97.6
              13 unknown payloads
Dec 14 1825   Yaogan 36 hao 04 zu 01 xing              Chang Zheng 2D       Xichang LC3       Sigint? 171A 488 x 500 x 35.0
              Yaogan 36 hao 04 zu 02 xing                                                     Sigint? 171B
              Yaogan 36 hao 04 zu 03 xing                                                     Sigint? 171C
Dec 16 0617   Shiyan 21                                Chang Zheng 11       Xichang LC4       Tech?   172A 474 x 493 x 36.0
Dec 16 1146   SWOT                                     Falcon 9             Vandenberg SLC4E  Sci     173A 856 x 862 x 77.6
Dec 16 2248   O3b mPOWER 1                             Falcon 9             Canaveral LC40    Comms   174A 2778 x 6992 x 9.6
              O3b mPOWER 2                                                                    Comms   174B 2779 x 6990 x 9.6
Dec 17 2132   Starlink Group 4-37                      Falcon 9             Kennedy LC39A     Comms   175   231 x 335 x 53.2
Dec 18 0130?  Xi Wang 4                                                   CSS, LEO            Comms  21035C 386 x 391 x 41.5
Dec 21 0147   Pleiades Neo 5                           Vega-C               CSG ZLV          Imaging  F06  -5800 x 110 x 97,8
              Pleiades Neo 6                                                                 Imaging  F06  -5800 x 110 x 97,8
Dec 27 0737   Gao Fen 11-04                            Chang Zheng 4B      Taiyuan           Imaging  176A  245 x 697 x 97.3
Dec 28 0534   Starlink Group 5-1                       Falcon 9            Canaveral LC40     Comms   177A  212 x 335 x 43.0
Dec 29 0443   Shiyan 10-02                             Chang Zheng 3B      Xichang LC2        Sci?    178A  188 x 40096 x 51.0
Dec 29 1205   TJREVERB                                                NRCSD-24/ISS, LEO       Edu   98067  414 x 421 x 51.6
              DANTESAT                                                                        Tech  98067
Dec 29 1215   MARIO                                                   NRCSD-24/ISS, LEO       Tech  98067
              NUTSAT                                                                          Tech  98067
Dec 29 1345   LORIS                                                   NRCSD-24/ISS, LEO     Imaging 98067
              ORCASAT                                                                         Tech  98067
Dec 29 1355   SPORT                                                   NRCSD-24/ISS, LEO       Tech  98067
              PetitSat                                                                        Sci   98067
Dec 30 0738   EROS C3                                  Falcon 9            Vandenberg SLC4E Imaging  179A  484 x 502 x 139.4

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

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

Nov 20 1720   ACES II High      Black Brant IX     Andoya                Auroral       406       Norwegian Sea
Nov 20 1721   ACES II Low       Black Brant IX     Andoya                Auroral       188       Norwegian Sea
Nov 23 0342   Agni RV           Agni 3             Kalam I.              Test          300?      Bay of Bengal
Nov 23 0723   MASER 15/S1X-3    VSB-30             Kiruna                Microgravity  260       ESRANGE 
Dec 15 1215?  Agni RV           Agni 5             Kalam I.              Test          800?      Indian Ocean
Dec 18 0217   Imaging payload   Hwasong-7?         Sohae                 Test          550       Sea of Japan
Dec 18 0255   Imaging payload?  Hwasong-7?         Sohae                 Test          550       Sea of Japan
Dec 19 1000?  RV                Unknown missile    Jiuquan               Test          200?      Korla range?
Dec 30 0900?  Test payload      Hyunmoo TLV        Anhueng               Test          200?      Yellow Sea?
Dec 30 2305?  RV                KN missile         Chunghwa              Test          100?      Sea of Japan
Dec 30 2310?  RV                KN missile         Chunghwa              Test          100?      Sea of Japan
Dec 30 2315?  RV                KN missile         Chunghwa              Test          100?      Sea of Japan

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