[JSR] Jonathan's Space Report, No. 806

Jonathan McDowell jcm at planet4589.com
Wed May 25 22:45:10 EDT 2022


Jonathan's Space Report
No. 806                                                     2022 May 25        Somerville, MA
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

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

Expedition 67 continues.

Crew-3 (Chari, Marshburn, Maurer, Barron) undocked in Dragon Endurance
at 0520 UTC May 5. Dragon splashed down at 0443 UTC May 6 in the Tampa
recovery zone in the Gulf of Mexico at about 83.9W 28.1N. 
With Marshburn's departure, Oleg Artem'ev assumed command of ISS.

Boeing's Starliner spacecraft 2 was launched on orbital flight test
mission OFT-2 on May 19. The ULA Atlas V Model N22, serial AV-082, took
off from Cape Canaveral at 2254:47 UTC; the Centaur upper stage entered
a 73 x 181 km x 51.6 deg orbit at 2306:37 UTC. Starliner separated three
minutes later; Centaur reentered at first perigee around 0009 UTC May
20, SW of Australia, while Starliner made a 45s duration orbit insertion
burn with its OMACS thrusters at 2325:45 UTC, reaching a 187 x 367 km
orbit. The Starliner cabin carries an anthropomorphic test dummy dubbed
'Rosie the Rocketeer' and about 200 kg of cargo. Mass of Starliner
was around 13000 kg but the exact launch mass has not been made public.

After a series of tests, and some delays, Starliner docked with ISS
IDA-2 at 0028 UTC May 21. It undocked at 1836 UTC May 25; the deorbit
burn was made at 2205 UTC followed by service module jettison at 2208
UTC. Starliner landed at White Sands at 2249 UTC the same day. Following
the troubled mission of OFT-1, the largely successful flight of OFT-2
marked important and positive progress in the Starliner program. The
main problems on this mission were with two failed thrusters, but this
did not prevent  Starliner completing its main mission objectives.


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

On May 9 CALT launched the Tianzhou-4 cargo ship from Wenchang. It docked with the aft port
of the Tianhe module at 0047 UTC May 10. The CZ-7 second stage reentered over Tunisia
on May 25.

Other CALT launches
--------------------

On Apr 29 CALT launched two high resolution imaging satellites, Siwei 1-01 and 1-02, from Jiuquan.

On Apr 30 China's CALT carried out the third sea launch of a CZ-11 from the Tai Rui barge in the Yellow Sea.
Five Jilin-1 imaging satellites were placed in orbit.

On May 20 CALT launched a CZ-2C/YZ-1S to place two Changguang-built communications satellites in orbit,
along with a smaller CAST/DFH-Shenzhen communications test satellite.


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

China's SAST launched a CZ-2D on May 6 placing the Jilin-1 Kuanfu-01C satellite in orbit,
along with six smaller Jilin-1 Gaofen 03D sats.

Starlink
--------

Starlink Group 4-16, with 53 satellites, was launched on Apr 29. Group 4-17, also with
53 satellites, was orbited on May 6. Group 4-13 was launched from Vandenberg on May 13,
Group 4-15 was launched from Canaveral on May 14. Group 4-18 from KSC on May 18.

Angara-1.2
----------

The first Krunichev Angara-1.2 rocket was launched from Plesetsk on Apr
29 at 1955 UTC. It placed  small satellite, Kosmos-2555, into low
sun-synchronous orbit. The satellite is thought to have been an
EMKA-class imaging satellite (although it is possible that it was just a
dummy satellite, given the failure to manuever noted below).

The second stage fired from about 1957 to 2000 UTC and reached a
marginal orbit of about -40 x 294 km, flying over Vancouver at about
2017 UTC and impacting the Pacific near 132W 13N at 2026 UTC. The
low-thrust third stage, called the AM or Agregatniy Modul',  made the
orbit insertion burn and separated into a 279 x 294 km x 96.5 deg orbit
at about 2018 UTC, again near Vancouver. It completed a further
one-and-a-half orbits before making a deorbit burn somewhere over W
Africa circa 2245 UTC (or possibly  as late as circa 2258 UTC over
France/UK) to lower perigee into the atmophere for reentry in the North
Pacific about 2321 UTC. Despite making multiple orbits, the AM was not
cataloged.

Kosmos-2255 had a similar orbit to the Kosmos-2251 satellite (which
failed), and was in the same 11:30 local time orbital plane. Like Kosmos-2251, it failed
to make any orbital manuevers; Kosmos-2255 reentered on May 18. 


Electron 26
------------

Rocket Lab's Electron mission 26 'There and Back Again' was launched on
May 2 and placed a cluster of small satellites in orbit. The first
stage, descending on a parachute, was briefly captured in mid-air by a
helicopter but then released and splashed down to be recovered from the
ocean.

 - The main passengers on this flight were three E-Space demo satellites. E-Space is planning
  an extremely (excessively) large internet constellation. Based on the animation shown in the
  launch webcast, I estimate that each satellite is a box about 0.15 x 0.6 x 0.6m (very roughly) 
  and probably with mass in the 30 to 60 kg range.

 - 16 Swarm-US SpaceBEE and 8 Swarm-NZ Spacebee-NZ satellites for IoT data relay were deployed.
   Each satellite is 0.25U in size and about 0.3 kg.

 Other payloads:
 - BRO-6 for Unseen Labs (France) and AuroraSat 1 for Aurora Propulsion Tech (Finland);
 - Unicorn-2 for Alba (Scotland); TRSI-2/3 for TRSI (Germany); MyRadar-1 for ACME AtronOmatic (US).
 - Copia, a payload attached to the Electron kick stage to test an inflatable solar array.

SQX-1
-----

Beijing Interstellar Glory Co (Xingji Rongyao Kongjian Keji YG) launched an Shuang Quxian 1 (Hyperbola-1)
rocket on its fourth orbital attempt on May 13. It failed to reach orbit; reports indicate the second
stage failed to ignite.

Bars-M
------

The Russian Defense Ministry launched its third Bars-M mapping satellite on May 19. The satellite was
given the cover name Kosmos-2556. The initial orbit was 337 x 556 km x 97.7 deg with a 23:47 local
time orbital plane. From May 20 to 23 the orbit was raised to 565 x 578 km.


Transporter-5
--------------

SpaceX launched the Transporter-5 rideshare mission at 1835 UTC on May 25 to a 13:10 local time sun-sync orbit.
Transporter-5 made two burns to a 520 x 535 km orbit, deployed the payloads, and made a deorbit
burn for reentry over the Pacific around 2034 UTC.

Three of the T5 payloads were themselves satellite dispensers:
 Momentus Vigoride VR-3, thought to be carrying Orbit-NTNU (Norway)'s 2U SELFIESAT, CareWeather's 1P Veery FS-1
   weather sat, and seven Fossa Systems 2P FOSSASAT-2E imaging satellites;
 Spaceflight Sherpa-AC1, carrying two hosted payloads but no deployables;
 D-Orbit ION SCV-006, with Aistech's Guardian 1 and Brown U./CNR's SBUDNIC
 
 Other T5 payloads are:
  Comm satellites - Varisat-1C (Varisat, US); Connecta T1.1 (Plan S, Turkey), Spark-2 (OmniSpace, US);
                    Centauri 5 (Fleet, Australia)
  Imaging satellites - 4 Newsat (Satellogic, Argentina/Uruguay); Urdaneta (Satlantis, Spain);
                       Sejong-1 (Hancom, Korea/Spire)
  Radar satellites -  5 ICEYE (Finland/US); Umbra 03 (US)
  Radio spectrum monitoring satellites -  Hawk 5A/5B/5C (Hawkeye 360, US)
  GNSS-RO satellites: Cicero-2 V1/V2 (Geooptics, US)
  Climate study: GHGSAT C3/C4/C5 (GHG, Canada)
  Shared/hosted payloads:  SharedSat-2141 (Endurosat, Bulgaria); 3 Lemur-2 (Spire, US/UK with Myriota, Australia)
  Test satellites:  Planetum-1 (Planetum, Czechia); SPIN-1 (Spin, Germany); Broncosat (U Cal Pomona, US);
                    Foresail-1 (Aalto, Finland); CPOD-1/2 (Tyvak/NASA Ames); CNCE V4/V5 (US Missile Defence Agency);
                    AMS (MIT-Lincoln Lab, US)

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

Date UT       Name			     Launch Vehicle	 Site		 Mission  INTL.  Catalog  Perigee Apogee  Incl	 Notes
Apr  2 1241   BlackSky Global 18                 Electron                  Mahia LC1A       Imaging  34B   430 x 441 x 53.0
              BlackSky Global 20                                                            Imaging  34C
Apr  6 2347   Gao Fen 3-03                       Chang Zheng 4C            Jiuquan          Radar    35A   737 x 746 x 98.4
Apr  7 1120   Kosmos-2554                        Soyuz-2-1b                Plesetsk LC43/3  Sigint   36A   239 x 900 x 67.1
Apr  8 1517   Axiom-1 (Endeavour)                Falcon 9                  Kennedy LC39A    Spaceship 37A  414 x 420 x 51.6
Apr  9 1422   PlantSat                                             ION SVC005, LEO          Sci     033AH
Apr 11 0713   KSF2-C                                               ION SVC005, LEO          Sci     033AJ
Apr 11 1816   KSF2-D                                               ION SVC005, LEO          Sci     033AK
Apr 13 0803   SUCHAI-3                                             ION SVC005, LEO          Sci     033AL
Apr 14 0745   SUCHAI-2                                             ION SVC005, LEO          Sci     033AM
Apr 15 1200   Zhongxing-6D                       Chang Zheng 3B            Xichang          Comms    38A  231 x 35765 x 28.5
Apr 15 1816   Daqi Huanjing Jiance Weixing       Chang Zheng 4C            Taiyuan          Sci      39A  680 x 690 x 98.1
Apr 17 1313   USA 327 P/L 1 (INTRUDER)           Falcon 9                  Vandenberg SLC4E Sigint   40A 1008 x 1207 x 63.4
Apr 21 1751   Starlink (Group 4-14)              Falcon 9                  Canaveral SLC40  Comms    41A  304 x 318 x 53.2
Apr 27 0752   SpX Crew-4 (Freedom)               Falcon 9                  Kennedy LC39A   Spaceship 42A  191 x 211 x 51.7
Apr 29 0411   Siwei Gaojing 1-01                 Chang Zheng 2C            Jiuquan         Imaging   43A  486 x 503 x 97.5
              Siwei Gaojing 1-02
Apr 29 1955   Kosmos-2555                        Angara-1.2                Plesetsk LC35/1  Imaging  44A  278 x 293 x 96.5
Apr 29 2127   Starlink (Group 4-16)              Falcon 9                  Canaveral SLC40  Comms    45A  303 x 316 x 53.2
Apr 30 0330   Jilin-1 GF03D-04                   Chang Zheng 11           CCOC, Huang Hai   Imaging  46A  526 x 549 x 97.5
              Jilin-1 GF03D-05                                                              Imaging  46B
              Jilin-1 GF03D-06                                                              Imaging  46C
              Jilin-1 GF03D-07                                                              Imaging  46D
              Jilin-1 GF04A                                                                 Imaging  46E
May  2 2249   E-Space Demo 1                     Electron                  Mahia LC1A       Comms    47   522 x 532 x 97.5 
              E-Space Demo 2                                                                Comms    47 
              E-Space Demo 3                                                                Comms    47 
              SpaceBEE-140 to 155                                                           Comms    47 
              SpaceBEE NZ-15 to NZ-22                                                       Comms    47 
              BRO-6                                                                         Sigint   47
              AuroraSat-1                                                                   Tech     47
              Unicorn-2                                                                     Imaging  47
              TRSI-2                                                                        Tech     47
              TRSI-3                                                                        Tech     47
              MyRadar-1                                                                     Weather  47
              Copia                                                                         Tech     47
May  5 0238   Jilin-1 KF-01C                      Chang Zheng 2D            Taiyuan         Imaging  48    528 x 545 x 97.7
              Jilin-1 GF-03D-27                                                             Imaging  48    528 x 545 x 97.7
              Jilin-1 GF-03D-28                                                             Imaging  48    528 x 545 x 97.7
              Jilin-1 GF-03D-29                                                             Imaging  48    528 x 545 x 97.7
              Jilin-1 GF-03D-30                                                             Imaging  48    528 x 545 x 97.7
              Jilin-1 GF-03D-31                                                             Imaging  48    528 x 545 x 97.7
              Jilin-1 GF-03D-32                                                             Imaging  48    528 x 545 x 97.7
              Jilin-1 GF-03D-33                                                             Imaging  48    528 x 545 x 97.7
May  6 0942   Starlink (Group 4-17)               Falcon 9                  Kennedy LC39A   Comms    49    528 x 545 x 97.7
May  9 1549   KSF2-A                                                     ION SVC005, LEO    Sigint   33AN  492 x 511 x 97.4
May  9 1756   Tianzhou-4                          Chang Zheng 7             Wenchang LC201  Cargo    50A   376 x 392 x 41.5
May  9 1858   KSF2-B                                                     ION SVC005, LEO    Sigint   33AP  492 x 512 x 97.4
May 13 0709   Jilin-1 MF-01A/R                    Shuang Quxian 1           Jiuquan         Imaging  F02 -6300 x 60? x 97.0
May 13 2207   Starlink (Group 4-13)               Falcon 9                 Vandenberg SLC4E Comms    51
May 14 2040   Starlink (Group 4-15)               Falcon 9                  Canaveral LC40  Comms    52
May 18 1059   Starlink (Group 4-18)               Falcon 9                  Kennedy LC39A   Comms    53
May 19 0803   Kosmos-2556 (Bars-M)                Soyuz-2-1a                Plesetsk LC43/4 Imaging  54A  337 x 556 x 97.7
May 19 2254   Starliner OFT-2                     Atlas V N22               Canaveral LC41 Spaceship 55A  187 x 367 x 51.6
May 20 1030   CGSTL LEO Test Sat 1                Chang Zheng 2C/YZ-1S      Jiuquan         Comms    56
              CGSTL LEO Test Sat 2                                                          Comms    56
              DTSW                                                                          Comms    56
May 25 1835   Transporter-5                                                                 Deployer 57
              Vigoride VR-3                                                                 Deployer 57
              Sherpa-AC1                                                                    Deployer 57
              ION SCV006                                                                    Deployer 57
              CICERO-2 V1                                                                   GNSS-RO  57
              CICERO-2 V2                                                                   GNSS-RO  57
              SharedSat 2141                                                                Tech     57
              PTD-3                                                                         Tech     57
              Lemur-2 Karen B                                                           Com/GNSS-RO  57
              Lemur-2 TennysonLily                                                      Com/GNSS-RO  57
              Lemur-2 Mimi1307                                                          Com/GNSS-RO  57
              Sejong-1                                                                      Imaging  57
              GHGSat-C3                                                                     Imaging  57
              GHGSat-C4                                                                     Imaging  57
              GHGSat-C5                                                                     Imaging  57
              Spark-2                                                                       Com      57
              Urdaneta-Armsat1                                                              Imaging  57
              Planetum-1                                                                    Tech     57
              Spin-1                                                                        Tech     57
              CPOD 1                                                                        Tech     57
              CPOD 2                                                                        Tech     57
              CNCE V4                                                                       Tech     57
              CNCE V5                                                                       Tech     57
              Foresail-1                                                                    Tech     57
              Connecta T1.1                                                                 Com      57
              Centauri 5                                                                    Com      57
              Nusat 28                                                                      Imaging  57
              Nusat 29                                                                      Imaging  57
              Nusat 30                                                                      Imaging  57
              Nusat 31                                                                      Imaging  57
              Varisat-1C                                                                    Com      57
              AMS                                                                           Tech     57
              BRONCOSAT-1                                                                   Tech     57
              Hawk 5A                                                                       Sigint   57
              Hawk 5B                                                                       Sigint   57
              Hawk 5C                                                                       Sigint   57
              ICEYE X17                                                                     Radar    57
              ICEYE X18                                                                     Radar    57
              ICEYE X19                                                                     Radar    57
              ICEYE X20                                                                     Radar    57
              ICEYE X21                                                                     Radar    57

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

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

Mar  4 2348   Recon test?       Hwasong-8 LV?      Sunan                 Test          550       Sea of Japan
Mar  5 1127   LAMP              Black Brant IX     Poker Flat            Auroral       429       Alaska
Mar  9 1825   HERSCHEL          Black Brant IX     White Sands           Solar UV      302       White Sands
Mar 12        Target            Black Dagger       Ft Wingate            Target        100?      White Sands
Mar 21 2312   BOLT-2            Terrier Malemute   Wallops I             Hypersonic    281       Atlantic
Mar 29        FTT-21 Target     Black Dagger       Ft Wingate            Target        100?      White Sands
Mar 30        Dummy payload     Hyunmoo TLV       SIRIUS, Anhueng        Test          150?      E China Sea?
Mar 31 1358   NS-20             New Shepard        West Texas           Tourist flight 107       West Texas
Apr  7 1247   INCAA 1           Terrier Malemute   Poker Flat            Auroral       340       PF Range
Apr  7 1250   INCAA 2           Black Brant IX     Poker Flat            Auroral       208       PF Range
Apr  9        RV                Shaheen 3          Somniani?             Op Test       500?      Arabian Sea
Apr 18        SLBM RV           Hyunmoo 4-4       SS-083, Anhueng        Test          150?      E China Sea?
Apr 18        SLBM RV           Hyunmoo 4-4       SS-083, Anhueng        Test          150?      E China Sea?
Apr 20 1212   RV                Sarmat             Plesetsk              Test         1000?      Kura
May  4 0304   RV?               Hwasong-8 LV?      Sunan?                Test          780       Sea of Japan
May 11 0131   Endurance         Oriole III         Svalbard              Atm. Sci      764       Arctic
May 12 0729   RV                NK SRBM            Sunan                 Training       90       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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