[JSR] Jonathan's Space Report, No. 812

Jonathan McDowell jcm at planet4589.com
Fri Nov 18 02:14:27 EST 2022


Jonathan's Space Report
No. 812                                                      2022 Nov 18       Somerville, MA
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Artemis I
---------

The first launch of the SLS (Space Launch System) carried the Artemis I mission into
space on Nov 16.

The RSRMV solid rocket boosters were jettisoned 48 km in altitude and fell in the Atlantic,
followed soon after by the SAJ side panels on the Orion service module and the launch adapter system.
The SLS core stage, with four RS-25 engines that had previously flown on Shuttle, reached a 30 x 1800 km
x 30.5 deg orbit at 0655 UTC. The core stage (CS-1), together with its attached conical LVSA (Launch
Vehicle Stage Adapter), then separated from the ICPS-1 (Interim Cryogenic Propulsion Stage) and attached
Orion spaceship.  Orion/ICPS-1 reached apogee around 0740 UTC and made a 22-second perigee riase burn,
putting it in a 180 x 1800 km orbit to avoid reentry. At around 0815 the IPCS-1 reignited for the
translunar injection burn. The CS-1 reentered over the eastern Pacific at around 0833 UTC, possibly
near 129W 15N. Far above it the ICPS completed its TLI burn, reaching a 516 x 377200 km x 30.52 deg
translunar coast orbit. 

At 0845 UTC, ten minutes after the TLI cutoff, Artemis I Orion - composed of the Orion CM002 command
module and the ESM-001 European Service Module - separated from the ICPS-1 and its attached
OSA (Orion Stage Adapter) and SAC (Spacecraft Adapter Cone). The ESM made a small thruster burn
to increase separation from the ICPS; at 1009 UTC ICPS made a disposal burn to divert it
from the Moon; after a lunar flyby, ICPS will enter solar orbit.
Over the next few hours ten cubesats were ejected from the OSA.

Artemis I will enter the lunar gravitational sphere of influence a 1910 UTC Nov 21.

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

In late October  Expedition 68 continued with commander Sergey Prokop'ev, and
flight engineers Dmitriy Petelin, Frank Rubio, Nicole Mann, Josh Cassada, Koichi Wakata,
and Anna Kikina.

On Nov 7 the Cygnus NG-18 cargo ship S.S. Sally Ride was launched from the Mid-Atlantic
Regional Spaceport on Wallops Island. NG-18 was captured by Canadarm-2 at 1020 UTC NOv 9
and berthed at Unity nadir at 1303 UTC.

On Nov 15 astronauts Cassada and Rubio carried out spacewalk ISS US EVA
81 in spacesuits EMU 3013 and 3004, to install the 1B ROSA Mod Kit on
the 1B solar array mast on the S6 truss.  The Quest airlock was
depressurized at 1406 UTC, hatch open at 1410, suits on battery power at
1414, EV1 and EV2 egress at 1429 and 1438 UTC, carrying the 1B strut
bag. The spacewalkers translated along the truss, and installed the
upper triangle of the mod kit by 1800 UTC. The 1B ROSA solar array will
be attached here in a later spacewalk. The astronauts re-entered the
airlock at 2050 and 2107 UTC, and the hatch was closed at 2120 UTC.
Repressurization started at 2125 UTC.

On Nov 18 astronauts Prokop'ev and Petelin carried out spacewalk ISS
VKD-55 from the Poisk module using spacesuits Orlan MKS-5 and MKS-4.
They drained N2 from the Rassvet radiator and installed the SSKO payload attachment
system on the Nauka module. The Poisk airlock was depressurized
from 1411 to 2217 UTC and the hatch was open from 1441 to 2107 UTC.

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

China launched the 4th Chang Zheng 5B on Oct 31, carrying the Mengtian lab module into orbit.
Mengtian docked with the Tianhe forward port at 2027 UTC Oct 31. It was relocated
to a side docking port on Nov 3.

The MT (Mengtian) module is the second side module of the
Chinese space station. The 23 tonne module has a pressurized section
and an unpressurized payloads section, a cargo airlock and a robot arm.
To some extent MT acts as the Chinese equivalent of the Kibo module, with the ability
to deploy small satellites from the airlock and handle external payloads.

The core stage from the CZ-5B reentered over the Pacific on Nov 4, on a track towards
Oaxaca, Mexico.

The Tianzhou-4 cargo ship undocked from the Tianhe aft port at 0655 UTC Nov 9.
On Nov 13 at 2202 UTC it deployed the Zhixing-3A cubesat for Beijing company Zhixing Kongjian.
Tianzhou-4 was deorbited around 2321 UC Nov 14.

On Nov 12 the Tianzhou-5 cargo ship was launched from Wenchang. It docked with Tianhe's
aft port at 0410 UTC, 2h 7min after launch.

On Nov 17 astronauts Chen and Cai made a spacewalk from the Wentian module and installed two
inter-module connectors. The hatch was open from 0316 UTC to about 0850 UTC.

USSF-44
-------

SpaceX launched a Falcon Heavy from Kennedy Space Center on the US Space Force USSF-44 mission.
It placed the LDPE-2 ESPA-ring satellite in drift orbit above GEO, together with a secret satellite
called USA 339. Orbit is probably around 36100 km circular.

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

CALT launched a CZ-3B from Xichang on Nov 5 to put the ZX-19 communications satellite in geotransfer orbit.

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

SAST launched a CZ-2D from Jiuquan on Oct 29 with the Shiyan 20C satellite, built by CAS Microsat.
The satellite was placed in a 60 degree inclination orbit.

SAST launched a CZ-6A from Taiyuan on Nov 11 with the Yunhai-3 atmospheric study satellite, also built by SAST.

SAST launched a CZ-4C from Jiuquan on Nov 15 with the Yaogan 34-03 satellite.

Hot Bird 13G
-------------

Eutelsat's Hot Bird 13G, the twin of 13F launched in October, flew on a Falcon 9 on Nov 3.

Galaxy 31/32
------------

Intelsat's C-band Galaxy 31 and 32 communications satellites, based on the Maxar 1300 bus, were
launched to geotransfer orbit on a Falcon9 on Nov 12.

Kosmos-2563
-----------

Russia launched the sixth EKS/Kupol infrared missile early warning satellite to Molniya orbit on Nov 2.
It was given the cover name Kosmos-2563.

MATS
----

Electron mission 32 launched Sweden's MATS atmospheric research satellite to a 0550 LTDN sunsynch orbit on Nov 4.


JPSS-2/LOFTID
-------------

On Nov 10 United Launch Alliance launched Atlas flight AV-098 from Space Launch Complex 3-East at Vandenberg Space
Force Base. Main payload was the JPSS-2 weather satellite, which will be renamed NOAA-21 once in operation.
A single Centaur burn shutting down at 1006 UTC 
placed JPSS-2 in a 801 x 819 km sun-synch orbit. AV-098 then restarted with burns at 1034 and 1053 UTC
to lower the orbit to 532 x 879 km and then -11 x 657 km. 
NASA-Langley's LOFTID experiment then inflated its 6 metre diameter heat
shield  and separated from the Centaur with atmosphere entry at 1136 UTC. The Centaur was destroyed on
reentry while the LOFTID experiment splashed down in the Pacific at 1202 UTC near 149.0W 19.5N.

Gushenxing-1
-------------

The 4th Gushenxing-1 (Ceres-1) was launched from Jiuquan on Nov 16, placing five commercial Jilin-1
imaging satellites in orbit.

Skif-D
------

The Skif-D satellite and associated Fregat stage, reported by Russian to have been sent to an 8000 km polar orbit
on Oct 22, have still not been cataloged by Space Force.

North Korean ICBM
-----------------

North Korea test-launched an ICBM on Nov 18. It flew a highly lofted trajectory with an apogee of 6000 km.
Since the energy of this trajectory is comparable to an orbital satellite, I have assigned it
a designation in my 'U' series which lists flights that are either marginally orbital or of comparable
energy. See https://planet4589.org/space/gcat/web/intro/u.html for details.

The missile's reentry vehicle landed in the Sea of Japan between Primorskiy Krai, Russia and Hokkaido, Japan.


Chinese Spaceplane
------------------

An object, cataloged as 54218/2022-93J, seems to have separated from the Chinese spaceplane 53357/2022-93A
on Oct 31. The spaceplane appears to be stationkeeping with the object (subsatellite?), remaining
within 10 km of it as of Nov 5.

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

Date UT       Name			     Launch Vehicle	 Site		 Mission  INTL.  Catalog  Perigee Apogee  Incl	 Notes
Oct 15 0522   Hot Bird 13F                             Falcon 9             Canaveral LC40   Comms    134A 376 x 55950 x 27.1
Oct 15 1955   Kosmos-2560                              Angara-1.2           Plesetsk LC35/1  Imaging? 135A 329 x 344 x 96.5
Oct 20 1450   Starlink Group 4-36                      Falcon 9             Canaveral LC40   Comms    136A 232 x 333 x 53.2
Oct 21 1920   Kosmos-2561                              Soyuz-2-1V/Volga     Plesetsk LC43/4  Tech?    137A 407 x 419 x 97.1
              Kosmos-2562                                                                    Tech?    137B 407 x 419 x 97.1
Oct 22 1837   OneWeb L14                               LVM3                Satish Dhawah SLP Comms    138  588 x 606 x 87.4
Oct 22 1957   Gonets-M No. 33                          Soyuz-2-1B/Fregat    Vostochniy       Comms    139A 1480 x 1501 x  82.5
              Gonets-M No. 34                                                                Comms    139B 1480 x 1501 x  82.5
              Gonets-M No. 35                                                                Comms    139C 1480 x 1501 x  82.5
              Skif-D                                                                         Comms    139D 8000 x 8000 x90?
Oct 26 0020   Progress MS-21                           Soyuz-2-1A           Baykonur LC31    Cargo    140A 257 x 282 x 51.6
Oct 27?       FossaSat 2E-9?                                          Vigoride-3, LEO        Imaging  57BB 511 x 531 x 97.5
Oct 28 0114   Starlink Group 4-31                      Falcon 9             Vandenberg SLC4E Comms    141  230 x 336 x 53.2
Oct 29 0101   Shiyan 20C                               Chang Zheng 2D       Jiuquan          Unknown  142A 750 x 796 x 60.0
Oct 31 0737   Mengtian                                 Chang Zheng 5B       Wenchang LC101   Module   143A 178 x 329 x 41.5
Oct 31 1200?  CSSHQ subsatellite?                                    CSSHQ 2, LEO            Tech     93J  597 x 608 x 50.0
Nov  1 1341   LDPE 2                                   Falcon Heavy         Kennedy LC39A    Tech     144A 36000 x 36000 x 2?
              USA 339                                                                        Unknown  144B 36000 x 36000 x 2?
Nov  2 0647   Kosmos-2563                              Soyuz-2-1B/Fregat    Plesetsk        EarlyWarn 145A  1622 x 38538 x 63.8
Nov  3 0522   Hot Bird 13G                             Falcon 9             Canaveral LC40   Comms    146A  410 x 57503 x 27.7
Nov  4 1727   MATS                                     Electron             Mahia 1B        Sci       147A  581 x 597 x 97.7
Nov  5 1150   Zhongxing-19                             Chang Zheng 3B       Xichang LC2     Comms     148A  220 x 35787 x 28.4
Nov  7 1032   S.S. Sally Ride                          Antares 230+         Wallops LA0A    Cargo     149A  227 x 332 x 51.7
Nov 10 0949   JPSS-2 (NOAA-21)                         Atlas V 401          Vandenberg SLC3E Weather  150A  801 x 819 x 98.7
              LOFTID                                                                         Tech     150    17 x 658 x 97.6
Nov 11 2252   Yunhai-3                                 Chang Zheng 6A       Taiyuan          Weather? 151A  840 x 856 x 98.8
Nov 12 0203   Tianzhou-5                               Chang Zheng 7        Wenchang LC201   Cargo    152A  200 x 421 x 41.8
Nov 12 1606   Galaxy 31                                Falcon 9             Canaveral LC40   Comms    153A  283 x 58433 x 24.2
              Galaxy 32                                                                      Comms    153B  306 x 58459 x 22.3
Nov 13 2202   Zhixing-3A                                                 Tianzhou-4, LEO     Tech?    50E   375 x 396 x 41.48
Nov 15 0138   Yaogan 34-03                             Chang Zheng 4C       Jiuquan         Imaging?  154A  1092 x 1097 x 63.4
Nov 16 0620   Jilin-1 GF03D-08                         Gushenxing-1         Jiuquan          Imaging  155A
              Jilin-1 GF03D-51                                                               Imaging  155
              Jilin-1 GF03D-52                                                               Imaging  155
              Jilin-1 GF03D-53                                                               Imaging  155
              Jilin-1 GF03D-54                                                               Imaging  155
Nov 16 0647   Artemis I                                SLS Block 1          Kennedy LC39B   Spaceship 156A 517 x 376794 x 30.5
Nov 16 1027?  Lunar IceCube                                         OSA/ICPS-1, deep orbit    Science 156  532 x 377388 x 30.3
              OMOTENASHI                                                                      Science 156  532 x 377388 x 30.3
              EQUULEUS                                                                        Science 156  532 x 377388 x 30.3
              BioSentinel 1                                                                   Science 156  532 x 377388 x 30.3
              ArgoMoon                                                                        Science 156  532 x 377388 x 30.3
Nov 16 1157?  NEA Scout                                             OSA/ICPS-1, deep orbit    Science 156  532 x 377388 x 30.3
Nov 16 1220?  Luna HMap                                             OSA/ICPS-1, deep orbit    Science 156  532 x 377388 x 30.3
Nov 16 1250?  LunIR                                                 OSA/ICPS-1, deep orbit    Science 156  532 x 377388 x 30.3
Nov 16 1350?  Miles                                                 OSA/ICPS-1, deep orbit    Science 156  532 x 377388 x 30.3
Nov 16 1450?  CuSP                                                  OSA/ICPS-1, deep orbit    Science 156  532 x 377388 x 30.3
Nov 18 0114   Hwasong-17 RV                            Hwasong-17?          Sunan           ICBM test U03  -6260 x 6000 x 41?

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

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

Oct 18 0400?  RV                Tayfun             Rize-Artvin           Test          100?      Black Sea
Oct 19?       Test              Kingfisher         South Uist?           Test          185       Atlantic
Oct 19?       Test              Kingfisher         South Uist?           Test          185       Atlantic
Oct 21 0415   Agni RV           Agni P             Kalam I.              Test          500?      Bay of Bengal
Oct 21 0725   MAPHEUS 12        IM/IM              Kiruna                Micrograv     260       ESRANGE
Oct 23 1720   PSM-MQ            VSB-30             Alcantara             Micrograv     227       Atlantic
Oct 26        RV                Sineva            K-114, Barents Sea     Test         1000?      Kura
Oct 26        RV                Yars               Plesetsk              Test         1000?      Kura
Oct 26 1830   Hypersonic Test   Terrier Imp.Mal?   Wallops I             Reentry test  200?      Atlantic
Oct 27        Hypersonic Test   Terrier Imp.Mal?   Wallops I             Reentry test  200?      Atlantic
Nov  2        AAD AD-1          AAD AD-1           Kalam I.              Test          150?      Bay of Bengal
Nov  2 2340   RV                Hwasong-12?        Sunan                 Test         1920       Sea of Japan
Nov  3        RV x 4?           Bulava            G. Suvorov, White Sea  Test         1000?      Kura
Nov  3 1235   RV                Hwasong-6?         Koksan                Test          150       Sea of Japan
Nov  3 1239   RV                Hwasong-6?         Koksan                Test          150       Sea of Japan
Nov  3 1242   RV                Hwasong-6?         Koksan                Test          150       Sea of Japan
Nov  5        Dummy payload     Qaem-100           Shahroud              Test          200?      Arabian Sea?
Nov 18 0600   Prarambh          Vikram-S           Satish Dhawan         Test           89       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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