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Jonathan's Space Report
No. 838 draft                                                    2024 Sep 25    Somerville, MA
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

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

Expedition 72 began on Sep 23, with Suni Williams (ISS commander), Barry Wilmore,  Matthew
Dominick, Michael Barratt, Jeanette Epps, Aleksandr Grebyonkin, Aleksey Ovchinin, Ivan Vagner, and Don Pettit.

Dragon Freedom (capsule C212) was launched on the Crew-9 mission on Sep 28 at 1717 UTC, carrying
Nick Hague and Aleksandr Gorbunov. It docked with IDA-2 on ISS at 2130 UTC Sep 29.

Progress M-28, docked with ISS, made a 1.7 m/s orbit raising burn on Oct 4.

On Oct 8 two cubesats, CySat-1 and DORA, were deployed from the Kibo module using Voyager Space's
NRCSD-28 dispenser.

IGS Radar-8
-----------

Mitsubishi Heavy Industries launched H-IIA flight F49 on Sep 26
with the Japanese Cabinet Office's IGS Radar-8 spy satellite.

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

SAST launched a CZ-2D on Sep 27 with the Shijian 19 recoverable microgravity satellite.
SJ-19 carries a set of plant seeds for free fall germination experiments. It consisted
of a recoverable capsule and a service module of apparently new design.
The last similar mission was SJ-10 in 2016. SJ-19's recovery capsule was deorbited
and landed in the Dongfeng recovery zone near Jiuquan at 0239 UTC Oct 11.

SAST launched a CZ-6A on Oct 15 with a cluster of 18 Qianfan internet satellites.

SAST launched a CZ-4C on Oct 15 with the Gao Fen 12-05 radar satellite.

SAST launched a CZ-6 on Oct 22 with three Tianping-3 radar calibration satellites.

Vulcan Cert-2
--------------

On Oct 4 ULA launched the second Vulcan VC2S from Canaveral. Although
part of an SRB nozzle appears to have failed on ascent, ULA reported
that the spacecraft made orbit and that the Centaur made three burns to
enter a hyperbolic escape orbit. The circa-1500-kg dummy payload remained attached
to the Centaur.

ULA initially released no quantitative information on its orbital parameters.
Space Force tracked the parking orbit as 492 x 498 km x 30.0 deg.
The Catalina and ATLAS asteroid surveys discovered it as object C43KHJ1,
in a 735 x -237885 km x 26.7 deg escape orbit with C3 = 3.55 km**2/s**2.
It will enter a 0.94 x 1.03 AU x 0.2 deg solar orbit on around Oct 12.

The Centaur will make a very close return approach to Earth on 2029 Feb
27; estimated 2953 km perigee based on preliminary observations.

Hera
----

ESA's Hera mission was launched on Oct 7 on a Falcon  from Canaveral to a 0.99 x 2.27 AU x 2.3 deg
solar orbit. Hera will encounter and orbit the asteroid Didymos and study the state of its moon
Dimorphos, which NASA's DART probe smashed into in 2022.

Hera carries two 6UXL cubesats, Milani and Juventas, which will separate from it
after Didymos arrive, and orbit and land on Dimorphos.

HGW 03
------

Hulianwang Gaogui Weixing 03 (High Orbit Satellite Internet 3) was launched on 2024 Oct 10 by CZ-3B
to geotransfer orbit. On Oct 21 it was tracked in GEO. The three HG satellites are at 34E, 153E and 77W.

Starship
---------

The fifth Starship test flight was launched on 2024 Oct 13 from
Starbase.  It completed a successful flight. Following Booster
separation at 69 km altitude, the booster made a boostback burn and then
a landing burn to hover next to the launch tower, which successfuly
captured the booster with its mechanical arms.

The Ship reached a suborbital trajectory of about -15 x 212 km x 26.2
deg, and reentered over the Indian Ocean. This time Ship survived entry
well and made a controlled landing burn over the ocean, with water
touchdown 1h5m after launch. A large fireball erupted from the Ship about 16s after hitting
the water.

Europa Clipper
--------------

JPL's Europa Clipper is a mission to make multiple
flybys of Jupiter I (Europa) from Jovian orbit.
The 5700 kg Europa Clipper was launched on 2024 Oct 14 by Falcon Heavy from KSC to a C3=40.68 hyperbola,
sending it to a 1.0 x 2.7 AU x 2 deg solar orbit on target for a Mars gravity assist.

Starlink
---------

Starlink Group 10-10 (23 sats) was launched from Canaveral on Oct 15.
Starlink Group 9-7 (20 sats) was launched from Vandenberg on Oct 15.
Starlink Group 8-19 (20 sats) was launched from Canaveral on Oct 18.

Erratum
--------

The Vega launch was Sep 5, not Sep 4.


Table of Recent Orbital (and near-Orbital) Launches
---------------------------------------------------

Date UT       Name			          Launch Vehicle	 Site		 Mission  INTL.  Catalog  Perigee Apogee  Incl	 Notes
Sep  3 0115   Yaogan 43-02 01 to 06               Chang Zheng 4B          Xichang          Comms?   156   489 x 501 x 35.0
Sep  5 0150   Sentinel 2C                         Vega                    CSG ELV          Imaging  157A  776 x 780 x 98.6
Sep  5 1533   Starlink Group 8-11                 Falcon 9                 Canaveral LC40  Comms    158   288 x 302 x 53.2
Sep  5 1830   Geely Group 03  01 to 10            Chang Zheng 6            Taiyuan         Comms    159   553 x 564 x 50.0
Sep  6 0320   Starshield Group 1-3                Falcon 9                Vandenberg SLC4E Comms    160   300?x300? x 70
Sep 10 0923   Polaris Dawn                        Falcon 9                Kennedy LC39A   Spaceship 161A  196 x1400 x51.6
Sep 11 1623   Soyuz MS-26                         Soyuz-2-1a              Baykonur LC31   Spaceship 162A  
Sep 12 0852   BlueBird 1                          Falcon 9                Canaveral LC40  Comms     163C  505 x  522 x 53.0
              BlueBird 2                                                                  Comms     163D
              BlueBird 3                                                                  Comms     163A
              BlueBird 4                                                                  Comms     163E
              BlueBird 5                                                                  Comms     163B
Sep 13 0145   Starlink Group 9-6                  Falcon 9                Vandenberg SLC4E Comms    164   288 x 298 x 53.2
Sep 14 0558?  Chamran-1                           Qaem-100                Shahroud        Tech      165B  546 x 557 x 64.1
Sep 17 0701   Kosmos-2577                         Angara-1.2              Plesetsk        Imaging?  166A  328 x 344 x 96.8
              Kosmos-2578                                                                 Imaging?  166B  328 x 344 x 96.8
Sep 17 2250   Galileo FOC FM26                    Falcon 9                Canaveral LC40  Nav       167A 22941 x 23009 x 55.4
              Galileo FOC FM32                                                            Nav       167B 22948 x 23005 x 55.4
Sep 19 0114   Beidou DW 59                        Chang Zheng 3B          Xichang         Nav       168A 21182 x 22334 x 55.0
              Beidou DW 60                                                                          168B 21538 x 22199 x 55.0
Sep 20 0411   Jilin-1 Kuanfu 02B-01               Chang Zheng 2D          Taiyuan         Imaging   169A 531 x 547 x 97.6
              Jilin-1 Kuanfu 02B-02                                                       Imaging   169B
              Jilin-1 Kuanfu 02B-03                                                       Imaging   169C
              Jilin-1 Kuanfu 02B-04                                                       Imaging   169D
              Jilin-1 Kuanfu 02B-05                                                       Imaging   169E
              Jilin-1 Kuanfu 02B-06                                                       Imaging   169F
Sep 20 0943   Tianqi 29                           Kuaizhou 1A             Xichang         Comms     170A
              Tianqi 30                                                                   Comms     170B
              Tianqi 31                                                                   Comms     170C  841 x 854 x 44.9
              Tianqi 32                                                                   Comms     170D
Sep 20 1350   Starlink Group 9-17                 Falcon 9                Vandenberg SLC4E Comms    171   286 x 295 x 53.2
Sep 20 2301   Kineis 2A                           Electron                Mahia LC1A      Comms     172A  638 x 640 x 98.0
              Kineis 2B                                                                   Comms     
              Kineis 2C                                                                   Comms     
              Kineis 2D                                                                   Comms     
              Kineis 2E                                                                   Comms     
Sep 24 0231   Jitianxing A-01                     Jielong-3             DFHT, Yellow Sea  Imaging   173   484 x 501 x 97.4
              Fudan-1                                                                     Imaging   173
              Luojia-4 01                                                                 Imaging   173
              Shenqi                                                                      Radar     173
              Xingshidai-15                                                               Imaging   173
              Xingshidai-21                                                               Tech      173
              Xingshidai-22                                                               Tech      173
              Tianyan-15                                                                  Tech      173
Sep 24 2333   AIRSAT-01                            Lijian-1                Jiuquan        Radar     174  507 x 528 x 97.5
              AIRSAT-02                                                                   Radar     174
              Jilin-1 SAR-01A                                                             Radar     174
              Yunyao-1 21                                                                 Meteo     174
              Yunyao-1 22                                                                 Meteo     174
Sep 25 0401   Starlink Group 9-8                   Falcon 9              Vandenberg SLC4E Comms     175   289 x 299 x 53.2
Sep 26 0524   IGS Radar 8                          H-IIA                 Tanegashima      Radar     176A  480 x 480 x 97?
Sep 27 1030   Shijian 19                           Chang Zheng 2D        Jiuquan          LifeSci   177A  320 x 347 x 41.4
Sep 28 1717   Dragon Crew-9                        Falcon 9              Canaveral SLC40  Spaceship 178A  189 x 206 x 51.6              
Oct  4 1125   Cert-2                               Vulcan VC2S           Canaveral SLC41  Test      179A  735 x -237885 x 26.7
Oct  7 1452   Hera                                 Falcon 9              Canaveral SLC40  Probe     180A  190 x -36368 x 34.2
Oct  8 1025   CySat-1                                                   ISS, LEO          Tech    98067WZ 408 x 421 x 51.6
Oct  8 1035   DORA                                                      ISS, LEO          Tech    98067XA 410 x 420 x 51.6
Oct 10 1350   HGW 03                               Chang Zheng 3B        Xichang          Comms     181A 198 x 35774 x 28.4
Oct 13 1225   Starship 30                          Starship              Starbase OLP1    Test      U04  -15 x 213 x 26.2
Oct 14 1606   Europa Clipper                       Falcon Heavy          Kennedy LC39A    Probe     182A 180 x -32078 x 32.9
Oct 15 0610   Starlink Group 10-10                 Falcon 9              Canaveral LC40   Comms     183  280 x 291 x 53.2
Oct 15 0821   Starlink Group 9-7                   Falcon 9              Vandenberg SLC4E Comms     184  277 x 287 x 53.2
Oct 15 1106   Qianfan Jigui 02 (01 to 18)          Chang Zheng 6A        Taiyuan          Comms     185
Oct 15 2345   Gao Fen 12-05                        Chang Zheng 4C        Jiuquan          Radar     186A 594 x 600 x 97.9
Oct 18 2331   Starlink Group 8-19                  Falcon 9              Canaveral LC40   Comms     187  280 x 291 x 53.2
Oct 20 0513   OneWeb L20                           Falcon 9              Canaveral LC40   Comms     188  591 x 595 x 86.5
Oct 22 0010   Tianping-3A(01)                      Chang Zheng 6         Taiyuan          Calib     189A
              Tianping-3B(01)                                                             Calib     189B
              Tianping-3B(02)                                                             Calib     189C

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

Date UT       Payload           Rocket              Site                 Mission       Apogee    Target

Sep  2 0941   BOLT-1B           Black Brant VC      Andoya               Hypersonic     254      Norwegian Sea
Sep  3 1921   FURST             Black Brant IX      White Sands          Solar UV       300?     White Sands
Sep  6        Agni RV           Agni 4              Chandipur            Op. Test       600      Indian Ocean
Sep 15 0330   Warhead           Toufan              Yemen                Weapon         300?     Israel
Sep 25 0044   RV                DF-31?              Wenchang?            Test          1000?     Pacific Ocean
Sep 28 1800   JAKE              Terrier Oriole??    Wallops I            Target?        100?     Atlantic Ocean
Oct  1 1309   SL-15             SpaceLoft XL        Spaceport America    Micrograv      100?     White Sands?
Oct  1 1630?  Warhead           Shahab-3?  (x180)   S Shiraz             Weapon         200?     Israel
                                Emad?
                                Ghadr-110?
                                Kheibar Shekan?
                                Fattah-1?


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|  Jonathan McDowell                 |                                    |
|  Somerville MA 02143               |  inter : planet4589 at gmail       |
|  USA                               |  twitter: @planet4589              |
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