Jonathan's Space Report No. 780 2020 Jul 9 Somerville, MA --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- International Space Station --------------------------- Expedition 63 continues. The DARPA REDEYE-2 satellite was deployed at 1750:00 Jun 17. Deployment was by the Dextre SPDM, not the JRMS. The SPDM extracted the Nanoracks Kaber deployer from the Kibo airlock slide table, and the satellite was ejected from the Kaber. REDEYE-3 was deployed around 2110 UTC on Jun 23, using the same system. REDEYE-1, 2 and 3 have the alternate nicknames PINOT, MERLOT and CABERNET. (You should not confuse these with the 1961-1962 USAF/SAFSP sigint payloads GRAPE JUICE 1, 2 and 3.) On Jun 26 Chris Cassidy and Bob Behnken made spacewalk US EVA-65 to replace batteries supporting the 1B solar array channel, in the Integrated Equipment Assembly (IEA) on the S6 truss segment. Cassidy used suit EMU 3006 and SAFER 15; Behnken used EMU 3004 and SAFER 18. The airlock was depressurized at 1128 UTC with hatch open at 1131 UTC. At 1138 UTC, just after Cassidy emerged from the airlock, his left wrist mirror (0.04 kg, 0.1 x 0.1 x 0.02m) floated off and was lost. It's pretty small, so it may not get a catalog number. The Canadarm-2 removed the EP9 external pallet (delivered by HTV-9) from the MBS POA and positioned it near S6. The astronauts then moved batteries and adapter plates between S6 and EP9: at 1246 UTC, NiH battery 0075 was removed from S6/1B slot 1, and installed in EP9 slot X at 1300 UTC. at 1314 UTC, Li-ion battery 0025 was removed from EP9 slot A and installed in S6/1B slot 1 at 1329 UTC. at 1343 UTC, NiH battery 0076 was removed from S6/1B slot 2 and installed in EP9 slot A at 1415 UTC. at 1406 UTC, Adapter plate (unknown serial) was removed from EP9 slot A, and put in S6/1B slot 2 at 1417 UTC. at 1435 UTC, NiH battery 0091 was removed from S6/1B slot 3 and installed on the AP in slot 2 at 1442 UTC at 1500 UTC, Li-ion battery 0024 was removed from EP9 slot B and installed in S6/1B slot 3 at 1517 UTC. at 1535 UTC, NiH battery 0092 was removed from S6/1B slot 4 and installed in EP9 slot B at 1558 UTC. at 1553 UTC, Adapter plate (unknown serial) was removed from EP9 slot B and installed in S6/1B slot 4 at 1605 UTC. at 1645 UTC, NiH battery 0090 was removed from S1/1B slot 6 and installed on the AP on slot 4 at 1648 UTC. The hatch was closed at 1736 UTC and the airlock repressurization began at 1739 UTC after 6h 11 min. On Jul 1 Cassidy and Behnken made spacewalk US EVA-66, completing the 1B battery work. Airlock depress 1108 UTC, hatch open 1112 UTC. At 1156 UTC, Li-ion battery 0026 was removed from EP9 slot D and installed in S6/1B slot 6 at 1207 UTC. At 1224 UTC, NiH battery 0089 was removed from S6/1B slot 5 and installed in EP9 slot D at 1245 UTC. At 1240 UTC, Adapter plate (unknown serial) was removed from EP9 slot D and installed in S6/1B slot 5 at 1248 UTC. The astronauts then prepared the 3B worksite for the next spacewalk, routed some cables, and attempted but failed to remove an old fixture from one of the solar array masts. They closed the airlock hatch at 1711 UTC and repressurized the airlock at 1714 UTC after 6hr 6min. On Jul 3 at 1553 UTC Progress MS-14 fired its engines to raise the ISS orbit 1 km for debris collision avoidance (COLA). This was the first COLA burn for ISS since 2015. The debris object 27923 (1987-079AG) was predicted to pass within 1 km of the station at 1828 UTC Jul 3 over the South Atlantic near the Falkland Islands. The object was one of 42 cataloged from the 1996 breakup of a SOZ motor from a Sep 1987 Proton launch that put three Glonass satellites in orbit. On Jul 8 at 1822 UTC the older Progress MS-13 cargo ship undocked from the Pirs module to complete its mission. It fired its engines at 2131 UTC to deorbit over the South Pacific, with reentry at 2205 UTC. GaoFen 9-03 ----------- The GaoFen 9 03 satellite was launched on Jun 17. It is a high resolution imaging satellite. Two small satellites were also aboard: Zheda Pixing 3A from Zhejiang U., and HEAD-5 from HEAD Aerospace. Beidou DW55 ---------- The final Beidou-3 satellite was launched on Jun 23, completing China's flagship navigation satellite system. Beidou DW55 is the third of the geostationary Beidou-3 satellites. Beidou DW55 probably made its apogee burn on Jun 24; it was tracked on Jul 6 in a 35764 x 35809 km x 3.1 deg GEO over 110.5 deg East. GPS III SV03 ------------ The third of the third generation GPS satellites was launched on Jun 30. A SpaceX Falcon 9 took off from Cape Canaveral at 2010 UTC with the first stage landing on the droneship Just Read The Instructions at 2019 UTC. The second stage reached a 168 x 434 km parking orbit at 2018 UTC. A second burn of the second stage boosted the payload to a 402 x 20197 km x 55 deg deployment orbit at 2115 UTC; the 4311 kg GPS satellite separated from the stage at 2140 UTC and the stage fired for a third time a few minutes later to lower its perigee into the atmosphere; it reentered south of S Africa at about 0230 UTC Jul 1. As of Jul 9 no TLEs had been released for the payload since Jul 1, so it cannot yet be confirmed whether the apogee burn was successful. GaoFen DuoMo ------------- On Jul 3 China's SAST launched a CZ-4B from Taiyuan with CAST's GaoFen DuoMo Weixing (High Resolution MultiMode Satellite), carrying a 1 metre aperture imager, into a 1026 LTDN sun-synchronous orbit. The BY70-2 (Baiyu-02) amateur radio cubesat was a secondary payload. Electron Flight 13 ------------------ Rocket Lab's Electron Flight 13, nicknamed 'Pics or it Didn't Happen', was launched on Jul 4 from New Zealand but failed during second stage burn. It carried the Canon Electronics CE-SAT-1B, In-Space Missions' Faraday 1 6U cubesat, and five Planet imaging satellites, Flock 4e-1 to 5. The vehicle probably impacted 700 km S of Wellington. Shiyan 6-02 ----------- China's SAST launched a CZ-2D from Jiuquan on Jul 4 with the Shiyan weixing 6 02 xing payload. The satellite entered a 686 x 706 km x 98.2 deg sun-sync orbit with 0600 LTDN. Ofeq' 16 -------- Israel launched the Ofeq'-16 spy satellite at 0100 UTC Jul 6. The satellite was soon located by observers in a 331 x 604 km x 140.9 deg orbit. Table of Recent Orbital Launches ---------------------------------- Date UT Name Launch Vehicle Site Mission INTL. Catalog Perigee Apogee Incl Notes Jun 4 0125 Starlink 1351 ) Falcon 9 Canaveral LC40 Comms 35A S45657- 291 x 365 x 53.0 Starlink 1370 ) 35BM S45716 Starlink 1392-1423) Starlink 1433-1458) Starlink 1460 ) Jun 10 1831 Haiyang-1 D Chang Zheng 2C Taiyuan LC9 Imaging 36A S45721 770 x 786 x 98.4 Jun 13 0512 USA 301 ) Sigint? 37A S45723 590 x 590 x 97.8 USA 302 ) Sigint? 37B S45724 590 x 590 x 97.8 USA 303 ) Electron Mahia LC1 Sigint? 37C S45725 590 x 590 x 97.8 ANDESITE ) Science 37D S45726 590 x 590 x 97.8 RAAF M2PF) Tech 37E S45727 590 x 590 x 97.8 Jun 13 0921 Starlink 1391 ) Falcon 9 Canaveral LC40 Comms 38A 212 x 367 x 53.0 Starlink 1459 ) Starlink 1461-1513) Starlink 1516-1517) Starlink 1521 ) Skysat 16 ) Imaging 38BL S45788 212 x 362 x 53.0 Skysat 17 ) Imaging 38BN S45790 214 x 361 x 53.0 Skysat 18 ) Imaging 38BM S45789 212 x 361 x 53.0 Jun 17 0719 GaoFen 9-03) Chang Zheng 2D Jiuquan Imaging 39A S45794 485 x 504 x 97.3 HEAD-5 ) Comms 39 S45795? 486 x 502 x 97.3 ZDPS-3A ) Tech 39 S45796? 485 x 502 x 97.3 Jun 17 1750 REDEYE-2 ISS, LEO Tech 9867RM 417 x 420 x 51.6 Jun 23 0143 Beidou DW55 Chang Zheng 3B Xichang Nav 40A S45807 218 x35784x 28.4 Jun 23 2110? REDEYE-3 ISS, LEO Tech 9867RN S45809 417 x 420 x 51.6 Jun 30 2010 GPS III SV03 Falcon 9 Canaveral LC40 Nav 41A S45854 387 x20168x 55.0 Jul 3 0310 GaoFen Duomo ) Chang Zheng 4B Taiuyan LC9 Imaging 42A S45856 631 x 649 x 98.0 Baiyu-02 ) Comms 42B S45857 631 x 649 x 98.0 Jul 4 2119 CE-SAT-1B ) Electron Mahia LC1A Imaging F05 F01558 -5500 x 194 x 97.0 Faraday 1 ) Tech F05 F01559 -5500 x 194 x 97.0 Flock 4e-1 ) Imaging F05 F01560 -5500 x 194 x 97.0 Flock 4e-2 ) Imaging F05 F01561 -5500 x 194 x 97.0 Flock 4e-3 ) Imaging F05 F01562 -5500 x 194 x 97.0 Flock 4e-4 ) Imaging F05 F01563 -5500 x 194 x 97.0 Flock 4e-5 ) Imaging F05 F01564 -5500 x 194 x 97.0 Jul 4 2344 Shiyan 6-02 Chang Zheng 2D Jiuquan Tech 43A S45859 685 x 707 x 98.2 Jul 6 0100 Ofeq'-16 Shaviyt Palmachim Imaging 44A S45860 331 x 604 x140.9 Table of Recent Suborbital Launches ----------------------------------- A rare test of the French nuclear SLBM M51 was carried out on Jun 12. Date UT Payload/Flt Name Launch Vehicle Site Mission Apogee/km Target Jun 12 M51 RV M51 S617, Baie d'Audierne Test 1200? Atlantic Ocean .-------------------------------------------------------------------------. | Jonathan McDowell | | | Somerville MA 02143 | inter : planet4589 at gmail | | USA | twitter: @planet4589 | | | | JSR: https://www.planet4589.org/jsr.html | | Back issues: https://www.planet4589.org/space/jsr/back | | Subscribe/unsub: https://www.planet4589.org/mailman/listinfo/jsr | '-------------------------------------------------------------------------'