[JSR] Jonathan's Space Report, No. 665

Jonathan McDowell jcm at planet4589.org
Tue Aug 21 19:45:53 EDT 2012


Jonathan's Space Report
No. 665                                          2012 Aug 21  Somerville, MA USA
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International Space Station
----------------------------

On the ISS, Expedition 32 continues with astronauts Gennadiy Padalka, Sergey
Revin, Joseph Acaba, Yuriy Malenchenko, Sunita Willams and Akihiko Hoshide.

Japan's HTV-3 External Pallet (EP) was attached to Kibo's Exposed Facility
(EF) on Aug 6. On Aug 7 the Canadian SSRMS/Dextre robotics system was used to
move NASA's SCaN Testbed payload from the EP to the ELC-3 pallet on the
truss. On Aug 9 the Japanese JEM-RMS robot arm was used to move the MCE package from
the EP to slot 8 in the EF. Finally, on Aug 10, the JEM and SSRMS arms were used
to move the empty EP back into the HTV cargo ship; it will be destroyed on reentry
after HTV undocks.

The old Progress M-15M cargo vehicle, after three weeks of independent
flight involving Radar-Progress experiments using thruster burns to
study the ionosphere, was deorbited over the Pacific on Aug 20.

On Aug 20 astronauts Padalka and Malencheko carried out spacewalk VKD-31
from the Pirs module using spacesuits Orlan-MK No. 5 and 6. At 1829 UTC
they ejected the Sfera-53 passive air density calibration satellite into
a 401 x 406 km x 51.6  deg orbit using a special handling device
delivered aboard Progress M-15M. According to Andrey Krasil'nikov,
Sfera-53 was launched on Progress M-16M, and has a mass of 8.0 kg and a
diameter of 0.53m. 

The Pirs airlock was depressurized at about 1518 UTC and its hatch was
opened at 1537 UTC. The astronauts transferred the GsTM-2 crane from
Pirs to Zarya. It and then GsTM-1 crane moved in February will therefore
remain available after the old Pirs module, launched in 2001, is
eventually discarded. Next, the crew installed five more space debris
shields on Zvezda. The DPP debris shields were delivered in two bundles,
packets 5 and 6, on Progress M-14M in January. The astronauts also
retrieved a Biorisk experiment canister but were unable to pack up an
SKK exposure cassette. The hatch was closed at 2128 UTC and the Pirs
airlock was repressurized at 2133 UTC, for a duration of 5h 51m (hatch
opened) or 6h15m (depressurized).

The 28 Zvezda space debris shields were delivered in six bundles, as follows:

  Bundle  Panels Launch              Stored outside ISS: EVA   Installed    EVA
  1       1-6    2002 Jun  5 STS-111 2002 Jun  9, PMA-1 111/1  2002 Aug 16  VKD-7
  2       7-12   2006 Dec 10 STS-116 2006 Dec 16, PMA-3 116/3  
                                     2007 May 30, Zvez. VKD-18 2007 Jun  6  VKD-19
  3       13-18  2006 Dec 10 STS-116 2006 Dec 16, PMA-3 116/3  
                                     2007 May 30, Zvez. VKD-18 2007 Jun  6  VKD-19
  4       19-23  2006 Dec 10 STS-116 2006 Dec 16, PMA-3 116/3  2007 May 30  VKD-18
  5       24-26  2012 Jan 25 M-14M   -                         2012 Aug 20  VKD-31
  6       27-28  2012 Jan 25 M-14M   -                         2012 Aug 20  VKD-31

 For example, Bundles 2 and 3 were stored outside ISS on the PMA-3 adapter from 2006
 Dec 16 to 2007 May 30, then moved to another storage position on Zvezda, then finally
 installed on 2007 Jun 6 - thus featuring in three separate spacewalks.


Mars and Vesta
--------------

Updated timeline data for MSL's entry: Entry Aug 6 0510:46 UTC (as
expected); Parachute deploy 0515:05; heatshield sep 0515:25; landing
0517:57. Backshell sep was reported as 95 sec after heatshield sep.

Departure of the Dawn probe from Vesta is underway, after a brief
delay thanks to a problematic reaction wheel. Dawn is expected
to escape (4) Vesta and enter solar orbit on Sep 5, en route to (1) Ceres.


IS-21
-----

Energia Logistics Ltd. (US) carried out the launch of a Zenit-3SL rocket from
the Sea Launch Odyssey platform in the Pacific. The Blok DM-SL No. 34 stage
made a single burn to a 255 x 35583 km x 0.1 deg geostationary transfer orbit,
delivering a Boeing 702MP communications satellite. The Intelsat IS-21 satellite
will replace IS-9 and provide western hemisphere coverage.


Suborbital launches
--------------------

India's DRDO made two test launches of Agni missiles from Chandipur into the
Bay of Bengal in July and August. The Agni is based on the old SLV-3 satellite
launch vehicle; the first stage has now made 30 launches since 1979.

2012 Orbital launch summary to date
-----------------------------------

46 launches, including one fail-to-orbit (N Korea) and one fail-in-orbit (Russia):

Russia China USA  Europe Japan India Iran N Korea
  16    11   9     5      2     1     1    1


Table of Recent (orbital) Launches 
 ----------------------------------
Date UT       Name            Launch Vehicle  Site            Mission    INTL.  
                                                                          DES.
Jul  5 2136   Echostar 17  )     Ariane 5ECA       Kourou ELA3       Comms     35A
              Meteosat 10  )                                         Weather   35B
Jul  9 1838   SES-5              Proton-M/Briz-M   Baykonur LC81/24  Comms     36A
Jul 15 0240   Soyuz TMA-05M      Soyuz-FG          Baykonur LC1/5    Spaceship 37A
Jul 21 0206   Kounotori 3        H-IIB             Tanegashima LP2   Cargo     38A
Jul 22 0641   Kanopus-V )                                            Imaging   39
              BelKA-2   )        Soyuz-FG/Fregat   Baykonur LC31/6   Imaging   39
              TET-1     )                                            Tech      39D
              exactView-1)                                           Comms/AIS 39C
              MKA-PN1    )                                           Science   39E
Jul 25 1543   Tianlian-1 (03)    Chang Zheng 3C    Xichang           Comms     40A
Jul 28 0135   Gonets-M No. 13)   Rokot             Plesetsk LC133    Comms     41B
              Gonets-M No. 15)                                       Comms     41D
              Kosmos-2481 )                                          Comms     41A
              MiR         )                                          Sci       41C
Aug  1 1935   Progress M-16M     Soyuz-U           Baykonur LC1      Cargo     42A
Aug  2 2054   Intelsat IS-20 )   Ariane 5ECA       Kourou ELA3       Comms     43A
              Hylas 2        )                                       Comms     43B
Aug  6 1931   Telkom-3    )      Proton-M/Briz-M   Baykonur LC81/24  Comms     44A
              Ekspress MD2)                                          Comms     44B
Aug 19 0655   Intelsat IS-21     Zenit-3SL         SL Odyssey, Pacific Comms   45A
Aug 20 1829   Sfera-53           -                 ISS, LEO          Sci       98-067CM
           
Table of Recent (suborbital) Launches
----------------------------------

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


Jul  3        Shahab RV        Shahab 1           ?, Iran             Exercise     100?
Jul  3        Shahab RV        Shahab 2           ?, Iran             Exercise     100?
Jul  3        Shahab RV        Shahab 3           ?, Iran             Exercise     150?
Jul  5 1850   NASA 36.284NS    Black Brant 9      White Sands         Solar        275?
Jul 11 1850   NASA 36.272NS    Black Brant 9      White Sands         Solar        268
Jul 13 0436   Agni RV          Agni I             Chandipur           Test         200?
Jul 23 1101   NASA 39.011NR    Black Brant 11     Wallops             Reentry test 458
Jul 24 1917   NASA 36.263US    Black Brant 9      White Sands         Solar        324
Aug  7 0730   S-310-41         S-310              Uchinoura           Reentry test 150
Aug  9 0316   Agni RV          Agni II            Chandipur           Test         220?

.-------------------------------------------------------------------------.
|  Jonathan McDowell                 |  phone : (617) 495-7176            |
|  Somerville MA 02143               |  inter : planet4589 at gmail       |
|  USA                               |          jcm at cfa.harvard.edu       |
|                                                                         |
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