[JSR] Jonathan's Space Report, No. 688

Jonathan McDowell jcm at planet4589.org
Sat Nov 2 12:27:56 EDT 2013


Jonathan's Space Report
No. 688                                                       2013 Nov 2, Somerville, MA
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

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

Expedition 37 is underway with commander Fyodor Yurchikin, FE-5 Luca
Parmitano, FE-6 Karen Nyberg, FE-1 Oleg Kotov, FE-2 Sergey Ryazanskiy
and FE-3 Michael Hopkins.


Ferry ship Soyuz TMA-09M is at Zvezda, TMA-10M at Poisk. Cargo ship
Progress M-20M is at the Pirs module.

The Cygnus Demo ferry was unberthed from Harmony at 1004 UTC Oct 22
and released into a 415 x 419 km orbit by the SSRMS at 1131 UTC.
On Oct 23 at 1306 UTC the orbit was lowered to 180 x 420 km; a further
burn at 1741 UTC lowered it further to 50 x 420 km and the Cygnus
reentered and burnt up at 1816 UTC over the South Pacific.

The ATV-4 Albert Einstein cargo ship undocked from the Zvezda module at
0855 UTC Oct 28.

Soyuz TMA-09M, flown by Yurchikin, Nyberg and Parmitano, undocked from
the Rassvet module at 0833 UTC Nov 1 and flew around the station at a
distance of 200m to redock at 0854 UTC with the Zvezda aft port freed up
by ATV-4.
 
ATV-4 was deorbited over the Pacific on Nov 2, with the final deorbit
burns at 0835 and 1128 UTC lowering perigee to -70 km; entry loss of
signal was at 1204 UTC.

I finally saw 'Gravity' last night. For movie lovers traumatized by the apparent
physics errors, my nerdy analysis of the fictional STS-157 mission may be found at 
  http://planet4589.org/space/jsr/gravity.html


SJ-15
-----

Bob Christy of zarya.info reports new activity in the Chinese 2013-037
satellites. The 2013-037A payload, possibly SJ-15, made a slight orbit adjustment of 1km
on Oct 15 to 660 x 675 km and then released a new object, 2013-037J, with which it is
stationkeeping within 2 km.

I suspect the new object is a target subsatellite, possibly passive, for experiments
with proximity operations.

SJ-16
-----

China launched a new spacecraft on Oct 25, Shi Jian 16. The CZ-4B rocket's third
stage put SJ-16 into a 600 x 616 km x 75.0 deg orbit, a new profile for the series.
The mission of SJ-16 is unknown; the SJ ('practice') series satellites carry a mix of
technology development and military payloads.

Yaogan 18
---------

Yaogan 18, launched on Oct 29 into sun-synchronous orbit, appears to be the third
in a series that began with Yaogan 6 and 13. It is in a 492 x 510 km x 97.6 deg
orbit.


Falcon 9 v1.1
-------------

Various sources tell me that the defunct-before-launch CUSAT 2/Top satellite
was after all launched on the Falcon 9, and remains attached to the Falcon 9
second stage. CUSAT (formerly CUSAT 1/Bottom) was launched attached to CUSAT 2
and separated from it after orbit insertion. CUSAT mass is 23 kg.

The DANDE satellite's lightband adapter bracket was jettisoned from it on Oct 30
(and cataloged as 2013-055AC). DANDE can now begin its atmospheric density studies.

The situation with the tracking of the objects from the Falcon 9 launch
has now settled out. The mistake with the international designations
caused a second overall relabelling so that 55U and 55V are now at the
end of the list, just to add to the confusion. We now see that all the payloads
are very close to the original deployment orbit as expected, it is the debris
objects which have a large scatter in their apogees and perigees.

The old debris object 2013-055D/39268 is now labelled
2013-055K/39274; the old objects 39265, 39267, 39268, 39269, 39270 are
no longer being tracked - some have reentered, others may have been errors of
some kind. The NEW objects 39265-39270 are identified with the payloads and
are all in orbits close to 39271/2013-055G which (apart from a few early
element sets which belong to something else) is the Falcon 9 rocket.
The POPACS objects 39268-39270 still seem to be uncertain; some TLEs for E and F
may be for parts of the POPACS deployer.

Revised orbital data

 A  Cassiope   325 x 1485 x 81.0
 B  CUSAT      324 x 1482 x 81.0
 C  DANDE      325 x 1485 x 81.0
 D  POPACS 1   324 x 1480 x 81.0
 E  POPACS 2   323 x 1482 x 81.0
 F  POPACS 3   324 x 1481 x 81.0
 G  Falcon 9   319 x 1487 x 81.0
E' POPACS bit? 324 x 1474 x 81.0
F' POPACS bit? 324 x 1475 x 81.0

 Debris
Old Name  New Name        Initial            Current (Oct 11-12)
39272/H   39272/H         275 x 1420 x 81.0    254 x  766 x 81.1
39275/K   39275/L         258 x 1421 x 81.0    Reentered Oct 6
39268/D   39274/K         403 x 1433 x 81.0    432 x 1283 x 80.9
-         39275/L         -                    405 x  648 x 81.0
-         39276/M         -                    402 x 1179 x 80.9
39277/M   39277/N         444 x 1588 x 81.0    460 x 1397 x 81.0
39278/N   39278/P         407 x 1596 x 81.0    468 x 1393 x 81.0
39280/P   39280/R         369 x 1595 x 81.0    325 x 1473 x 81.0
39281/Q   39281/S         378 x 1539 x 81.0    253 x  329 x 80.8
39282/R   39282/T         350 x 1523 x 80.9    330 x  793 x 80.9
39283/S   -               391 x 1590 x 81.0    Lost?
-         39283/U         453 x 1508 x 81.0    491 x  629 x 81.2
38284/T   39284/V         390 x 1573 x 81.0    383 x  834 x 81.0
39273/U   39273/J         323 x 1409 x 81.0    Reentered Oct 8
39279/V   -               319 x 1647 x 81.0    Lost?
-         39279/Q         -                    428 x 1173 x 81.0
39265/A   -               261 x 1339 x 81.0    Lost
39266/B   -               306 x 1483 x 81.0    Lost
39267/C   -               276 x 1472 x 81.0    Lost
39269/E   -               264 x 1461 x 81.0    Lost
39270/F   -               236 x 1460 x 81.0    Lost
39271/G   -               420 x 1410 x 81.0    Lost
39274/J   -               336 x 1408 x 81.0    Lost
39276/L   -               323 x 1380 x 81.0    Lost



LADEE
-----

The LOI-2 burn at 1038 UTC Oct 9 lowered the orbit to 227 x 2200 km. A
further burn on Oct 13 at 0333 UTC circularized the orbit at 235 x
250 km and LADEE is now in its commissioning phase, and breaking
records with its laser communication system.


Juno
-----

The Juno mission completed has its first orbit of the Sun, heading out
to the inner asteroid belt at 2.2AU and back for a 552 km flyby of Earth
at 1922 UTC Oct 9, which sends it out again into a 0.98 x 5.44 AU x 4.5
deg solar orbit on its way to Jupiter orbit insertion.


Sirius FM6
----------

A Proton rocket put the Sirius FM6 spacecraft in orbit on Oct 25. Proton
reached a -516 x 174 km trajectory at 1818 UTC (some 20 km lower than
expected) and released the Briz stage. Briz fired from 1820 to 1825 UTC
to reach 173 x 173 km; from 1916 to 1934 UTC to rach 270 x 4999 km; from
2137 to 2148 UTC to reach 327 x 15140 km, at which point it jettisoned
the DTB propellant tank; from 2150 to 2156 UTC to reach 430 x 35809 km;
and on Oct 26 from 0300 to 0307 UTC to reach 4074 x 35818 km x 23.2 deg
where the Sirius satellite was released.

Sirius FM6 is a Loral 1300 satellite with a launch mass of 6003 kg. It
will provide satellite digital radio services for Sirius XM. 

   Satellite   Launch        Current orbit

   Sirius FM1  2000 Jun 30   24590 x 46978 x 60.2
   Sirius FM2  2000 Sep  5   24470 x 47096 x 64.1
   Sirius FM3  2000 Nov 30   24446 x 47121 x 64.5
   XM-2        2001 Mar 18   35771 x 35800 x 0.2  GEO 115.2W
   XM-1        2001 May  8   35770 x 35801 x 0.2  GEO 115.2W
   XM-3        2005 Mar  1   35783 x 35790 x 0.0  GEO  85.1W
   XM-4        2006 Oct 31   35785 x 35786 x 0.0  GEO 115.2W
   Sirius FM5  2009 Jun 30   35779 x 35796 x 0.0  GEO 96W
   Sirius XM-5 2010 Oct 14   35782 x 35790 x 0.0  GEO  85.2W
   Sirius FM6  2013 Oct 25    4074 x 35818 x 23.2 En route GEO

Note that Sirius FM4 was not launched.


2013 launch statistics
----------------------

This year has seen the resurgence of the Russian space launch program.
Orbital attempts so far include 24 Russian rockets (some from Kourou; I count
Dnepr, Zenit-3SLB as Russian despite their partly Ukrainian manufacture, but
Zenit-3SL I count as an international project).
The US is next at 15 launches, then China 10, ESA 5, Japan 3, India 2, 
S Korea 1, Sea Launch 1.



Table of Recent (orbital) Launches 
 ----------------------------------
Date UT       Name            Launch Vehicle        Site            Mission    INTL.  

Sep  1 1916   Yaogan 17     )    Chang Zheng 4C   Jiuquan LC603     SIGINT      46A
              YW-17 subsat 1)                                       SIGINT      46B
              YW-17 subsat 2)                                       SIGINT      46C
Sep  7 0327   LADEE              Minotaur V       Wallops I. LA0B   Lunar probe 47A
Sep 11 2323   Gonets-M No. 14 )  Rokot            Plesetsk LC133/3  Comms       48A
              Gonets-M No. 16 )                                     Comms       48B
              Gonets-M No. 17 )                                     Comms       48C
Sep 14 0500   Hisaki             Epsilon          Uchinoura         Astronomy   49A
Sep 18 0810   AEHF 3             Atlas V 531      Canaveral SLC41   Comms       50A
Sep 18 1458   Cygnus Demo        Antares 110      Wallops I. LA0A   Cargo       51A
Sep 23 0307   Fengyun-3 3        Chang Zheng 4C   Taiyuan LC9       Weather     52A
Sep 25 0437   Kuaizhou-1         Kuaizhou         Jiuquan           Imaging?    53A
Sep 25 2058   Soyuz TMA-10M      Soyuz-FG         Baykonur LC1	    Spaceship   54A
Sep 29 1600   Cassiope   )       Falcon 9 v1.1    Vandenberg SLC4E  Comm/Sci    55A
              POPACS 1   )                                          Sci         55D
              POPACS 2   )                                          Sci         55E
              POPACS 3   )                                          Sci         55F
              DANDE      )                                          Sci         55C
              CUSat      )                                          Tech        55B
Sep 29 2138   Astra 2E           Proton-M/Briz-M  Baykonur LC200/39 Comms       56A
Oct 25 0350   Shi Jian 16        Chang Zheng 4B   Jiuquan           Tech?       57A
Oct 25 1808   Sirius FM6         Proton-M/Briz-M  Baykonur LC200/39 Comms       58A
Oct 29 0250   Yaogan 18          Chang Zheng 2C   Taiyuan           Radar?      59A

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

The Strategic Rocket Forces flew an experimental reentry vehicle on a
Topol' launch from Kapustin Yar to the Balkash range at Sary Shagan on
Oct 10; the launch was observed by Mike Hopkins on board the ISS,
orbiting several thousand km to the southeast. Ejecta in an upper stage
rocket plume of some kind were illuminated by the Sun making an easily
visible cloud.

Table of Recent (suborbital) Launches
----------------------------------

Thanks to Thomas Schiller for alerting me to the FTM-22 and Prithvi launches.
The ARAV-ER vehicle is possibly a Terrier-Oriole-Star 20, but I would love to get
a confirmation or correction on that.

The NASA 36.290US flight carried Colorado's annual payload to calibrate the SDO EVE
solar flux experiment.

Russia launched a series of missiles on Oct 30 as part of a large scale
military exercise: a Topol from Plesetsk to Kura, a Voevoda R-36M2 from Dombarovskiy/Yasniy
to Kura, an R-29RM from a sub in the Barents Sea to Kura, and an R-29R from
a sub in the Sea of Okhotsk to Chizha.  One Iskander-M and three Tochka-U short
range missiles launched from Kapustin Yar to unknown targets may also have been
mildly exoatmospheric. Pavel Podvig's russianforces.org site has, as usual, the details.

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

Sep  3 0616   Radar target     Silver Sparrow      F-15, Med. Sea    Target       150?
Sep  6 0520   Bulava RV        Bulava            K-550, White Sea    Test         100?
Sep 10        MBRV?            Unknown             Wake Island       Target       300?
Sep 10        MBRV?            eMRBM               C-17, Pacific     Target       300?
Sep 10        Aegis KV         SM-3              USS Decatur,Pacific Interceptor  150?
Sep 10        THAAD KV         THAAD               Meck Island       Interceptor  100?
Sep 10        THAAD KV         THAAD               Meck Island       Interceptor  100?
Sep 10 2110?  USN RV           Trident D-5       SSBN, Atlantic O.   Test        1000?
Sep 10 2110?  USN RV           Trident D-5       SSBN, Atlantic O.   Test        1000?
Sep 12        USN RV           Trident D-5       SSBN, Atlantic O.   Test        1000?
Sep 12        USN RV           Trident D-5       SSBN, Atlantic O.   Test        1000?
Sep 15 0920   Agni RV          Agni V              Wheeler I. IC4    Test         800?
Sep 19 0030   FTM-21 Target    ARAV-C++            Kauai             Target       300?
Sep 19 0032?  Aegis KV         SM-3-1B           USS Lake Erie       Interceptor  300?
Sep 19 0032?  Aegis KV         SM-3-1B           USS Lake Erie       Interceptor  300?
Sep 22 1001   Mk 21 RV?        Minuteman 3         Vandenberg LF10   Op. test    1300?
Sep 26 1033   Mk 21 RV?        Minuteman 3         Vandenberg LF09   Op. test    1300?
Oct  4 0533   FTM-22 Target    ARAV-ER             Kauai             Target       300?
Oct  4 0537?  Aegis KV         SM-3-1B           USS Lake Erie       Interceptor  150?
Oct  7 0345   Prithvi RV       Prithvi II          Chandipur         Op. test     100?
Oct  8 0650?  Prithvi RV       Prithvi II          Chandipur         Op. test     100?
Oct 10 1339   Exptl. RV        Topol'              Kapustin Yar      RV test     1000?
Oct 23 1800   NASA 36.290US    Black Brant IX      White Sands       Solar        278?
Oct 30        Topol' RV        Topol'              Plesetsk          Exercise    1000?
Oct 30        10 RVs??         R-36M2              Yasniy            Exercise    1000?
Oct 30        RV               Shtil'?           K-117, Barents Sea  Exercise    1000?
Oct 30        RV               Volna             L-433, S.of Okhotsk Exercise    1000?

.-------------------------------------------------------------------------.
|  Jonathan McDowell                 |                                    |
|  Somerville MA 02143               |  inter : planet4589 at gmail       |
|  USA                               |  twitter: @planet4589              |
|                                                                         |
| JSR: http://www.planet4589.org/jsr.html                                 |
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