[JSR] Jonathan's Space Report, No. 716
Jonathan McDowell
jcm at planet4589.org
Wed Oct 7 01:52:10 EDT 2015
Jonathan's Space Report
No. 716 2015 Oct 7 Somerville, MA
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Erratum
--------
Last issue's reference to Soyuz TMA-16,17 and 18 of course should have
said Soyuz TMA-16M, 17M and 18M.
International Space Station
---------------------------
Expedition 44 concluded with the undocking of Soyuz TMA-16M from the Zvezda
aft port at 2129 UTC Sep 11, carrying Expedition 44 commander Padalka and
EP-18 visiting crew members Mogensen and Aimbetov. Soyuz TMA-16M landed
in Kazakhstan at 0051:36 UTC Sep 12.
Expedition 45 is now underway under the command of Scott Kelly, with
flight engineers Mikhail Kornienko, Oleg Kononenko, Sergey
Volkov, Kimiya Yui, and Kjell Lindgren.
The S-CUBE meteor-observation cubesat from Chiba Institute of Technology
and the SERPENS cubesat from the University of Brazilia were ejected
from the J-SSOD deployer on the Kibo robot arm on Sep 17.
The SSRMS arm unberthed the Kounotori-5 from the Harmony module at 1112 UTC Sep 28.
Release was delayed one orbit due to a robotics problem and occurred at 1653 UTC.
The next day Kounotori-5 lowered its orbit with two burns and then made a final
deorbit burn at 2008 UTC, with atmosphere entry around 2033 UTC for destruction
over the South Pacific.
Progress M-29M was launched from Baykonur on Oct 1 at 1649:40 UTC and
docked with the ISS Zvezda module at 2252 UTC the same day. The 7283 kg spacecraft
delivered a variety of supplies and maintenance equipment to the station.
NanoRacks cubesat deployments resumed Oct 5 with the ESA-sponsored Danish GOMX-3
and AAUSAT-5, followed by the Flock-2b satellites from PlanetLabs.
Progress M-28M is docked at Pirs.
Progress M-28M is docked at Zvezda aft port.
Soyuz TMA-17M is docked at Rassvet.
Soyuz TMA-18M is docked at Poisk.
The Harmony nadir CBM port is vacant.
GalileoSat-9 and 10
-------------------
Two more European navigation satellites in the Galileo system were launched
from French Guiana on Sep 11 aboard a Soyuz-ST-B vehicle. The Fregat stage
deployed them in plane A of the system, at an inclination of 57.4 degrees
(satellites in the existing B and C planes are in 55.0 degree orbits).
Each Galileo satellite has at least 5 different names.
Here is a summary of the system:
Orbit
Satellite FM GSAT PRN Nickname Plane Slot
GIOVE A GSTB-v2/A - E01 GIOVE-A
GIOVE B GSTB-v2/B - E16 GIOVE_B
GalileoSat 1 IOC PFM GSAT-0101 E11 Thijs B 5
GalileoSat 2 IOC FM2 GSAT-0102 E12 Natalia B 6
GalileoSat 3 IOC FM3 GSAT-0103 E19 David C 4
GalileoSat 4 IOC FM4 GSAT-0104 E20 Sif C 5
GalileoSat 5 FOC FM1 GSAT-0201 E18 Doresa (C) (2)
GalileoSat 6 FOC FM2 GSAT-0202 E14 Milena (C) (7)
GalileoSat 7 FOC FM3 GSAT-0203 E26 Adam B 8
GalileoSat 8 FOC FM4 GSAT-0204 E22 Anastasia B 3
GalileoSat 9 FOC FM5 GSAT-0205 Alba A 5
GalileoSat 10 FOC FM6 GSAT-0206 Oriana A 8
The GIOVE test satellites were retired from the constellation in 2012 although I believe GIOVE-A
may still be alive and monitoring radiation conditions.
Chinese satellites 1: TJS-1 and GF-9
----------------------------------------
A new Chinese satellite called Tongxing Jisshu Shiyan Weixing yi hao
(Communications Engineering Test Satellite No. 1) was launched by a
Chang Zheng 3B rocket from Xichang on Sep 12. The rocket reached a 208 x
635 km x 27.1 deg parking orbit 10 min after launch and coasted to the
equator, where a second burn at 1601 UTC sent the rocket and payload to
a 195 x 35814 km x 27.1 deg geotransfer orbit.
Another launch two days later from China's Gobi Desert site at Jiuquan
put the Gaofen 9 high resolution imaging satellite in sun-synchronous
orbit. GF-9 may be replacing GF-1, launched in 2013 to a similar orbit.
Chinese satellites 2: Chang Zheng 6 first launch
------------------------------------------------
Then, on Sep 19, the long-awaited first flight of the new generation of
Chinese launch vehicles took place. China is developing Chang Zheng
(Long March) 6 (light), 7 (medium) and 5 (heavy) rocket.s The initial
three-stage CZ-6 took off from pad 16 at Taiyuan space center in Shanxi
on Sep 19 carrying a cluster of 20 small satellites and placed them in a
500 km sun-synchronous orbit. CZ-6 uses LOX/kerosene propellant in its
first two stages and H2O2/kerosene in the lower thrust third stage which
performs orbit insertion, in contrast to earlier-generation CZ vehicles
which used toxic N2O4/UDMH propellants. CZ-6 was developed by SAST
(the Shanghai Academy of Space Technology).
The 20 payloads consist of 10 primary (but still small) satellites and
10 tiny subsatellites deployed from the primary ones.
The XiWang-2 ('Hope') cluster of amateur radio satellites is from
CAMSAT, the Chinese AMSAT chapter, and Aerospace DFH Satellite Co
(Beijing). The 25 kg XW-2A carried two 1.5 kg subsatellites, XW-2E/2F,
while the 10 kg XW-2B, 2C and 2D satellites were deployed directly from
the rocket third stage.
The Tiantuo-3 constellation is from the National University of Defense
Technology (Guofang Keji Daxue Yan) in Changsha, Hunan. Its primary
satellite, massing 20 kg, is called Luliang-1 and was developed in
collaboration with the municipal government of Luliang city in Shanxi,
near the Taiyuan launch site, for tests of AIS (ship tracking) and ADS-B
(airplane data relay) systems. Luliang-1 ejected the Zhineng hao shouji
weixing (Smart Phone Satellite), a 1 kg satellite also known as
NUDT-Phone-Sat, and built around the motherboard of an Android
smartphone (a technique pioneered by NASA-Ames a few years ago). The
phonesat itself carried four even smaller passengers, the Xingchen
('starlight') picosats with a mass of 0.1 kg and only 98 x 98 x 7mm in
size. The overall experiment was to control a cluster of satellites
using intersatellite communications; however there does not appear to be
a true formation flying element to the experiment since the satellites
don't seem to have propulsion systems.
Zhejian University (Hangzhou, Zhejiang province) launched the Zheda
Pixing 2A and 2B satellites to test MEMS microelectronic technology,
including a small deployable truss antenna on top of each satellite.
Mass of the ZDPS-2 satellites is 12 kg each.
Tsinghua University (Beijing)'s Naxing-2 (Nanosatellite-2, NS-2) has a
mass of 20 kg. NS-2 is testing MEMS microelectronic components and
carries small Beidou/GPS receivers. It also deploys the Zijing 1 and 2
picosats. ZJ-1 is 234g while ZJ-2 is 173g. ZJ-2 is also called Kongjian
Shiyan-1; it was built by the Xi'an University of Electronic Science and
Technology (Xidian) in Jiangxi.
Zidingxiang-2 ("LilacSat-2") is from the Harbin Inst. of Technology in
Heilongjiang province in China's far northeast. The 11 kg satellite
carries an ADS-B reciever, an FPGA radiation exposure test
Chinese satellites 3: Chang Zheng 11 first launch
-------------------------------------------------
The Chinese Academy of Launch Technology (CALT) and the Academy of
Rocket Motor Technology in Xi'an, Shaanxi (subsidiary for solid rockets
of CALT headquarters in Beijing) developed the solid-fuel four-stage
CZ-11 light launch vehicle and carried out its first launch on Sep 25.
The vehicle is 2.0m in diameter and I suspect it is related to the
Xi'an-developed DF-31 and DF-41 ICBMs.
The rocket carried SAST's Pujiang-1 satellite and three small
cubesats for Shanghai Tech and Nanjing University of Science and Technology (NJUST).
The fourth stage made an orbit lowering burn after deploying its payloads
and reentered on Oct 2.
Chinese Satellites 4: Beidou
-----------------------------
A Beidou satellite was launched on Sep 29, the first to carry a hydrogen-maser-based clock.
Beidou daohang weixing 20, or Beidou-3 I-2S, is thought to be heading to inclined synchronous
orbit. Unlike the previous two flights, this mission does not appear to have used the
YZ-1 upper stage.
Chinese Satellites 5: Jilin
----------------------------
A CZ-2D rocket placed the Jilin-1 satellite cluster in orbit on Oct 7;
they are described as China's first 'self-developed' commercial imaging
satellite system (excluding by that caveat the British-built
Tsinghua/BLMIT Beijing-1) and belong to the Chang Guang Satellite
Technology Co. (Zhangchun guangji suo diaoyan), a spinoff of the
Changchun Institute of Optics, Fine Mechanics and Physics (CIOMP) in
Jilin province. The main satellite is the 420-kg Jilin-1 with a 0.7m
resolution imager. Two 92kg 'smart video imaging' satellites, 'Lingqiao
shipin chengxiang weixing' and one 50 kg 'Smart imaging verification
satellite', 'Lingqiao chenxiang yanzheng weixing', complete the cluster.
Orbital parameters are not known at the time of writing.
Ekspress AM-8
--------------
The Ekpress AM-8 satellite for Kosmicheskaya Svyaz was launched on Sep
14 by Proton from Baykonur. This flight used the Energiya Blok DM-03
upper stage instead of the currently-standard Briz-M. AM-8 is a
Reshetnev Ekspress-1000 bus with a Thales Alenia Ka/C/L-band comms
payload. On Oct 5 it was in a 35784 x 35788 km x 0.0 deg orbit
stationary over 80.2E.
Rodnik-S
--------
Three Russian Defense Ministry Rodnik-S satellites, probably codenamed Kosmos-2507 to 2509,
were launched on Sep 23 into 1500 km orbits. This series of launches has sometimes
carried an initially-unannounced fourth payload, but no such payload has yet been
cataloged by US tracking.
Ariane 5
---------
Ariane vehicle 580, flight VA226, was launched on Sep 30 and placed two
communications satellites in geotransfer orbit: ARSAT-2 for Argentina,
and NBN Co. 1 ("Sky Muster") with a Ka-band payload for the Australian
NBN Co, a government-owned company running the national broadband
network.
Morelos 3
---------
Mexico's Morelos 3 communications satellite, a 5400 kg Boeing 702HP
GeoMobile with a 22-metre L-band antenna reflector, was launched Oct 2
by an Atlas V 421 from Cape Canaveral. Flight AV-059 entered a 180 x
31700 km x 30.0 deg parking orbit 18 min after launch, followed by a
4790 x 35800 km x 27 deg geotransfer deployment orbit.
ASTROSAT
--------
After many years of development India's first space astronomy
observatory, ASTROSAT, is in orbit. The satellite carries near and far
ultraviolet telescopes, a large X-ray proportional counter array, a
soft-X-ray imaging telescope, a hard X-ray coded mask telescope, and a
monitor to detect flaring X-ray sources.
Indonesia's Lapan-A2 was a secondary payload, together with ExactView-9
(EV-9), an AIS (ship tracking) payload for ExactEarth of Canada. EV-9
was built by the U. of Toronto's UTIAS group.
A group of four 3U cubesats was also deployed - the LEMUR-2 satellites
from Spire Global. Spire is based in San Francisco, but these satellites
were the first built in its new Glasgow factory. The LEMUR-2s carry AIS
payloads and GPS-RO (GPS radio occultation) equipment. The GPS-RO
technique uses the bending of GPS radio signals by the atmosphere to
derive atmospheric temperature and pressure. The satellites are being
marketed as 'weather satellites' - which is accurate, but they are not
to be confused with imaging meteorological satellites. The four LEMUR-2
are named Joel, Peter, Jeroen and Chris, presumably after Spire leaders
Joel Spark, Peter Platzer, Jeroen Cappaert and Chris Wake.
Table of Recent Orbital Launches
----------------------------------
Date UT Name Launch Vehicle Site Mission INTL. Catalog Perigee Apogee Incl Notes
km km deg
Aug 19 1150 Kounotori 5 H-IIB Tanegashima Y2 Cargo 38A S40873 399 x 401 x 51.6 at ISS
Aug 20 2034 Eutelsat 8 West B) Ariane 5ECA Kourou ELA3 Comms 39B S40875 35784 x 35790 x 0.1 GEO 1.7E
Intelsat IS-34 ) Comms 39A S40874 35771 x 35803 x 0.0 GEO 51.5W
Aug 27 0231 Yaogan Weixing 27 Chang Zheng 4C Taiyuan LC9 Imaging 40A S40878 1194 x 1206 x 100.5 0930LT SSO
Aug 27 1122 GSAT-6 GSLV Mk II Sriharikota SLP Comms 41A S40880 35676 x 35837 x 1.2 GEO 83E
Aug 28 1144 Inmarsat 5F3 Proton-M/Briz-M Baykonur LC200 Comms 42A S40882 31521 x 41016 x 0.2
Sep 2 0437 Soyuz TMA-18M Soyuz-FG Baykonur LC1 Spaceship 43A S40885 401 x 402 x 51.7 at ISS
Sep 2 1018 MUOS 4 Atlas V 551 Canaveral SLC41 Comms 44A S40887 3802 x 35786 x 19.1
Sep 11 0208 GalileoSat-9 ) Soyuz-ST-B/Fregat CSG ZLS Navigation 45A S40889 23545 x 23610 x 57.4
GalileoSat-10 ) Navigation 45B S40890 23554 x 23700 x 57.4
Sep 12 1504 Tongxin Jisshu SW1 Chang Zheng 3B Xichang LC2 Comms 46A S40892 195 x 35814 x 27.1
Sep 14 0442 Gaofen 9 Chang Zheng 2D Jiuquan LC603 Imaging 47A S40894 618 x 664 x 98.0 1100LT SSO
Sep 14 1900 Ekspress AM-8 Proton-M/DM-03 Baykonur LC81/24 Comms 48A S40895 35814 x 35890 x 0.0 GEO drift
Sep 17 1202 S-CUBE ISS, LEO Astronomy 98-67GY S40898 397 x 408 x 51.6
Sep 17 1213 SERPENS ISS, LEO Tech 98-67GX S40897 396 x 408 x 51.6
Sep 19 2301 Kaituo-1 ) Tech/Comms 49A? S40899 515 x 536 x 97.5 0610LT SSO
DCBB ) Tech 49P S40912 513 x 536 x 97.5
Luliang-1 ) Chang Zheng 6 Taiyuan LC16 Comms 49F S40904 517 x 538 x 97.5
Zhineng hao ) Tech 49B S40900 515 x 536 x 97.5
Xingchen 1 ) Tech 49 515 x 536 x 97.5
Xingchen 2 ) Tech 49 515 x 536 x 97.5
Xingchen 3 ) Tech 49 515 x 536 x 97.5
Xingchen 4 ) Tech 49 515 x 536 x 97.5
Naxing-2 ) Tech 49G? S40905 519 x 541 x 97.5
Zijing-1 ) Tech 49 519 x 541 x 97.5
Kongjian Shiyan 1) Tech 49 519 x 541 x 97.5
Zheda Pixing 2A ) Tech 49C S40901 516 x 536 x 97.5
Zheda Pixing 2B ) Tech 49D S40902 516 x 536 x 97.5
Zidingxiang-2 ) Tech/Comms 49K S40908 520 x 542 x 97.5
Xiwang-2A ) Comms 49E S40903 499 x 532 x 97.5
Xiwang-2B ) Comms 49N S40911 519 x 539 x 97.5
Xiwang-2C ) Comms 49H S40906 519 x 539 x 97.5
Xiwang-2D ) Comms 49J S40907 519 x 539 x 97.5
Xiwang-2E ) Comms 49L S40909 519 x 538 x 97.5
Xiwang-2F ) Comms 49M S40910 518 x 541 x 97.5
Sep 23 2200 Kosmos-2507) Rokot Plesetsk LC133/3 Comms 50A S40920 1502 x 1508 x 82.5
Kosmos-2508) Comms 50B S409210 1494 x 1507 x 82.5
Kosmos-2509) Comms 50C S40922 1496 x 1506 x 82.5
Sep 25 0141 Pujiang-1 ) Chang Zheng 11 Jiuquan SLS-E Tech? 51A S40925 468 x 486 x 97.3 0800LT SSO
Shangkeda-2 ) Tech? 51B S40926 466 x 487 x 97.3 0800LT SSO
NJUST-2? ) Tech? 51C S40927 466 x 487 x 97.3 0800LT SSO
NJFA-1? ) Tech? 51D S40928 466 x 487 x 97.3 0800LT SSO
Sep 28 0430 Astrosat ) Astronomy 52A S40930 633 x 650 x 6.0
LAPAN-A2 ) Tech 52B S40931 631 x 650 x 6.0
ExactView-9 ) PSLV-XL Sriharikota FLP Comms (AIS) 52C S40932 630 x 650 x 6.0
Lemur-2-Joel ) Comms/Atm 52D S40933 629 x 650 x 6.0
Lemur-2-Peter ) Comms/Atm 52E S40934 634 x 650 x 6.0
Lemur-2-Jeroen ) Comms/Atm 52F S40935 635 x 650 x 6.0
Lemur-2-Chris ) Comms/Atm 52G S40936 635 x 650 x 6.0
Sep 29 2313 Beidou DW20 Chang Zheng 3B/G2 Xichang LC3 Navigation 53A S40938 190 x 35881 x 55.0
Sep 30 1630 Sky Muster ) Ariane 5 Kourou ELA3 Comms 54A S40940 180 x 35563 x 6.0
ARSAT-2 ) Comms 54B S40941 205 x 35550 x 6.0
Oct 1 1649 Progress M-29M Soyuz-U Baykonur LC1 Cargo 55A S40944 400 x 408 x 51.6 Docked ISS
Oct 2 1028 Morelos-3 Atlas V 421 Canaveral SLC41 Comms 56A S40946 4790?x 35800?x 27.0?
Oct 5 1405 GOMX-3 ) ISS, LEO Comms (ADS-B)98-67GZ S40948? 395 x 408 x 51.6
AAUSAT-5 ) Comms (AIS) 98-67HA S40949? 395 x 408 x 51.6
Oct 6 0115 Flock 2b-1 ) ISS, LEO Imaging 98-67HB S40950 400 x 404 x 51.6
Flock 2b-2 ) Imaging 98-67HC S40951 398 x 406 x 51.6
Oct 6 0430 Flock 2b-3 ) ISS, LEO Imaging 98-67HD S40952 399 x 405 x 51.6
Flock 2b-4 ) Imaging 98-67HE S40953 401 x 403 x 51.6
Oct 6 0831 Flock 2b-5 ) ISS, LEO Imaging 98-67HF S40954 396 x 409 x 51.6
Flock 2b-6 ) Imaging 98-67HG S40955 396 x 409 x 51.6
Oct 6 1145 Flock 2b-7 ) ISS, LEO Imaging 98-67HH S40956 396 x 408 x 51.6
Flock 2b-8 ) Imaging 98-67HJ S40957 397 x 408 x 51.6
Oct 7 0010 Flock 2b-9 ) ISS, LEO Imaging 98-67HK S40958? 397 x 408 x 51.6
Flock 2b-10) Imaging 98-67HL S40959? 397 x 408 x 51.6
Oct 7 0413 Jilin-1 ) Chang Zheng 2D Jiuquan Imaging 57A?
Lingqiao SCW-1 ) Imaging 57B?
Lingqiao SCW-2 ) Imaging 57C?
Lingqiao CYW ) Imaging 57D?
Table of Recent Suborbital Launches
-----------------------------------
JAXA launched the S-520-30 rocket on Sep 11, carrying an experiment to simulate and study the nucleation of oxides in cosmic dust.
NRL's CARE-II (NASA 39.012DR) was launched from Norway on Sep 16, and used 37 small CRV-7 rocket motors to eject high
velocity dusty plasma that was observerd to study radar scattering.
Date UT Payload/Flt Name Launch Vehicle Site Mission Apogee/km Target
Aug 12 1004 NASA 46.012UO Terrer Imp.Malemute Wallops, Virginia Education 151 Atlantic O.
Aug 19 1003 GT213GM RV Minuteman 3 Vandenberg LF10 Op.Test 1300? Kwajalein
Aug 22 1513 Topol'-E RV Topol' Kapustin Yar Test 500? Sary Shagan
Aug 26 Warhead Hwasong-6? Sana'a, Yemen Weapon 80? Jizan, Saudi Arabia
Aug 27 1745 NASA 36.282US Black Brant 9 White Sands, NM Solar EUV 250? White Sands
Sep 3 1701 NASA 36.291US Black Brant 9 White Sands, NM Solar UV 287 White Sands
Sep 11 1100 S-520-30 S-520 Uchinoura, Kyushu Physics 312 Phillipine Sea
Sep 16 1906 NASA 39.012DR Black Brant XI Andoya, Norway Ionos/Calib 299 Norwegian Sea
Sep 30 0828 M51 RVs M-51 Landes, France Test 500? Atlantic O.
Oct 2 0539 O-STATES S31/Orion Kiruna, Sweden Atmosphere 246 ESRANGE Area B, Sweden
.-------------------------------------------------------------------------.
| Jonathan McDowell | |
| Somerville MA 02143 | inter : planet4589 at gmail |
| USA | twitter: @planet4589 |
| |
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