[JSR] Jonathan's Space Report, No. 715
Jonathan McDowell
jcm at planet4589.org
Thu Sep 10 20:38:47 EDT 2015
Jonathan's Space Report
No. 715 2015 Sep 10 Somerville, MA
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Apologies for the long gap between issues!
International Space Station
---------------------------
Expedition 44 is coming to a close with Scott Kelly assuming command of
ISS from Gennadiy Padalka on Sep 5. The Soyuz TMA-16, 17 and 18
spaceships are docked at the Zvezda, Rassvet and Poisk docking ports
respectively, with their crews brining the ISS complement to 9: Padalka,
Kelly, and flight engineers Mikhail Kornienko, Oleg Kononenko, Sergey
Volkov, Kimiya Yui, Kjell Lindgren, Andreas Mogensen, and Aidyn
Aimbetov.
Padalka and Kornienko made spacewalk VKD-41 on Aug 10. Hatch open was
1417 UTC and close at 1951 UTC, with airlock repressurization beginning
at 1957 UTC. The astronauts installed a new WAL6 antenna to replace the
old one whose cover floated off on 2013 Aug 19. New retaining straps
were added to the other WAL antenna covers. The old WAL-6 antenna was
jettisoned into orbit as catalog 40812; two decontamination towels were
also jettisoned, and were not cataloged.
Progress M-26M undocked Aug 14 at 1019 UTC and was deorbited at 1328 UTC
with debris impacting the Pacific around 1417 UTC.
The 5th H2 Transfer Vehicle, HTV-5 or Kounotori 5, was launched from Tanegashima
on Aug 19. HTV-5's External Platform carries the CALET electron/cosmic-ray
detector which will be installed on the Kibo Exposed Facility.
The pressurized compartment carries nine racks:
HTV5 Stbd1 US Galley Rack, to be installed in the Unity node
HTV5 Fwd1 JAXA Multipurpose Small Payload Rack 2 (MSPR-2), now installed in Kibo at JPM1F2
HTV5 Port1 HTV Resupply Rack
HTV5 Aft1 HTV Resupply Rack
HTV5 Stbd2 HTV Resupply Rack
HTV5 Fwd2 HTV Resupply Rack
HTV5 Port2 HTV Resupply Rack
HTV5 Aft2 HTV Resupply Rack
HTV5 Base HTV Resupply Rack Type D (HRR-D)
The HRR-D is a new storage system to increase the HTV capacity. The
Port1 and Aft1 HRRs will be moved into the ISS temporarily for unloading
while the row 2 HRRs remain on HTV and their contents - CTBs or Cargo
Transfer Bags - will be unloaded directly. Contained in the HRRs are a
SAFER EVA backpack, a Mouse Habitat Unit (but no mice for it yet), 18
cubesats and the Nanoracks External Platform (NREP) and JAXA ExHAM-2
expsoure unit, both of which will be used for mounting external
experiments. The cubesats are:
Nanoracks-integrated:
PlanetLabs Flock 2b-1 to 2b-14, for Earth imaging
GOMSpace GOMX-3, for tests of ADS-B aircraft data relay
Aalborg University AAUSAT-5, a 1U sat for tests of AIS ship tracking receivers
JAXA-integrated:
Brazilian Space Agency/University of Brasilia SERPENS with technology communications payloads
Chiba Inst. of Technology S-CUBE with UV and visible imagers to observe meteors from above.
All the cubesats are 3U form factor except for AAUSAT-5. It's not clear
which HRRs the cubesats are delivered in. The JAXA-integrated cubesats
have now been installed in the J-SSOD No. 4 deployer and are ready to go
into the Kibo airlock. CALET has a mass of 650 kg; the 7 HRR racks carry
6057 kg of cargo. HTV-5 carries 2306 kg of propellant. The Galley and
MSPR racks probably have a mass around 500 kg each; the dry HTV without
payloads is about 6100 kg.
HTV-5 arrived at the ISS on Aug 24 and was berthed at Harmony nadir at 1402 UTC.
On Aug 25 the SSRMS extracted the HTV Exposed Pallet and handed it to the JEM RMS,
which berthed the EP on the Exposed Facility at location EFU10. The JEM RMS
then grappled the CALET experiment and moved it to EFU9.
On Aug 28 Padalka, Kelly and Kornienko flew Soyuz TMA-16M from the Poisk
to Zvezda docking ports. Undocking from Poisk was at 0712 UTC and
docking with Zvezda was at 0730 UTC. This freed the Poisk port for the
TMA-18M arrival, and will free Zvezda for a refuelling ship once
TMA-16M returns to Earth.
Soyuz TMA-18M was launched on Sep 2 with Volkov, Mogensen and Aimbetov
aboard, and docked at Poisk at 0739 UTC Sep 4.
Beidou
------
China launched two Beidou navigation satellites on Jul 25. Following the
first 3rd-generation inclined-geosync Beidou in March, this pair are
the first of the 3rd-gen medium-orbit type. The CZ-3B launch vehicle
deployed the YZ-1 upper stage in a 189 x 18390 km x 55 deg transfer
orbit. CZ-3B stage 3 probably coasted in a low parking orbit for only a
minute or so before its second burn to the elliptical orbit. The YZ-1
then stage separated and made its first burn almost immediately at about
1245 UTC, raising apogee to 22000 km. The Beidou/YZ-1 stack then coasted
to that apogee altitude and at about 1610 UTC YZ-1's second burn
circularized orbit. The two payloads were quickly released in a 21523 x
22193 km x 55 deg orbit, and then about 1620 UTC YZ-1 made a disposal
burn to a 22151 x 27736 km x 55 deg orbit.
Ariane VA225
------------
Arianespace flight VA225 with launcher L579 placed two communications
satellites in geotransfer: Eutelsat 8 West B for Eutelsat and IS-34 for
Intelsat. Eutelsat 8WB is a Thales Alenia Spacebus 4000C4 with a launch
mass of 5782 kg and a Ku/C band payload. IS-34 is an SSL-1300 satellite
with a launch mass of 3300 kg; it will replace I805 and Galaxy 11 and
will be located at 55.5W. It also has C and Ku-band payloads; the
Ku-band capacity will be partly used by Hispasat.
Yaogan 27
---------
The 27th Yaogan remote sensing satellite was launched from Taiyuan on Aug 27 into a 1194 x 1206 km x 100.5
deg sun-synchronous orbit. It is the 5th in what I call the Yaogan High A series and appears to
be replacing the first, Yaogan 8:
Orbit (km,km,deg) Node (local time)
YH A1 Yaogan 8 2009 Dec 15 1192 x 1204 x 100.5 0930LT
YH A2 Yaogan 15 2012 May 29 1201 x 1206 x 100.1 1430LT
YH A3 Yaogan 19 2013 Nov 20 1200 x 1207 x 100.5 1030LT
YH A4 Yaogan 22 2014 Oct 20 1197 x 1208 x 100.3 1330LT
YH A5 Yaogan 27 2015 Aug 27 1194 x 1206 x 100.5 0930LT
GSAT-6
------
India launched Geostationary Satellite Launch Vehicle flight GSLV-D6 on
Aug 27, placing the GSAT-6 satellite in geotransfer. GSAT-6 has an
S-band and C-band payload and will be used by the Indian Armed Forces.
Inmarsat 5F3
------------
An International Launch Services Proton-M put Inmarsat 5F3 in
supersynchronous transfer orbit on Aug 28-29, on its first flight since
the Mexsat-1 launch failure in May. London-based Inmarsat provides
broadband mobile communications services; the 5F3 satellite has 89
Ka-band transponders.
MUOS 4
-------
A US Navy UHF-band communications satellite, MUOS 4 (spacecraft
production number MUOS SV5) was launched from Cape Canaveral on Sep 3
into geotransfer orbit by a United Launch Alliance Atlas 5, mission
AV-056. The Centaur made three burns, to 167 x 630 km, 194 x 34447 km,
and 3802 x 35786 km. The MUOS (Multiple User Objective System)
satellite is a Lockheed Martin A2100 derivative and has an IHI BT-4
liquid engine to raise its orbit to GEO.
Erratum
--------
The GPS SVN 72 satellite is of course Block IIF flight 10, not Block IIR.
The MSG 4 satellite is still undergoing commissioning, and will not get the
name Meteosat 11 until it is operational.
Table of Recent Orbital Launches
----------------------------------
Date UT Name Launch Vehicle Site Mission INTL. Catalog Perigee Apogee Incl Notes
km km deg
Jul 3 0455 Progress M-28M Soyuz-U Baykonur LC1 Cargo 31A S40713 398 x 402 x 51.6 Docked ISS
Jul 10 1628 DMC3-1 ) Imaging 32A S40715 637 x 662 x 98.3 2210LT SSO
DMC3-2 ) Imaging 32B S40716 637 x 662 x 98.3 2210LT SSO
DMC3-3 ) PSLV-XL Sriharikota FLP Imaging 32C S40717 637 x 661 x 98.3 2210LT SSO
CBNT-1 ) Imaging 32D S40718 636 x 658 x 98.3 2210LT SSO
DeOrbitSail) Tech 32E S40719 635 x 657 x 98.0 2210LT SSO
Jul 13 1640 Flock 1e-1 ) ISS, LEO Imaging 98-67GF S40722 395 x 401 x 51.6
Flock 1e-2 ) Imaging 98-67GE S40723 394 x 401 x 51.6
Jul 14 0431 Flock 1e-3 ) ISS, LEO Imaging 98-67GH S40725 395 x 400 x 51.6
Flock 1e-4 ) Imaging 98-67GG S40724 396 x 401 x 51.6
Jul 14 1545 Flock 1e-5 ) ISS, LEO Imaging 98-67GL S40728 395 x 402 x 51.6
Flock 1e-6 ) Imaging 98-67GM S40729 395 x 402 x 51.6
Jul 14 2340 Flock 1e-7 ) ISS, LEO Imaging 98-67GJ S40726 395 x 402 x 51.6
Flock 1e-8 ) Imaging 98-67GK S40727 396 x 401 x 51.6
Jul 15 0601 Flock 1e-9 ) ISS, LEO Imaging 98-67GN S40736 396 x 401 x 51.6
Flock 1e-10 ) Imaging 98-67GP S40737 397 x 401 x 51.6
Jul 15 1315 Flock 1e-11 ) ISS, LEO Imaging 98-67GQ S40738 395 x 402 x 51.6
Flock 1e-12 ) Imaging 98-67GR S40739 396 x 402 x 51.6
Jul 15 1536 GPS SVN 72 Atlas V 401 Canaveral SLC41 Navigation 33A S40730 20446 x 20459 x 55.0
Jul 15 2142 Star One C4 ) Ariane 5ECA Kourou ELA3 Comms 34B S40733 35782 x 35790 x 0.0 GEO 70W
MSG 4 ) Weather 34A S40732 35784 x 35788 x 3.1 GEO 3.5W
Jul 15 2249 Flock 1e-13 ) ISS, LEO Imaging 98-67GS S40740 396 x 401 x 51.6
Flock 1e-14 ) Imaging 98-67GT S40741 396 x 400 x 51.6
Jul 16 0641 Centennial-1) ISS, LEO Calib 98-67GU S40742? 395 x 401 x 51.6
Arkyd-3R ) Tech 98-67GV S40743? 395 x 401 x 51.6
Jul 22 2012 Soyuz TMA-17M Soyuz-FG Baykonur LC1 Spaceship 35A S40744 400 x 402 x 51.7 at ISS
Jul 24 0007 WGS 7 Delta 4M+(5,4) Canaveral SLC37B Comms 36A S40746 494 x 66798 x 24.1
Jul 25 1229 Beidou DW17 ) Chang Zheng 3B Xichang Navigation 37A S40748 21523 x 22195 x 55.0
Beidou DW18 ) Navigation 37B S40749 21528 x 21880 x 55.0
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 43A S40887 3802 x 35786 x 19.1
Table of Recent Suborbital Launches
-----------------------------------
The US Missile Defense Agency carried out a series of missile defense tests on Jul 29-Aug 2
using SM-2-IV and SM-6 low altitude interceptors, which probably did not leave the atmosphere.
Two ballistic missile targets launched from Kauai as part of the tests may have reached space.
The Montana State U. MOSES-II solar EUV spectrograph was launched from White Sands on Aug 27
aboard flight 36.282US. The CLASP solar UV polarimeter, from Amy Winebarger at U. Alabama/Huntsville,
was launched on 36.291US on Sep 3.
Date UT Payload/Flt Name Launch Vehicle Site Mission Apogee/km Target
Jul 7 1015 NASA 36.313NP Black Brant 9 Wallops, Virginia Tech 350? Atlantic O.
Jul 29 0830 Aegis MMW E1 Unknown Kauai Target 100? Pacific O.
Jul 30 0615 Aegis MMW E2 Unknown Kauai Target 100? Pacific O.
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
.-------------------------------------------------------------------------.
| Jonathan McDowell | |
| Somerville MA 02143 | inter : planet4589 at gmail |
| USA | twitter: @planet4589 |
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