[JSR] Jonathan's Space Report, No. 751

Jonathan McDowell jcm at planet4589.com
Sat Jul 28 00:18:16 EDT 2018


Jonathan's Space Report 
No. 751                                                         2018 Jul 28  Somerville, MA
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The Edge of Space 
------------------

In a new paper in Acta Astronautica (2018, vol 151, 668) "The edge
of space: Revisiting the Karman Line" I argue that outer space
should be considered to begin at 80 km altitude, and not at the 100 km 
level which has been popular in recent years. The paper is open access
and is available at 
  https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0094576518308221
and 
  https://planet4589.org/space/papers/Edge.pdf


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

Aboard ISS, Expedition 56 continues with astronauts Feustel, Artemev,
Arnold, Prokop'ev, Aunon-Chancellor and Gerst.

On Jun 20 the Canadarm-2/Dextre robot arm combo plucked Surrey's RemoveDebris
technology satellite from the Kibo airlock and released it into orbit.

On Jun 23 at 0815 UTC the ISS orbit was boosted with a 0.4m/s burn from
Progress MS-08 which increased apogee by 2 km.

On Jun 29 SpaceX launched the Dragon CRS-15 cargo ship on a Falcon 9
from Cape Canaveral. CRS-15 uses capsule C111, on its second flight, and
as usual a new trunk section, this time carrying the ECOSTRESS
experiment and a spare latching end effector for the Canadarm-2 robot
arm, LEE S/N 205, attached to a flight support equipment (FSE) plate.
Dragon CRS-15 arrived at the ISS on Jul 2; Canadarm-2 grappled the
vehicle at 1054 UTC and was berthed on the Harmony module at 1352 UTC.

On Jul 5 the Canadarm-2 unberthed ECOSTRESS from Dragon and handed it
off to the JEM RMS which installed it on the Kibo Exposed Facility at
EFU10.  When the old spare LEE, S/N 204, was pressed into service as the
new LEE-B on the arm, it left behind an FSE plate on External Stowage
Platform 2. On Jul 6 the Dextre arm was used to move the FSE plate to
the Dragon trunk for disposal and moved the new LEE to ESP-2.  On Jul 11
the JEM RMS arm moved the old HREP (HICO/RAIDS Exposed Payload) from the
Kibo Exposed Facility EFU6 to EFU13, where the Canadarm-2 picked it up
and relocated it to the Dragon trunk for disposal. HREP was launched in
2009 on the first HTV cargo ship. 

On Jul 9 Progress MS-09 was launched from Baykonur and made the
fastest-ever ISS rendezvous, docking with the Pirs module only 3h 39m
13s after launch. The only faster  flights in history from Earth launch
to orbital rendezvous and docking were Kosmos-188 and Gemini 11, at 1h
8m and 1h 34min respectively. The cargo ship delivered spacesuit Orlan MKS-5
to the station.

On Jul 13 Nanoracks NRCSD-14 was extracted from the Kibo airlock by the JEM
RMS and ejected a total of 9 cubesats, including Phil Kaaret's HaloSat
X-ray astronomy mission.

Cygnus OA-9E tested its ability to reboost the ISS with a small 0.05m/s
burn on Jul 10 at 2024UTC. It was unberthed from the Unity module
on Jul 15 at 1026 UTC and released at 1236 UTC, carrying 3001 kg of
cargo for disposal. Sometime on Jul 15 to Jul 16 it deployed 6 further
cubesats for SpireGlobal and the Aerospace Corporation, but the deployment
times have not been revealed.

On Jul 26 Progress MS-08 fired its engines to adjust the ISS orbit
in preparation for the forthcoming Soyuz MS-08 landing.


Tiangong 2
-----------

China's Tiangong-2 spacelab was used for a single human expedition in
2016; China has announced that no further visits are planned. Since
Shenzhou 11 left in Nov 2016, TG-2 has made small reboost manuevers on
2017 Mar 5, Apr 5-6, May 13, Jun 17-20, Sep 17, and Nov 4. The Tianzhou-1
freighter docked with it several times between Apr and Sep 2017 and
transferred an unknown amount of propellant. The freighter carried about
2000 kg of propellant in eight 250 kg tanks, half of which were for
its own maneuevers. I am guessing each of the three propellant transfer
exercises that were carried out involved one tank's worth.

On 2018 Jun 13 at around 0645 and 0735 UTC the lab made a two-impulse
manuever to lower its orbit from 388 x 391 km to 293 x 299 km. It seemed
as if this might be a precursor to a deorbit burn, but on Jun 22 at
about 0117 and 0202 UTC a second two-impulse manuever restored the orbit
to 390 x 399 km. The full sequence used about 330 kg of propellant.
If we assumed Tianzhou left the 1000-kg-capacity tanks full, that leaves
about 670 kg. Total mass of Tiangong-2 including propellant
is probably now around 8500 kg. At least 250 kg of propellant is
required to safely deorbit the vehicle at end of mission.
As of Jul 26, Tiangong-2 remained in a 386 x 395 km orbit.

Chinese technology satellites
-----------------------------

On Jun 27 China launched two satellites carrying intersatellite
communications and imaging sensor technology experiments. The satellites
are referred to as `xin jishu shiyan' A and B xing (New Technology Test
sat A and B).  Satellite A made small orbit corrections from Jun 29 to
Jul 3, and is now leading satellite B by 1100 km. 

Beidou DW 32
------------

Although China's Beidou-3 navigation satellite system has now been
deployed, operation of the older generation Beidou-2 system is being
maintained. Beidou daohang weixing 32, also known as Beidou-2 I7, was
launched on Jul 9 to replenish the Beidou-2 inclined geosynchronous
network. The satellite circularized its orbit sometime between Jul 10
and Jul 16.

PRSS/PakTes
------------

China launched two satellites for Pakistan on Jul 9, using the CZ-2C with a rarely seen SMA solid
upper stage motor. PRSS-1 (Pakistan Remote Sensing Satelite 1) is a Chinese-built imaging satellite;
the smaller PakTES-1 was developed by Pakistan in collaboration with South Africa. 
The satellites are operated by Pakistan's space agency SUPARCO.
PakTes-1a raised its orbit by 30 km on Jul 11-14; PRSS-1 remaines in its
original orbit.

Telstar 19V
-----------

Telesat's Telstar 19 Vantage was launched on Jul 22 from Cape Canaveral. The SpaceX Falcon 9
put the 7075 kg SSL-1300 satellite into a subsynchronous transfer orbit of 243 x 17857 km x 27.0 deg.
On Jul 25 the satellite begain orbit raising, reaching 300 x 23182 km. Telstar 19V
will provide broadband Ku/Ka-band services from 63W.

 Galileo
-------

Four more Galileo navigation satellites were launched on Jul 25 by the final Ariane 5ES (vehicle L596,
flight VA244). The satellites are owned by the EU GNSS Agency and have the usual multiplicity
of names: FOC FM19 to 22, GalileoSat-23 to 26, Tara, Samuel, Anna and Ellen.

Iridium Next
-------------

SpaceX launched the Iridium-7 mission from Vandenberg on Jul 25, while the Ariane launch was still
in progress. Ten Iridium satellites were deployed from the upper stage, which then was deorbited.
This was the 14th SpaceX orbital launch so far this year.

Hayabusa-2
----------

On Jun 27 at 0030 UTC Hayabusa-2 began stationkeeping 20 km from the 0.9
km-diameter asteroid (162173) Ryugu. On Jul 17-25 the probe approached to 6 km
from Ryugu and then returned to the 20 km point.

The probe will later approach the asteroid and obtain samples for return
to Earth.

Kosmos-2519/2521/2523
---------------------

The Russian inspector satellite experiment launched in 2017 continues.
>From Jun 27 to Jul 19 the host satellite Kosmos-2519 made a series of
burns which changed its orbit from 644 x 659 km to 318 x 664 km.
Kosmos-2521 appears to have made a single burn on Jul 20 to go from 346
x 362 km to 292 x 348 km. Kosmos-2523 remains in the 553 x 665 km orbit
into which it was ejected last October.

TESS
----

The TESS observatory has completed commissioning and begun its first
set of exoplanet search observations.


Table of Recent Orbital Launches 
 ----------------------------------
Date UT       Name            Launch Vehicle        Site            Mission       INTL.   Catalog  Perigee Apogee  Incl   Notes

Jun  2 0413   Gao Fen 6       )       Chang Zheng 2D    Jiuquan          Imaging      48A   S43484   635 x   646 x 98.0
              Luojia-1 KSW 01 )                                          Imaging      48B   S43485   635 x   647 x 98.0
Jun  4 0445   SES-12                  Falcon 9 FT       Canaveral SLC40  Comms        49A   S43488  6203 x 66863 x 12.5
Jun  5 1307   Fengyun 2 09            Chang Zheng 3A    Xichang LC2      Weather      50A   S43491 35894 x 35924 x  2.2
Jun  6 1112   Soyuz MS-09             Soyuz-FG          Baykonur LC1     Spaceship    51A   S43493   190 x   247 x 51.6
Jun 12 0420   IGS R-6                 H-IIA             Tanegashima      Radar        52A   S43495   500 x   502 x 97.4
Jun 16 2146   Kosmos-2527             Soyuz-2-1B/Fregat Plesetsk         Navigation   53A   S43508 19116 x 19155 x 64.8
Jun 20 1135   RemoveDebris                              ISS, LEO         Tech        9867NT S43510   401 x   407 x 51.6
Jun 27 0330   XJS A )                 Chang Zheng 2C    Xichang          Tech         54A   S43518   465 x   483 x 35.0
              XJS B )                                                    Tech         54B   S43519   476 x   486 x 35.0
Jun 29 0942   Dragon CRS-15           Falcon 9 FT       Canaveral SLC40  Cargo        55A   S43522   402 x   408 x 51.6
Jul  9 0356   PRSS-1    )             Chang Zheng 2C/SMA Jiuquan         Imaging      56A   S43529   589 x   625 x 98.1
              PakTes-1a )                                                Imaging      56B   S43530   639 x   640 x 98.1
Jul  9 2058   Beidou DW32             Chang Zheng 3A    Xichang          Navigation   57A   S43539 35691 x 35875 x 55.1
Jul  9 2151   Progress MS-09          Soyuz-2-1A        Baykonur LC31    Cargo        58A   S43537   402 x   408 x 51.6
Jul 13 0805   RainCube )                                ISS, LEO         Tech       9867NU? S43546   399 x   407 x 51.6 
              HaloSat  )                                                 Astron     9867NV? S43547   399 x   407 x 51.6 
Jul 13 0905   Radix                                     ISS, LEO         Tech       9867NW? S43548   399 x   407 x 51.6 
Jul 13 1235   TEMPEST-D )                               ISS, LEO         Sci        9867NX? S43549   399 x   407 x 51.6 
              CubeRRT   )                                                Tech       9867NY? S43550   399 x   407 x 51.6 
Jul 13 1420   RadSat-g      )                           ISS, LEO         Tech       9867NZ? S43551   399 x   407 x 51.6 
              Equisat       )                                            Tech       9867PA? S43552   399 x   407 x 51.6 
              MemSat        )                                            Tech       9867PB? S43553   399 x   407 x 51.6 
              Endurosat One )                                            Comms      9867PC? S43554   399 x   407 x 51.6 
Jul 16?       Lemur-2-TomHenderson )                    OA-9, LEO        Com/Met      46C   S43556   477 x   489 x 51.6
              Lemur-2-Yuasa        )                                     Com/Met      46D   S43557   477 x   489 x 51.6
Jul 16?       Lemur-2-Alexander    )                    OA-9, LEO        Com/Met      46E   S43558   477 x   489 x 51.6
              Lemur-2-Vu           )                                     Com/Met      46F   S43559   477 x   489 x 51.6
Jul 16?       Aerocube-12A         )                    OA-9, LEO        Tech         46G   S43560   477 x   489 x 51.6
              Aerocube-12B         )                                     Tech         46H   S43561   477 x   489 x 51.6
Jul 22 0550   Telstar 19V             Falcon 9 FT       Canaveral SLC40  Comms        59A   S43562   243 x 17862 x 27.0
Jul 25 1125   GalileoSat-23 )         Ariane 5ES        Kourou ELA3      Navigation   60A   S43564 22896 x 22929 x 56.3
              GalileoSat-24 )                                            Navigation   60B   S43565 22902 x 22918 x 56.3
              GalileoSat-25 )                                            Navigation   60C   S43566 22908 x 22948 x 56.2
              GalileoSat-26 )                                            Navigation   60D   S43567 22899 x 22925 x 56.3
Jul 25 1139   Iridium SV154           Falcon 9 FT       Vandenberg SLC4E Comms        61F   S43574   608 x   623 x 86.7
              Iridium SV155                                              Comms        61E   S43573   608 x   623 x 86.7
              Iridium SV156                                              Comms        61H   S43576   608 x   623 x 86.7
              Iridium SV158                                              Comms        61C   S43571   607 x   623 x 86.7
              Iridium SV159                                              Comms        61K   S43578   608 x   623 x 86.7
              Iridium SV160                                              Comms        61A   S43569   607 x   623 x 86.7
              Iridium SV163                                              Comms        61G   S43575   607 x   623 x 86.7
              Iridium SV164                                              Comms        61J   S43577   607 x   623 x 86.7
              Iridium SV165                                              Comms        61D   S43572   607 x   623 x 86.7
              Iridium SV166                                              Comms        61B   S43570   608 x   623 x 86.7

Table of Recent Suborbital Launches
-----------------------------------

The suborbital launches table includes known flights above 80 km.

Virgin Galactic's Spaceship Two, made a piloted rocket flight into the
mesosphere on Jul 26  with pilots Mackay and Masucci aboard. This
doesn't make the suborbital list below, which is restricted to flights
with apogees above 80 km. It is, however, the first time a piloted
rocket flight has had an apogee in the mesosphere since 2004.

MICRO-X is a long-awaited sounding rocket flight to test X-ray
microcalorimeter technology in space, developed by Tali Figueroa at
Northwestern University (and earlier at MIT). Unfortunately the science
observations of Cas A were lost due to a pointing failure, but lots of
calibration data on the sky background were obtained. This should help
planning for future X-ray astronomy satellites. Previous attempts to do
X-ray microcalorimeter observations in orbit were largely unsuccessful
(AXAF-S: cancelled; ASTRO-E: rocket failed; ASTRO-E-II: cryo vented;
ASTRO-H: spun itself to bits, but got two spectra.). The XQC series of 6
sounding rocket flights also fewl early calorimeter designs from 1995 to
2013.

Pavel Podvig reports a possible but unconfirmed Yars missile launch from
Plesetsk on about Jun 19.

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

Jun  3 0418   Agni RV           Agni V             Kalam Island          Test          800       Indian O.
Jun 18 1900   EVE 7             Black Brant 9      White Sands           Solar EUV     290       White Sands
Jun 21 0930   NASA 41.125UO     Terrier Imp.Orion  Wallops Island        Education     120       Atlantic
Jul 18 1511   New Shepard CC2.0 New Shepard        West Texas            Abort test    119       West Texas
Jul 23 0600   MICRO-X           Black Brant 9      White Sands           XR Astron     270       White Sands      

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