[JSR] Jonathan's Space Report, No. 757

Jonathan McDowell jcm at planet4589.com
Sun Nov 25 19:06:11 EST 2018


Jonathan's Space Report 
No. 757                                                       2018 Nov 25 Somerville, MA
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International Space Station
---------------------------

Expedition 57 continues aboard the ISS with astronauts Gerst, 
Prokop'ev, and Aunon-Chancellor. The next Soyuz crew is scheduled for
launch on Dec 3.

The Kounotori 7 cargo ship was unberthed from Harmony by the Canadarm-2
at about 1215 UTC Nov 7 and released into orbit at 1651 UTC. 
For the first time, an HTV departed the station without its EP (Exposed
Pallet). The HTV 7 EP remains on the MBS on the ISS truss, waiting
for a spacewalk to install the new batteries it is carrying.

Konoutori-7 made its deorbit burn at 2114 UTC on Nov 10 to an
orbit of about -55 x 380 km, reentering over the Pacific at 2141 UTC.
At 2124 UTC the HSRC reentry capsule was ejected; it also reentered
at 2138 UTC and came down on a parachute to a splashdown at 155E 21N
at 2206 UTC. This was the first HTV mission to carry an HSRC (HTV
Small Return Capsule) to return intact experiment samples to Earth.

The Progress MS-10 cargo ship was launched on Nov 16 and docked with
the ISS Zvezda module at 1928 UTC Nov 18.

The S.S. John Young cargo ship, Northrop Grumman's Cygnus NG-10 mission,
was launched from MARS (the Mid Atlantic Regional Spaceport at Wallops Island,
Virginia) on Nov 17. It arrived at ISS on the morning of Nov 19.
Canadarm-2 grappled it at 1028 UTC and berthed it at the nadir port on
the Unity module at 1233 UTC.

On Oct 22, the Loop Heat Pipe Radiator (LHPR) experiment was taken outside
the Kibo airlock with the JEM-RMS robot arm. LHPR is a test of a thermal
control system for JAXA's future ETS-9 technology satellite. LHPR was
operated while exposed to space on the end of the JEM-RMS until Nov 20,
when it was brought back inside Kibo.

MetOp-C
-------

Arianespace launched a Soyuz/Fregat on Nov 7 from the Centre Spatial
Guyanais, carrying the MetOp-C weather satellite for the European
Meteorological Satellite Organization, EUMETSAT.  The Fregat stage, No. 133-14, was
deorbited after releasing the payload and reentered over the Indian Ocean
at about 0318 UTC.

Electron
--------

RocketLab made its second successful orbital launch on Nov 11, placing
several payloads in orbit. 

 CICERO-10 (TYVAK-0086) is a 10 kg GPS-radio-occultation weather satellite built by
   Tyvak for GeoOptics (Pasadena).
  
 Two Lemur-2 satellites from Spire Global carry GPS-RO, AIS and ADS-B payloads.

 The first two satellites from Fleet Space Technologies (Adelaide), which is developing
   a constellation to relay data from IoT devices.

 IRVINE01 is a 1U cubesat with a camera and an electric thruster, built by
  schoolchildren in Irvine and Tustin, California and owned by the Irvine Public Schools Foundation.
  According to Dr Brent Freeze of the Irvine cubesat project, IRVINE01 and
  the soon-to-be-launched IRVINE02 are operated by `Team Comms' via Woodbridge High School. `Team
  Prime' at University High School runs the science campaign.

  'Pride of Bavaria', from High Performance Space Structure Systems GmbH (Munich), is a
  NABEO (ADEO-N) drag sail experiment
  deployed from (and remaining attached to) the Curie kick stage.
  NABEO stands for NAnosat Bremssegel Entfaltversuch im Orbit 
   (Nanosat De-Orbit-sail Deployment-demonstration in Orbit).

GSLV3
-----

India's ISRO carried out the second successful orbital launch of its
flagship GSLV Mk III rocket. The GSLV Mk III consists of a
4.0-metre-diameter L110 core stage using two N2O4/UDMH High Thrust Vikas
Engines (HTVE), two S200 solid boosters and a C25 LOX/LH2 upper stage. 
The C25 stage made a single long burn to a standard geotransfer orbit
and deployed its 3423-kg payload, GSAT-29.

GSAT-29 is a multibeam I3K-bus comms satellite to be located at 55E.
It will test new technologies and provide service to
Jammu/Kashmir and NE India.

Falcon 9
--------

SpaceX launched a Falcon 9 from Kennedy Space Center on Nov 15. The
second stage and the payload, Es'hailsat-2 (or simply Es'hail 2), were
placed in geotransfer orbit. Es'hailsat-2 is a Mitsubishi Electric model
DS-2000, providing Ku and Ka band comms for Es'hailsat of Qatar. It also
carries the AMSAT P4A amateur radio payload. The Falcon 9 first stage,
B1047, was on its second flight and landed successfully on the droneship
Of Course I Still Love You.

As of Nov 25, no TLE orbital data have been released for Es'hailsat-2 since the
first set of elements on Nov 15. However, reports from satellite radio
observers indicate that the satellite has reached its planned GEO orbit 
at 25.5E.


Beidou 42/43
------------

China's CALT launched a CZ-3B/YZ-1 from Xichang on Nov 18, placing
two CAST-built Beidou-3 satellites, M17 and M18 (Beidou Daohang
Weixing 42 and 43) in medium circular orbit.

Shiyan 6
--------

China's SAST launched a CZ-2D from Jiuquan on Nov 19 carrying five
satellites to low orbit. The main payload was Shiyan 6, reported by
China to be studying the space environment. Jiading-1, for SPACEOK of
Shanghai, is a test for the  Xiangyun LEO comms constellation. Tianzhi-1
is a satellite for the Institute of Software of the Chinese Academy of
Sciences. It carries a cloud computing system accessible to ground-based
users. Tianping-1A and 1B are ground system calibration test satellites,
probably for the Guoxing Yuhang company of Chengdu.

The CZ-2D second stage was deorbited.

Vega VV13
----------

Europe's small solid Vega launcher made its 13th flight from the Centre
Spatial Guyanais on Nov 21, placing the second French-build Moroccan
spy satellite, Mohammed VI-B, in orbit. The AVUM upper stage was
deorbited over the Indian ocean.

Insight at Mars
---------------

The Mars Insight probe and the two MarCO cubesats entered Martian space
at about 1640 UTC Nov 22. The hyperbolic orbits of the three probes were:

 Insight      7 x -16494 km x 13.5 deg
 MarCO-A   1625 x -18113 km x 20.9 deg
 MarCO-B   1749 x -18238 km x 17.6 deg

Insight will enter the Martian atmosphere at 1938 UTC and reach the surface at about
1946 UTC. The MarCO probes reach periares around the time of Insight's landing
and will relay data during the descent.

Meanwhile, the Hayabusa-2 probe remains 20 km from Ryugu. Osiris-REX continues
approaching Bennu, and reached a range of 78 km as of Nov 26.

Note
----

The IAU has asked me to point out that the informal name "Ultima Thule"
for 2014 MU69 is not an IAU-approved name for the object.

There is still no eighth payload cataloged from the Oct 29 CZ-2C launch. (Press
reports said there were eight, but only identified seven by name). 
I am beginning to conclude someone in the Chinese space program just cannot count.

It's also still unclear whether the SPP payload on the Oct 24 launch is one of the 
three cataloged debris objects from the launch, or another attached payload
on the rocket stage.


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

Oct 20 0145   BepiColombo )           Ariane 5ECA         Kourou ELA3    Probe        80A   S43653   170 x-78605 x  5.5 
              Mio         )                                              Probe        80A   A09204   170 x-78605 x  5.5 
Oct 24 2257   Hai Yang 2 02)          Chang Zheng 4B    Taiyuan          Rem.Sensing  81A   S43655   950 x   965 x 99.4 0600LT SSO
              Tangguo Guan )                                             Comms        81B   S43656   641 x   940 x 99.5
              SPP          )                                             Tech         81?  
Oct 25 0015   Kosmos-2528             Soyuz-2-1B        Plesetsk LC43/4  Sigint       82A   S43657   900 x   910 x 67.1
Oct 27 0800   Weilai                  Zhuque-1          Jiuquan          Tech         F02   F01530 -3090?x   334 x 97.6
Oct 29 0043   Zhongfa Haiyang W.)                                        Rem.Sensing  83A   S43662   510 x   523 x 97.5 0700LT SSO
              Xiaoxiang-1 02  TY1-02 )                                   Tech         83             510?x   520?x 97.5
              Xinghe          TY1-03 )                                   Imaging      83             510?x   520?x 97.5
              Changsha gaoxin TY4-01 ) Chang Zheng 2C   Jiuquan          Tech/Com     83H   S43669   510 x   523 x 97.5
              Zhaojin-1       TY4-02 )                                   Astronomy    83             510?x   520?x 97.5
              Tianqi-1          )                                        Comms        83             510?x   520?x 97.5
              UNKNOWN           )                                        Tech         83             510?x   520?x 97.5
              CubeBel-1         )                                        Comms        83E   S43666   505 x   524 x 97.5
Oct 29 0408   Ibuki 2       )                                            Climate      84B   S43672   597 x   617 x 97.9 1300LT SSO
              KhalifaSat    )          H2A 202          Tanegashima      Imaging      84F   S43676   592 x   612 x 97.8
              Diwata 2      )                                            Imaging      84H   S43678   587 x   599 x 97.8
              Ten-Koh       )                                            Tech         84A   S43671   600 x   619 x 97.8
              Aoi           )                                            Astronomy    84K?  S43681?  587 x   599 x 97.8
              AUTCube-2     )                                            Tech         84J?  S43679?  585 x   598 x 97.8
Oct 28 0615   DebrisSat-2                               RemDeb, LEO      Tech        9867PR S43680   399 x   404 x 51.6
Nov  1 1557   Beidou DW 41            Chang Zheng 3B    Xichang          Navigation   85A   S43683   197 x 35815 x 28.5
Nov  3 2017   Kosmos-2529             Soyuz-2-1B/Fregat Plesetsk LC43/4  Navigation   86A   S43687 19123 x 19163 x 64.8
Nov  7 0047   MetOp-C                 Soyuz-2-1B/Fregat CSG ELS          Weather      87A   S43689   806 x   807 x 98.7 0930LT SSO
Nov 11 0350   IRVINE01          )                                        Tech         88D   S43693   493 x   516 x 85.0
              CICERO-10         )     Electron          Mahia LC1        Weather      88A   S43690   499 x   517 x 85.0
              Lemur-2-Zupanski  )                                        Weather/Com  88F   S43695   495?x   515?x 85.0
              Lemur-2-Chanusiak )                                        Weather/Com  88H   S43697   495?x   515?x 85.0
              Proxima I         )                                        Com          88E   S43694   495?x   515?x 85.0
              Proxima II        )                                        Com          88G   S43696   495?x   515?x 85.0
              Pride of Bavaria  )                                        Tech         88C   S43692   495?x   515?x 85.0
Nov 14 1138   GSAT-29                 GSLV Mk III       Satish Dhawan SLP Comms       89A   S43698   181 x 35737 x 21.5
Nov 15 2046   Es'hailsat-2            Falcon 9          Kennedy LC39A     Comms       90A   S43700   201 x 37688 x 25.0
Nov 16 1814   Progress MS-10          Soyuz-FG          Baykonur LC1      Cargo       91A   S43702   186 x   226 x 51.6 Docked to ISS
Nov 17 0901   S.S. John Young         Antares 230       MARS LA0B         Cargo       92A   S43704   211 x   252 x 51.6
Nov 18 1807   Beidou DW42 )           Chang Zheng 3B/YZ1 Xichang          Navigation  93A   S43706 21523 x 22194 x 55.0
              Beidou DW43 )                                               Navigation  93B   S43707 21531 x 22194 x 55.0
Nov 19 2340   Shiyan 6   )                                                Unknown     94A   S43710   488 x   504 x 97.4 0600LT SSO  
              Jiading-1  )            Chang Zheng 2D    Jiuquan           Comms       94B?  S43711   489 x   504 x 97.4 0600LT SSO  
              Tianzhi 1  )                                                Tech        94C?  S43712   488 x   504 x 97.4 0600LT SSO  
              Tianping-1A)                                                Calib       94D?  S43713   487 x   504 x 97.4 0600LT SSO  
              Tianping-1B)                                                Calib       94E?  S43714   489 x   504 x 97.4 0600LT SSO  
Nov 21 0142   Mohammed VI-B           Vega              CSG ELV           Imaging     95A   S43717   601 x   606 x 98.0 1020LT SSO

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

The suborbital launches table includes known flights above 80 km.

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

Oct 26        FTM-45 Target     UNKNOWN            Kauai                 Target        150?      Pacific
Oct 26        FTM-45 KV         Aegis SM-3-IIA    DDG-113, Kauai         Interceptor   150?      FTM-45 intercept
Nov  7 0701   GT228GM           Minuteman 3        Vandenberg            Op. Test     1300?      Kwajalein?

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|  Jonathan McDowell                 |                                    |
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|  USA                               |  twitter: @planet4589              |
|                                                                         |
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