[JSR] Jonathan's Space Report, No. 780

Jonathan McDowell jcm at planet4589.com
Thu Jul 9 20:36:17 EDT 2020


Jonathan's Space Report
No. 780                                                            2020 Jul 9   Somerville, MA
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International Space Station
---------------------------

Expedition 63 continues.

The DARPA REDEYE-2 satellite was deployed at 1750:00 Jun 17. Deployment was by the Dextre SPDM, not the JRMS.
The SPDM extracted the Nanoracks Kaber deployer from the Kibo airlock slide table, and the satellite
was ejected from the Kaber. REDEYE-3 was deployed around 2110 UTC on Jun 23, using the same system.
REDEYE-1, 2 and 3 have the alternate nicknames PINOT, MERLOT and CABERNET. (You should not confuse
these with the 1961-1962 USAF/SAFSP sigint payloads GRAPE JUICE 1, 2 and 3.)

On Jun 26 Chris Cassidy and Bob Behnken made spacewalk US EVA-65 to replace batteries supporting the 1B solar array
channel, in the Integrated Equipment Assembly (IEA) on the S6 truss segment.
Cassidy used suit EMU 3006 and SAFER 15; Behnken used EMU 3004 and SAFER 18.
The airlock was depressurized at 1128 UTC with hatch open at 1131 UTC. At 1138 UTC, just after
Cassidy emerged from the airlock, his left wrist mirror (0.04 kg, 0.1 x 0.1 x 0.02m) floated off and
was lost. It's pretty small, so it may not get a catalog number.

The Canadarm-2 removed the EP9 external pallet (delivered by HTV-9) from the MBS POA and
positioned it near S6. The astronauts then moved batteries and adapter plates between S6 and EP9:
 at 1246 UTC, NiH battery 0075 was removed from S6/1B slot 1, and installed in EP9 slot X at 1300 UTC.
 at 1314 UTC, Li-ion battery 0025 was removed from EP9 slot A and installed in S6/1B slot 1 at 1329 UTC.
 at 1343 UTC, NiH battery 0076 was removed from S6/1B slot 2 and installed in EP9 slot A at 1415 UTC.
 at 1406 UTC, Adapter plate (unknown serial) was removed from EP9 slot A, and put in S6/1B slot 2 at 1417 UTC.
 at 1435 UTC, NiH battery 0091 was removed from S6/1B slot 3 and installed on the AP in slot 2 at 1442 UTC
 at 1500 UTC, Li-ion battery 0024 was removed from EP9 slot B and installed in S6/1B slot 3 at 1517 UTC.
 at 1535 UTC, NiH battery 0092 was removed from S6/1B slot 4 and installed in EP9 slot B at 1558 UTC.
 at 1553 UTC, Adapter plate (unknown serial) was removed from EP9 slot B and installed in S6/1B slot 4 at 1605 UTC.
 at 1645 UTC, NiH battery 0090 was removed from S1/1B slot 6 and installed on the AP on slot 4 at 1648 UTC.

The hatch was closed at 1736 UTC and the airlock repressurization began at 1739 UTC after 6h 11 min.

On Jul 1 Cassidy and Behnken made spacewalk US EVA-66, completing the 1B battery work.
Airlock depress 1108 UTC, hatch open 1112 UTC.
 At 1156 UTC, Li-ion battery 0026 was removed from EP9 slot D and installed in S6/1B slot 6 at 1207 UTC.
 At 1224 UTC, NiH battery 0089 was removed from S6/1B slot 5 and installed in EP9 slot D at 1245 UTC.
 At 1240 UTC, Adapter plate (unknown serial) was removed from EP9 slot D and installed in S6/1B slot 5 at 1248 UTC.
The astronauts then prepared the 3B worksite for the next spacewalk, routed some cables, and
attempted but failed to remove an old fixture from one of the solar array masts.
They closed the airlock hatch at 1711 UTC and repressurized the airlock at 1714 UTC after  6hr 6min.

On Jul 3 at 1553 UTC Progress MS-14 fired its engines to raise the ISS orbit 1 km for
debris collision avoidance (COLA). This was the first COLA burn for ISS since 2015.
The debris object 27923 (1987-079AG) was predicted to pass within 1 km of the station at 1828 UTC Jul 3
over the South Atlantic near the Falkland Islands. The object was one of 42 cataloged from the 1996 breakup
of a SOZ motor from a Sep 1987 Proton launch that put three Glonass satellites in orbit.

On Jul 8 at 1822 UTC the older Progress MS-13 cargo ship undocked from the Pirs module to complete
its mission. It fired its engines at 2131 UTC to deorbit over the South Pacific, with reentry at 2205 UTC.


GaoFen 9-03
-----------

The GaoFen 9 03 satellite was launched on Jun 17. It is a high resolution imaging satellite.
Two small satellites were also aboard: Zheda Pixing 3A from Zhejiang U., and HEAD-5
from HEAD Aerospace.

Beidou DW55
----------

The final Beidou-3 satellite was launched on Jun 23, completing China's flagship navigation
satellite system. Beidou DW55 is the third of the geostationary Beidou-3 satellites.
Beidou DW55 probably made its apogee burn on Jun 24; it was tracked on Jul 6 in
a 35764 x 35809 km x 3.1 deg GEO over 110.5 deg East.


GPS III SV03
------------

The third of the third generation GPS satellites was launched on Jun 30. A SpaceX Falcon 9
took off from Cape Canaveral at 2010 UTC with the first stage landing on the droneship Just Read The Instructions
at 2019 UTC. The second stage reached a 168 x 434 km parking orbit at 2018 UTC. A second burn
of the second stage boosted the payload to a 402 x 20197 km x  55 deg deployment orbit at 2115 UTC; the 4311 kg GPS
satellite separated from the stage at 2140 UTC and the stage fired for a third time a few minutes later
to lower its perigee into the atmosphere; it reentered south of S Africa at about 0230 UTC Jul 1.

As of Jul 9 no TLEs had been released for the payload since Jul 1, so it cannot yet be confirmed
whether the apogee burn was successful.


GaoFen DuoMo
-------------

On Jul 3 China's SAST launched a CZ-4B from Taiyuan with CAST's GaoFen DuoMo Weixing (High Resolution MultiMode
Satellite), carrying a 1 metre aperture imager, into a 1026 LTDN sun-synchronous orbit.
The BY70-2 (Baiyu-02) amateur radio cubesat was a secondary payload.

Electron Flight 13
------------------

Rocket Lab's Electron Flight 13, nicknamed 'Pics or it Didn't Happen', was launched on Jul 4 from New Zealand
but failed during second stage burn. It carried the Canon Electronics CE-SAT-1B, In-Space Missions' Faraday 1
6U cubesat, and five Planet imaging satellites, Flock 4e-1 to 5. The vehicle probably impacted 700 km S of Wellington.

Shiyan 6-02
-----------

China's SAST launched a CZ-2D from Jiuquan on Jul 4 with the Shiyan weixing 6 02 xing payload.
The satellite entered a 686 x 706 km x 98.2 deg sun-sync orbit with 0600 LTDN.

Ofeq' 16
--------

Israel launched the Ofeq'-16 spy satellite at 0100 UTC Jul 6. The satellite was soon located
by observers in a 331 x 604 km x 140.9 deg orbit.

Table of Recent Orbital Launches
 ----------------------------------
Date UT       Name            Launch Vehicle        Site            Mission       INTL.   Catalog  Perigee Apogee  Incl   Notes
Jun  4 0125   Starlink 1351     )          Falcon 9           Canaveral LC40  Comms        35A S45657-  291 x  365 x 53.0
              Starlink 1370     )                                                         35BM S45716      
              Starlink 1392-1423)
              Starlink 1433-1458)
              Starlink 1460     )
Jun 10 1831   Haiyang-1 D                  Chang Zheng 2C     Taiyuan LC9     Imaging      36A S45721   770 x  786 x 98.4
Jun 13 0512   USA 301  )                                                      Sigint?      37A S45723   590 x  590 x 97.8
              USA 302  )                                                      Sigint?      37B S45724   590 x  590 x 97.8
              USA 303  )                   Electron           Mahia LC1       Sigint?      37C S45725   590 x  590 x 97.8
              ANDESITE )                                                      Science      37D S45726   590 x  590 x 97.8
              RAAF M2PF)                                                      Tech         37E S45727   590 x  590 x 97.8
Jun 13 0921   Starlink 1391     )          Falcon 9           Canaveral LC40  Comms        38A          212 x  367 x 53.0
              Starlink 1459     )
              Starlink 1461-1513)
              Starlink 1516-1517)
              Starlink 1521     )
              Skysat 16         )                                              Imaging    38BL S45788  212 x 362 x 53.0
              Skysat 17         )                                              Imaging    38BN S45790  214 x 361 x 53.0
              Skysat 18         )                                              Imaging    38BM S45789  212 x 361 x 53.0
Jun 17 0719   GaoFen 9-03)                 Chang Zheng 2D     Jiuquan          Imaging    39A S45794   485 x 504 x 97.3
              HEAD-5     )                                                     Comms      39  S45795?  486 x 502 x 97.3
              ZDPS-3A    )                                                     Tech       39  S45796?  485 x 502 x 97.3
Jun 17 1750   REDEYE-2                                     ISS, LEO            Tech    9867RM          417 x 420 x 51.6
Jun 23 0143   Beidou DW55                  Chang Zheng 3B     Xichang          Nav        40A S45807   218 x35784x 28.4
Jun 23 2110?  REDEYE-3                                     ISS, LEO            Tech    9867RN S45809   417 x 420 x 51.6
Jun 30 2010   GPS III SV03                 Falcon 9           Canaveral LC40   Nav        41A S45854   387 x20168x 55.0
Jul  3 0310   GaoFen Duomo )               Chang Zheng 4B     Taiuyan   LC9    Imaging    42A S45856   631 x  649 x 98.0
              Baiyu-02     )                                                   Comms      42B S45857   631 x  649 x 98.0
Jul  4 2119   CE-SAT-1B  )                 Electron           Mahia LC1A       Imaging    F05 F01558 -5500 x  194 x 97.0
              Faraday 1  )                                                     Tech       F05 F01559 -5500 x  194 x 97.0
              Flock 4e-1 )                                                     Imaging    F05 F01560 -5500 x  194 x 97.0
              Flock 4e-2 )                                                     Imaging    F05 F01561 -5500 x  194 x 97.0
              Flock 4e-3 )                                                     Imaging    F05 F01562 -5500 x  194 x 97.0
              Flock 4e-4 )                                                     Imaging    F05 F01563 -5500 x  194 x 97.0
              Flock 4e-5 )                                                     Imaging    F05 F01564 -5500 x  194 x 97.0
Jul  4 2344   Shiyan 6-02                  Chang Zheng 2D      Jiuquan         Tech       43A S45859   685 x  707 x 98.2
Jul  6 0100   Ofeq'-16                     Shaviyt             Palmachim       Imaging    44A S45860   331 x  604 x140.9

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

A rare test of the French nuclear SLBM M51 was carried out on Jun 12.

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

Jun 12        M51 RV            M51             S617, Baie d'Audierne    Test         1200?      Atlantic Ocean

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