Jonathan's Space Report No. 619 2009 Dec 17 Somerville, MA ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Shuttle and Station -------------------- After Atlantis returned to Earth, remaining on the Station were commander Jeff Williams (NASA) and astronauts Frank De Winne (ESA/Belgium), Robert Thirsk (CSA/Canada), Roman Romanenko (FKA/Russia), and Maksim Suraev (FKA/Russia). Expedition 22 began at 1500 UTC on Nov 24; Williams assumed command from De Winne at 1812 UTC. On Dec 1 at 0356 UTC Romanenko, De Winne and Thirsk undocked from Station aboard Soyuz TMA-15, which had been docked to the Zarya nadir port since May 29. The deorbit engine was fired at 0626 UTC. Soyuz TMA-15 landed at 0715:34 UTC. The MIM-2 Poisk module was launched to the Station using a Progress service module or 'priborno-agregatniy otsek' (PAO) as its propulsion unit. The combination was called Progress M-MIM2. On Dec 8 at 0016 UTC, the Progress M-MIM2 PAO separated from the Poisk, leaving the latter's docking port available for use by visiting vehicles. Three orbits later, at 0448 UTC, the PAO main engine fired for its deorbit burn and the PAO reentered over the Pacific at 0527 UTC. [Although the PAO flew separately for three complete orbits, no new entry was added to the satellite catalog and it appears that no decay notice for 36086 (2009-060A) has been issued. As orbits were issued for 36086 on Dec 12 and 13, it can be assumed that 36086 continues to refer to the Poisk module and that the PAO has so far been omitted from the catalog.] WISE ---- NASA's Wide Field Infrared Explorer (WISE) astronomy satellite was launched from Vandenberg on Dec 14 aboard a two-stage Delta II into a 524 x 533 km x 97,5 deg orbit. If all goes well, WISE will pop its telescope cover off in late December and begin an infrared all-sky survey at 3.4, 4.6, 12 and 22 microns. For the time being, astronomers are still working with the 1983 IRAS survey, although the results from the Japanese Akari satellite which surveyed the sky at 10, 20, 60 and 170 microns are expected to be public soon. WISE will catalog sources 100 times fainter than either previous satellite. The spacecraft has a 40cm telescope cooled to 12K by a cryostat filled with solid hydrogen. PI for the mission is Ned Wright of UCLA, whose work I've followed since my thesis days at Cambridge studying high-redshift cosmic dust, a subject Ned's the expert on. The science team includes galaxy expert Pete Eisenhardt, who I only just discovered overlapped with me in Cambridge, and brown-dwarf-fan and instrument-builder-extraordinaire Amy Mainzer. WISE will be returning key data on all these specialties - here's wishing the best of luck to the team! IGS --- Japan's latest Information Gathering Satellite, the Optical-3 vehicle, was launched on Nov 28 by H-IIA serial number 16. The IGS is an imaging spy satellite operated by the Cabinet Satellite Intelligence Center. Intelsat IS-15 -------------- IS-15 was launched by Land Launch Zenit-3SLB from Baykonur on Nov 30. The satellite is an Orbital Star-2 and will provide services to Russia, the Middle East and the Indian Ocean region. The first two burns of the 3SLB put IS-15 in a 200 x 35907 km x 48.9 deg transfer orbit; a final third burn occurred at 0314 UTC. By Dec 13 IS-15 was in a 35797 x 35791 km orbit at 63.2E. Eutelsat W7 ------------ Eutelsat W7 had reached a 10726 x 35609 km x 12.2 deg orbit by Nov 26; when next tracked, on Dec 16, the object was in a 35785 x 35787 km x 0.1 deg geostationary orbit at 50.1E. Several other Eutelsat satellites were relocated recently. Hot Bird 2, launched in 1996 and renamed Eurobird 9 in 2007, was moved from 9E to 48E and renamed again to Eutelsat W48. Hot Bird 3, launched in 1997 and renamed Eurobird 4 earlier this year, was relocated to 75E as part of a deal with Asia Broadcast Satellite and re-renamed W75/ABS-1B. There have been a large number of satellite on-orbit resales and renamings, and one of these days I may make a comprehensive table of them, but it will have to be a much less busy day than any I've had lately. WGS 3 ----- The third Wideband Global Satcom was launched on Dec 6 on a Delta 4 into supersynchronous transfer orbit of around 439 x 66981 km x 24.0 deg. The 5990 kg Boeing 702-class satellite is managed by the USAF and operated by Space Command/Schriever AFB; it carries US Army-led X-band and Ka-band communications payloads. The satellite is also designated USA 211. Yaogan Weixing 7 ---------------- China launched a Yaogan Weixing on Dec 9: 'yaogan weixing qihao', Remote-Sensing Satellite Number 7 appears to be similar to YW-2 and YW-4, which are thought to have been imaging satellites. Orbit of YW-7 is 623 x 659 km x 97.8 deg. Yaogan Weixing 8 ---------------- On Dec 15, another Yaogan launch, this time from the Taiyuan space center. YW-8 ('yaogan weixing bahao') is in a 1192 x 1204 km x 100.5 deg sun-synchronous orbit, a new orbital regime for Chinese satellites. It is probably a low resolution imaging satellite, either for civilian Earth resource studies or military weather forecasting - Western analysts have suspected that previous YW satellites had an at least partly military mission. The 50 kg amateur radio satellite Xi Wang 1 was also placed in orbit. Russian missile tests --------------------- Widespread reports of a strange spiral in the sky over Norway on Dec 9 were due to the Russian Navy's Bulava missile test. It has been suggested that the third stage lost guidance and began to spiral during its rocket burn. Jim Oberg has suggested that the spiral pattern could even have been a deliberate evasive maneuver in a test of technology to defeat US missile defense; I can't rule that out, but I feel it's unlikely. Russian authorities finally confirmed the failed launch on Dec 10. The Russian Rocket Forces had more success than the Navy the next day, when Topol', the land-based sibling of Bulava, made a successful flight from Kapustin Yar to Sary Shagan. GLONASS -------- Three Uragan-M navigation satellites, Nos. 730, 733, 734 were launched on Dec 14 to supplement the GLONASS navigation system. As usual, they have been given code names in the Kosmos series, Kosmos-2456 to 2458. Launch was on a Proton with the now-rarely-used Blok DM-2 upper stage. The satellites are in 19130 x 19140 km x 64.8 deg orbits. Table of Recent (orbital) Launches ---------------------------------- Date UT Name Launch Vehicle Site Mission INTL. DES. Nov 2 0151 SMOS ) Rokot Plesetsk Rem.Sensing 59A PROBA-2 ) Tech 59B Nov 10 1422 Poisk Soyuz-U Baykonur LC1/5 Station mod.60A Nov 12 0245 SJ-11-01 Chang Zheng 2C Jiuquan Tech 61A Nov 16 1928 Atlantis Space Shuttle Kennedy LC39A Spaceship 62A Nov 20 1044 Kosmos-2455 Soyuz-U Plesetsk Sigint 63A Nov 23 0655 Intelsat IS-14 Atlas V 431 Canaveral SLC41 Comms 64A Nov 24 1419 Eutelsat W7 Proton-M/Briz-M Baykonur LC200/39 Comms 65A Nov 28 0121 IGS O-3 H-2A Tanegashima Imaging 66A Nov 30 2100 Intelsat IS-15 Zenit-3SLB Baykonur LC45/1 Comms 67A Dec 6 0147 WGS 3 Delta 4M+(5,4) Canaveral SLC37B Comms 68A Dec 9 0842 Yaogan Weixing 7 Chang Zheng 2D Jiuquan Imaging? 69A Dec 14 1038 Kosmos-2456 ) Proton-M/DM2 Baykonur LC81 Navigation 70A Kosmos-2457 ) Navigation 70B Kosmos-2458 ) Navigation 70C Dec 14 1409 WISE Delta 7320 Vandenberg SLC2W Astronomy 71A Dec 15 0231 Yaogan Weixing 8) Chang Zheng 4C Taiyuan Imaging? 72A Xi Wang 1 ) Comms 72B Table of Recent (suborbital) Launches ---------------------------------- Date UT Payload/Flt Name Launch Vehicle Site Mission Apogee/km Nov 1 Sineva RV ) Sineva? K-117, Barents Op. Test 1000? x4? Nov 5 ARAV C Talos Castor Kauai Target 300? Nov 14 0230? NASA 36.252UH Black Brant IX White Sands XR Astron 300? Nov 22 1115 TEXUS 46 VSB-30 Esrange Micrograv 252 Nov 29 0900 TEXUS 47 VSB-30 Esrange Micrograv 264 Nov 30 0128 Manu Karere Atea-1 Gt Mercury I Test 120? Dec 9 0645? RV Bulava TK-208, White Sea Test 500? Dec 10 1135 RV Topol' Kapustin Yar Test 1000? Dec 16 Sejjil RV Sejjil 2 Iran Test 800? .-------------------------------------------------------------------------. | Jonathan McDowell | phone : (617) 495-7176 | | Somerville MA 02143 | inter : jcm@host.planet4589.org | | USA | jcm@cfa.harvard.edu | | | | JSR: http://www.planet4589.org/jsr.html | | Back issues: http://www.planet4589.org/space/jsr/back | | Subscribe/unsub: mail majordomo@host.planet4589.org, (un)subscribe jsr | '-------------------------------------------------------------------------'