Jonathan's Space Report
No. 825 draft 2023 Aug 24 Somerville, MA
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International Space Station
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Expedition 69 continues.
On Aug 24 at 1500 UTC, the ISS made a space debris avoidance maneuver using
the Zvezda engines.
Progress MS-24 docked at the aft Zvezda port at 0345:23 UTC Aug 25.
Dragon C210 (Endurance) was launched on its third mission, Crew-7, on Aug 26.
Crew are Jasmin Mogbheli (NASA, commander), Andreas Mogensen (ESA, pilot),
Satoshi Furukawa (JAXA, MS1), Konstantin Borisov (Roskosmos, MS2).
Endurance docked at IDA-3/PMA-3 at 1316 UTC Aug 27.
Dragon C206 (Endeavour) undocked from IDA-2/PMA-2 at 1105 UTC Sep 3 with
the Crew-6 team of Stephen Bowen, Warren Hoburg, Sultan Al Neyadi and
Andrey Fedyaev. Endeavour splashed down in the Jacksonville recovery
area near 80.3W 30.9N at 0417:23 UTC. The Dragon trunk was left in a 401 x 409 km
orbit.
The Soyuz MS-24 spaceship, factory no. 11F732 No. 755, callsign Antares,
ISS mission 70S, was launched at 1544:35 UTC from Baykonur Area 31 on a
Soyuz-2-1a rocket, and separated from the third stage in orbit at
1553:24 UTC. Crew are Oleg Kononenko (Roskosmos, KDR), Nikolai Chub
(Roskosmos, BI1) and Loral O'Hara (NASA, BI2).
Soyuz MS-24 docked with the ISS at 1853:32 UTC on Sep 15.
Chinese Space Station
----------------------
The Tianzhou-5 cargo ship undocked from the Tianhe forward port at 0846 UTC Sep 11
and was deorbited the next day, reentering over the Pacific near 175E 14S at 0113 UTC
Sep 12.
Gushenxing-1
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The 8th flight of Xinghe Dongli Hangtian's Gushenxing-1 rocket continued the
vehicle's 100% success rate. It placed in orbit Changguang's wide field
imaging satellite Jilin-1 Kuanfu 02A. The KF02 series is lighter than
KF01, with a mass of only 230 kg but a resolution of 0.5m over a swath
of 150 km. The satellite was co-sponsored by Hong Kong U. of Science and
Technology and also called Xianggang keda-Xiongbin yi hao (HKUST -
Xiongbin-1).
The rocket's 9th flight was the first of the 'Gushenxing-1 Haishexing'
variant (Ceres-1 Sea Launcher, or Ceres-1S), launched from the DEFU15002
barge just offshore the city of Haiyang on Sep 5 with four IoT
satellites in the Tianqi series for Guodian Gaokeji.
The 10th flight, serial Y11, was launched on Sep 21 from Jiuquan but ended in failure.
The payload was the Jilin-1 GaoFen 04B satellite for Changguang.
Starlink
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Starlink Group 6-11 (22 sats) was launched from Canaveral on Aug 27.
Starlink Group 6-13 (22 sats) was launched from Canaveral on Sep 1.
Starlink Group 6-12 (21 sats) was launched from Kennedy Space Center on Sep 4.
Starlink Group 6-14 (22 sats) was launched from Canaveral on Sep 9.
Starlink Group 7-2 (21 sats) was launched from Vandenberg on Sep 12.
Starlink Group 6-16 (22 sats) was launched from Canaveral on Sep 16.
Starlink Group 6-17 (22 sats) was launched from Canaveral on Sep 20.
Starlink Group 6-18 (22 sats) was launched from Canaveral on Sep 24.
Chandrayaan-3
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My own estimate of the Chandrayaan-3 landing site, based on comparing
the LROC maps at ASU with the landing site images released by ISRO, is
32.3189E 69.3733S +/- 0.0020 deg. This is in close agreement with
estimates by Indian social media users and with the slightly less
precise value of 32.319E 69.373S reported by ISRO.
Note that this is NOT the `lunar south pole'. Indeed, since the ecliptic
axial tilt of the Moon is only 1.5 deg compared to Earth's 23.4 deg,
it's not even the `lunar antarctic' which would only be, by analogy with
terrestrial definition, the region south of 88.5S. However, it is by far
the most extreme latitude of any lunar soft landing to date.
The rover was deployed the day after landing and operated until Sep 2
when it was put in hibernation for the cold lunar night.
On Sep 2 at 2121 UTC the Vikram lander fired its engines for a 'hop'
experiment, reaching 0.4 metres apolune and 0.4 metres range. This recalls
a similar experiment done by NASA's Surveyor 6 on 1967 Nov 17.
SAST launches
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The first triplet of Yaogan 39 satellites was launched on Aug 31 to the
same 500 km, 35 deg orbit used by the Yaogan 35 and 36 triplets.
A second triplet went up on Sep 17.
The Yaogan 33-03 radar satellite was launched on Sep 6 to 0030 LTDN SSO.
Three Yaogan 40 satellites were launched on Sep 10 aboard a Chang Zheng 6A
with a stretched fairing.
Aditya-L1
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India's Aditya-L1 solar physics spacecraft was launched on Sep 2 to an elliptical
Earth orbit. It will use its own propulsion to reach the Sun-Earth L1 point towards
the end of 2023.
SDA-0B
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The US Space Development Agency's Tranche 0 launch 2 mission flew from
Vandenberg on Sep 2. Ten Lockheed Martin/Tyvak Wildfire (T0TL) data
relay sats and one York Space Systems Checkmate data relay sat were
aboard as part of the Transport Layer, and two SpaceX/Leidos BB missile
tracking satellites flew as part of the Tracking Layer. The Falcon 9
second stage was deorbited south of South Africa around 1658 UTC.
XRISM and SLIM
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JAXA launched H-IIA flight F47 on Sep 6. The second stage reached a 550 km orbit and
deployed the XRISM X-ray astronomy observatory; it then restarted and delivered the SLIM
lunar lander to a 500 x 98000 km orbit.
XRISM is a replacement for the failed Hitomi, and carries an X-ray microcalorimeter cooled
to a temperature of 0.05 K. This camera will proved high spectral resolution data on
cosmic X-ray sources. The observatory is confirmed to have deployed its solar panels
and is communicating with the ground.
SLIM is a JAXA test of precision-location lunar landing. The spacecraft will use
its own propulsion to raise its orbit, perform a lunar flyby and then coast to
a high apogee before returning to a weak lunar capture, a low lunar orbit and
finally a soft-landing attempt.
SILENT BARKER
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ULA launched Atlas V 551, serial AV-102, from Cape Canaveral pad 41 on Sep 10, carrying a joint
NRO/Space Force mission, SILENT BARKER, with three sats to monitor
other sats in GEO. The three-burn Centaur mission placed the payloads directly in near-GEO.
VICTUS NOX
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Firefly Aerospace launched its third Alpha rocket on Sep 15, carrying the VICTUS NOX payload
for the Space Force. The payload was placed in a 476 x 531 km sun-sync orbit with 18:04 local
time descending node; the second stage then was deorbited over the northern Pacific.
Electron
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On Sep 19 Rocket Lab's 41st Electron launch ended in failure. It appears stage 2 did not ignite.
The Capella Space radar sat payload was lost.
OSIRIS-REX
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The OSIRIS-REX asteroid sampler, returning from Bennu, entered the Earth's gravitational sphere
at 2200 UTC Sep 21 on a 22 x -33339 km x 43.3 deg hyperbolic orbit.
Table of Recent Orbital Launches
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Date UT Name Launch Vehicle Site Mission INTL. Catalog Perigee Apogee Incl Notes
Aug 2 0031 S.S. Laurel Clark Antares 230+ MARS LA0A Cargo 110A 177 x 304 x 51.6
Aug 3 0347 Fengyun 3-06 Chang Zheng 4C Jiuquan Weather 111A 801 x 809 x 98.8
Aug 3 0500 Galaxy 37 Falcon 9 Canaveral LC40 Comms 112A 143 x 56147 x 24.6
Aug 7 0241 Starlink Group 6-8 Falcon 9 Canaveral LC40 Comms 113 283 x 292 x 43.0
Aug 7 1319 Glonass-K2 No. 13L Soyuz-2-1B/Fregat Plesetsk Nav 114A 19133 x 19156 x 64.8
Aug 8 0357 Starlink Group 6-20 Falcon 9 Vandenberg SLC4E Comms 115 281 x 292 x 43.0
Aug 8 2253 Huanjing Jianzai 2-06 Chang Zheng 2C Taiyuan Imaging 116A 487 x 502 x 97.4
Aug 10 0403 Xiguang 1-01 Gushenxing-1 Jiuquan LC43/95A Imaging 117
Xingchi-1B Imaging 117
Henan Ligong 1 Imaging 117
Xi'an Hangtou 88 Imaging 117
Xi'an Hangtou 96 Imaging 117
Xi'an Hangtou 104 Imaging 117
Xi'an Hangtou 112 Imaging 117
Aug 10 2310 Luna-25 Soyuz-2-1B/Fregat Vostochniy PU1S Lunar 118A 340?x400000?x49?
Aug 11 0517 Starlink Group 6-9 Falcon 9 Canaveral LC40 Comms 119 283 x 292 x 43.0
Aug 12 1726 Ludi Tance 4A Chang Zheng 3B Xichang Radar 120A 184 x 35818 x 28.6
Aug 14 0532 Jiaotong 6 Kuaizhou-1A Xichang Comms 121A 693 x 704 x 45.0
Jiaotong 7 Comms 121B
Jiaotong 8 Comms 121C
Jiaotong 9 Comms 121D
Jiaotong 10 Comms 121E
Aug 14 1500? Kelpie-2? ION 11, SSO Comms 84BY 599 x 698 x 98.0
Aug 17 0336 Starlink Group 6-10 Falcon 9 Canaveral LC40 Comms 122 283 x 292 x 43.0
Aug 20 1745 Gao Fen 12-04 Chang Zheng 4C Jiuquan Radar 123A 596 x 601 x 97.9
Aug 22 0937 Starlink Group 7-1 Falcon 9 Vandenberg SLC4E Comms 124 283 x 294 x 53.1
Aug 23 0108 Progress MS-24 Soyuz-2-1a Baykonur LC31 Cargo 125A 188 x 224 x 51.7
Aug 23 1850? Manligyeong-1 F2 Cheonlima-1 Sohae Imaging F07 -5000? x 500 x 97?
Aug 23 2345 Capella 11 Electron Mahia LC1B Radar 126A 638 x 653 x 53.0
Aug 25 0459 Jilin-1 Kuanfu 02A Gushenxing-1 Jiuquan Imaging 127A 529 x 546 x 97.6
Aug 26 0727 Dragon Crew-7 Falcon 9 Kennedy LC39A Spaceship 128A 210 x 248 x 51.6
Aug 27 0105 Starlink Group 6-11 Falcon 9 Canaveral LC40 Comms 129 283 x 291 x 43.0
Aug 31 0736 Yaogan 39 hao 01 zu 01 xing Chang Zheng 2D Xichang Sigint? 130A 490 x 503 x 35.0
Yaogan 39 hao 01 zu 02 xing Sigint? 130
Yaogan 39 hao 01 zu 03 xing Sigint? 130
Sep 1 0221 Starlink Group 6-13 Falcon 9 Canaveral LC40 Comms 131 283 x 292 x 43.0
Sep 2 0620 Aditya-L1 PSLV-XL Satish Dhawan FLP Solar 132 242 x 19450 x 19.2
Sep 2 1425 Wildfire-01 Falcon 9 Vandenberg SLC4E Comms 133 942 x 948 x 8l.0
Wildfire-02 Comms 133 942 x 948 x 8l.0
Wildfire-03 Comms 133 942 x 948 x 8l.0
Wildfire-04 Comms 133 942 x 948 x 8l.0
Wildfire-05 Comms 133 942 x 948 x 8l.0
Wildfire-06 Comms 133 942 x 948 x 8l.0
Wildfire-07 Comms 133 942 x 948 x 8l.0
Wildfire-08 Comms 133 942 x 948 x 8l.0
Wildfire-09 Comms 133 942 x 948 x 8l.0
Wildfire-10 Comms 133 942 x 948 x 8l.0
Checkmate 10 Comms 133 942 x 948 x 8l.0
BB 3 Early Warn 133 942 x 948 x 8l.0
BB 4 Early Warn 133 942 x 948 x 8l.0
Sep 4 0247 Starlink Group 6-12 Falcon 9 Kennedy LC39A Comms 134 283 x 292 x 43.0
Sep 5 0934 Tianqi-21 Gushenxing-1HSX DEFU 15002, Haiyang Comms 135A 786 x 803 x 50.0
Tianqi-22 Comms 135B 786 x 803 x 50.0
Tianqi-23 Comms 135C 786 x 803 x 50.0
Tianqi-24 Comms 135D 786 x 803 x 50.0
Sep 6 1814 Yaogan 33-03 Chang Zheng 4C Jiuquan Radar 136A 680 x 688 x 98.2
Sep 6 2342 XRISM H-IIA Tanegashima Astronomy 137A 567 x 581 x 31.0
SLIM Lunar probe 137D 560 x 97819 x 31.1
Sep 9 0312 Starlink Group 6-14 Falcon 9 Canaveral LC40 Comms 138 283 x 292 x 43.0
Sep 10 0430 Yaogan 40-01 Chang Zheng 6A Taiyuan Sigint? 139A 797 x 812 x 86.0
Yaogan 40-02 Sigint? 139C
Yaogan 40-03 Sigint? 139E
Sep 10 1247 USA 346 Atlas V 551 Canaveral LC41 Surveill 140A 35800? x 36100? x 0
USA 347 Surveill 140B
USA 348 Surveill 140C
Sep 12 0657 Starlink Group 7-2 Falcon 9 Vandenberg SLC4E Comms 141 284 x 295 x 53.1
Sep 15 0228 VICTUS NOX Alpha Vandenberg SLC2W Tech 142A 476 x 531 x 97.3
Sep 15 1544 Soyuz MS-24 Soyuz-2-1a Baykonur LC31 Spaceship 143A 197 x 228 x 51.6
Sep 16 0338 Starlink Group 6-16 Falcon 9 Canaveral LC40 Comms 144 283 x 292 x 43.0
Sep 17 0413 Yaogan 39-01 Chang Zheng 2D Xichang LC3 Sigint 145A 487 x 500 x 35.0
Yaogan 39-02 Sigint 145C?
Yaogan 39-03 Sigint 145E?
Sep 19 0655 Capella 12 Electron Mahia 1B Radar F08 -6120 x 132 x 51.1
Sep 20 0338 Starlink Group 6-17 Falcon 9 Canaveral LC40 Comms 146 283 x 292 x 43.0
Sep 21 0459 Jilin-1 GF04B Gushenxing-1 Jiuquan Imaging F09 -6200 x 100? x 97
Sep 24 0338 Starlink Group 6-18 Falcon 9 Canaveral LC40 Comms 147 283 x 292 x 43.0
Table of Recent Suborbital Launches
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Date UT Payload/Flt Name Launch Vehicle Site Mission Apogee/km Target
Aug 10 1517 Galactic 02 Spaceship Two Sp. America EBR3 Tourist 88 Sp. America
Aug 16 1021 ROCKSAT-X Terrier Imp.Mal. Wallops I. LA2 Education Unk Atlantic
Aug 17 1000 RockOn Terrier Imp.Orion Wallops I. LA2 Education 117 Atlantic
Sep 6 0826 GT247 Minuteman 3 Vandenberg LF10 Test 1300? Kwajalein
Sep 8 1522 Galactic 03 Spaceship Two Sp. America EBR3 Tourist 88 Sp. America
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| Jonathan McDowell | |
| Somerville MA 02143 | inter : planet4589 at gmail |
| USA | twitter: @planet4589 |
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