Jonathan's Space Report
No. 788 draft 2021 Jan 5 Somerville, MA
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Space Activities in 2020
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My annual summary https://planet4589.org/space/papers/space20.pdf is now available.
International Space Station
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Expedition 64 continues under the command of Sergey Ryzhikov.
On Dec 19 at 2344 UTC the Canadarm-2 extracted the Nanoracks Bishop
Airlock (NRAL) from the Dragon CRS-21 trunk, and at about 0330 UTC Dec 20 it
was berthed to the Tranquility module.
On Jan 6 at 1225 UTC the Canadarm-2 unberthed the S.S. Kalpana Chawla cargo ship (mission Cygnus NG-14)
from Unity nadir, at at 1511 UTC released it into orbit.
Cargo Dragon CRS-21 undocked from IDA-3 at 1405 UTC Jan 12. It jettisoned its trunk into orbit
probably at about 0030 UTC Jan 14; began its deorbit burn at 0037 UTC; and landed in
the Gulf of Mexico at 0126 UTC at about 28.6N 83.9W. It returned spacesuit EMU 3008 to Earth
along with a further 1872 kg of cargo.
PSLV-C50
--------
India launched PSLV-C50 on Dec 17 with a communications satellite,
CMS-01, to subsynchronous transfer orbit. CMS-01 was previously known as
GSAT-12R. With this and EOS-1 (formerly RISAT-2BR2) ISRO is moving
towards renaming new satellites with blander names for some reason.
CMS-01 carries an extended C-band comms payload for regional service.
The satellite was tested at 77.5E and then on Jan 10 began moving again
to a long-term location.
OneWeb
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36 more OneWeb internet satellites were launched on Dec 18 aboard a Soyuz from Vostochniy. The launch was
Starsem flight ST29, the first Starsem launch from the far eastern site.
NROL-108
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SpaceX launched a Falcon 9 from Kennedy Space Center on Dec 18 carrying the NROL-108 mission
for the US National Reconnaissance Office. Two payloads, USA 312 and 313, were deployed; one has been
tracked by hobbyists in a 519 x 540 km x 51.4 deg orbit. This is well above the USA 276 satellite
launched in 2017, currently in a 383 x 391 km x 50.0 deg orbit.
The first stage returned to a landing at Cape Canaveral's Landing Zone 1.
Chang Zheng 8
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The first launch of the new Chang Zheng 8 (Long March 8) rocket was
successful on Dec 22. CZ-8 has a core stage, two side boosters, and a
LOX/LH2 upper stage derived from the CZ-3B third stage. The main payload
was Xinjishu Yanzheng 7, a technology satellite. The launch also
deployed:
Haisi-1, a 185 kg satellite with a C-band radar payload - the first
TY-MINISAR satellite from Tianyi Research (Spacety), for CETC38
(the China Electronics Technology 38th Research Institute).
Yuanguang, a 12U cubesat also from Tianyi carrying a space tribology
payload for the Hubei University of Technology and a GNSS-RO meteorology
payload for Tianjin Yunyao Aerospace Tech Co.;
Tianqi Xingzuo 08, a 40 kg satellite for IoT and financial data
relay for Guodian Gaokeji YG; also called Ping'an-1
due to a collaboration between GG and the Ping'an bank.
ET-SMART-RSS, also called Zhixing 1A, a 10 kg 6U cubesat for
Ethiopia's ESSTI remote sensing institute
built by Zhixing Kongjian Keji YG (Smart Satellite Tech. Co.)
(Thanks to Andrew Jones for some of this info.)
Yaogan 33
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China's SAST/Shanghai launched a Chang Zheng 4C from Jiuquan on Dec 27 into sun-synchronous orbit.
Previous SSO CZ-4B/C missions from Taiyuan dropped launch debris on other countries,
prompting the switch to Jiuquan. The payload is not related to the Yaogan 33 which failed
to reach orbit in 2019 - the name is being reused. The new payload is thought to be
a SAST radar satellite of a new series, but details are unclear for now.
A small secondary payload, called `Micro-Nano Technology Test Satellite', was also carried.
The satellite adjusted its orbit to maintain a 9800 km distance from YG-33.
CSO 2
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The second CSO (Composant Spatiale Optique) spy satellite for the French defense agency DGA
was launched on Dec 29 aboard an Arianespace Soyuz-ST-A from the Centre Spatial Guyanais.
No orbital data were available as of Jan 18.
Turksat 5A
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Turksat-5A, an all-electric-propulsion Eurostar E3000EOR with a launch
mass of 3500 kg, carries a Ku-band communications payload for Turk
Telecom. It was launched to supersynchronous geotransfer orbit on Jan 8.
The Falcon 9 first stage landed on the Just Read The Instructions
droneship.
As of Jan 13, Turksat 5A was in a 514 x 55036 km x 17.5 deg orbit after a small
perigee raise on Jan 10.
Launcher One
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Virgin Orbit carried out Launcher One's second test flight on Jan 17 - with complete success.
The Boeing 747 carrier plane `Cosmic Girl' took off from Mojave Air and Space Port at 1838 UTC
and flew out over the Pacific near San Nicolas Island. Drop was at 1938:51 UTC.
The second stage completed its first burn about 1948 UTC, reaching a 187 x 521 km x 60.7
deg transfer orbit. A second burn at about 2034 UTC put the vehicle in a 500 km orbit
and the cubesat payloads were separated.
The payloads are:
CACTUS 1, a 3U from Capitol Tech U., Maryland, with an experiment to use aerogel to capture
and characterize micro-space-debris.
CAPE 3, a 1U cubesat with an educational communications payload from U. Louisiana-Lafayette.
EXOCUBE 2 (CP12), a 3U cubesat from Cal Poly with a space weather payload.
MITEE 1, a U. Michigan 3U cubesat with a 10-meter-deployable tether.
PolarCube, a 3U cubesat from U. Colorado/Boulder with a radiometer/spectrometer for
surface and atmosphere temperature measurement.
Q-PACE, a 3U cubesat from U. Central Florida with a microgravity accretion physics experiment
Fox-1E/RadFXSat-2 from AMSAT-NA and Vanderbilt U. with an amateur radio payload and a radiation exposure experiment.
PICS 1 and PICS 2 from Brigham Young University, Passive Inspection Cubesats meant to image
the LauncherOne final stage and its deployments.
TechEdSat-7, a 2U cubesat with an Exobrake for drag brake reentry tests. TES-7 also carries
a CUBIT, (Cubesat Identity Tag), a DARPA RFID tag to aid in cubesat identification. I'm
enthusiatic about this since this sort of technology is badly needed to help sort out the
satellite catalog. TES-7 is led by NASA-Ames and San Jose State.
Tiantong-1 03
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China's third Tiantong-1 S-band mobile comms satellite was launched on Jan 19 to geotransfer orbit.
Electron 18
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Rocket Lab launched their 18th Electron from New Zealand on Jan 20, placing a communications
satellite in orbit. The launch was purchased by OHB Group on behalf of an unknown customer
thought to be Shanghai Spacecom Satellite Technology Ltd., which is related in some
way to the German KLEO Connect company.
Starlink
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60 more Starlink satellites were launched on Jan 20 by a Falcon 9 from Kennedy Space Center.
Kosmos-2536
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Kosmos-2536 (called Kosmos-2538 by Space-Track) had remained close,
probably docked, to Kosmos-2535 since Oct 21; on Dec 8 it began a series
of departures and returns to distances from 40 to 400 km.
Table of Recent Orbital Launches
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Date UT Name Launch Vehicle Site Mission INTL. Catalog Perigee Apogee Incl Notes
Dec 2 0133 FalconEye 2 Soyuz ST-A CSG ELS Imaging 90A S47226 597 x 599 x 97.9 1030 LT
Dec 3 0114 Gonets-M No. 30) Soyuz-2-1B/Fregat Plesetsk LC43/4 Comms 91A S47227 1486 x 1506 x 82.5
Gonets-M No. 31) Comms 91B S47228 1487 x 1506 x 82.5
Gonets-M No. 32) Comms 91C S47229 1484 x 1505 x 82.5
Kosmos-2548 ) Tech 91D? S47230 1481 x 1508 x 82.5
Dec 3 1510 Chang'e-5 Shangsheng Qi Louville Omega North, Luna Probe U02 D1048 Lunar orbit
Dec 6 0358 Gaofen 14 Chang Zheng 3B/G5 Xichang Imaging 92A S47231 485 x 509 x 97.4 1030 LT
Dec 6 1617 Dragon CRS-21 Falcon 9 Kennedy LC39A Cargo 93A S47233 192 x 211 x 51.7
Dec 9 2014 Xiaoji ) Chang Zheng 11 Xichang Astron 94A S47234 588 x 604 x 29.0
Xiaomu ) Astron 94B S47235 587 x 604 x 29.0
Dec 11 0109 USA 311 Delta 4 Heavy Canaveral SLC37B Sigint 95A S47237 35800?x 35800?x 0
Dec 13 1730 SXM-7 Falcon 9 Canaveral SLC40 Comms 96A S47240 234 x 19380 x 27.0
Dec 14 0550 GVM Angara A5 Plesetsk LC35/1 Tech 97A S47242 36923 x 37594 x 0.1
Dec 15 1009 Strix-Alpha Electron Mahia LC1A Radar 98A S47253 489 x 511 x 97.4
Dec 15 2055 Astra Test Payload Astra Rocket 3.2 Kodiak LP3B Test F09 F01577 -1100 x 380 x 98.1
Dec 17 1011 CMS-01 PSLV-XL Satish Dhawan SLP Comms 99A S47256 273 x 20882 x 17.8
Dec 18 1227 OneWeb SL102 ) Soyuz-2-1b/Fregat Vostochniy Comms 100A S47258 428 x 442 x 87.5
OneWeb SL109-SL111) to
OneWeb SL114 ) 100AM S47293 442 x 454 x 87.5
OneWeb SL117-SL147)
Dec 19 1400 USA 312 ) Falcon 9 Kennedy LC39A ? 101A S47294 519 x 540 x 51.4
USA 313 ) ? 101B S47295 ? x ? x 51.4
Dec 21 0438 XJY 7 ) Chang Zheng 8 Wenchang LC201 Radar 102C? S47298 503 x 515 x 97.4
Haisi-1 ) Radar 102 503 x 515 x 97.4
Tianqi-08 ) Comms 102 503 x 515 x 97.4
Yuanguang ) Tech 102 503 x 515 x 97.4
ET-SMART-RSS ) Imaging 102 503 x 515 x 97.4
Dec 27 1544 Yaogan 33 Chang Zheng 4C Jiuquan LC43/94 Radar? 103A S47302 682 x 686 x 98.3
Dec 29 1642 CSO 2 Soyuz ST-A CSG ELS Imaging 104A S47305 480? x 480?x 97.3
Jan 8 0215 Turksat 5A Falcon 9 Canaveral LC40 Comms 01A S47306 288 x 55049 x 17.7
Jan 17 1938 CACTUS 1 ) Tech 02 492 x 518 x 60.7
CAPE 3 ) LauncherOne Cosmic Girl, Pacific Tech 02
ExoCube 2 ) Tech 02
MiTEE 1 ) Tech 02
PolarCube ) Tech 02
Q-PACE ) Tech 02
TechEdSat-7 ) Tech 02
RadFxSat-2 ) Tech 02
PICS 1 ) Tech 02
PICS 2 ) Tech 02
Jan 19 1625 Tiantong-1 03 Chang Zheng 3B Xichang Comms 03A S47321 182 x 35815 x 28.5
Jan 20 0726 GMS-T Electron Mahia LC1 Comms 04A S47346 1140 x 1281 x 89.9
Jan 20 1302 Starlink 1952 ) Falcon 9 Kennedy LC39A Comms 05 256 x 284 x 53.0
Starlink 2011 )
Starlink 2017 )
Starlink 2034 )
Starlink 2045-2047)
Starlink 2049-2050)
Starlink 2055 )
Starlink 2069-2071)
Starlink 2076-2077)
Starlink 2079-2082)
Starlink 2084-2086)
Starlink 2088-2089)
Starlink 2092-2094)
Starlink 2096-2106)
Starlink 2108-2115)
Starlink 2117-2124)
Starlink 2127-2128)
Starlink 2130 )
Starlink 2133-2135)
Table of Recent Suborbital Launches
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The US DoD reports a Russian direct-ascent antisatellite (ASAT) test on Dec 16. I understand
the missile was not tested against a target satellite; at most just a `point in space' target.
NOTAMs suggest launch was between 0100 and 0600 UTC. Unclear what the apogee was, but possibly
a few hundred km.
Date UT Payload/Flt Name Launch Vehicle Site Mission Apogee/km Target
Dec 9 RV Yars Plesetsk Op. Test 1000? Kura
Dec 9 RV x 4? Sineva K-18, Barents Sea Op. Test 1000? Kura?
Dec 12 RV x 4 Bulava K-551, Sea of Okhotsk Op. Test 1000? Chiza
Dec 12 RV x 4 Bulava K-551, Sea of Okhotsk Op. Test 1000? Chiza
Dec 12 RV x 4 Bulava K-551, Sea of Okhotsk Op. Test 1000? Chiza
Dec 12 RV x 4 Bulava K-551, Sea of Okhotsk Op. Test 1000? Chiza
Dec 16 Nudol KV? Nudol' Plesetsk ASAT test 300? Laptev Sea
Jan 14 1717 RSS First Step New Shepard West Texas Test 106 West Texas
Jan 16 Sejjil RV Sejjil ?, Iran Op. Test 800? Indian Ocean
Jan 16 Sejjil RV Sejjil ?, Iran Op. Test 800? Indian Ocean
Jan 16 Sejjil RV Sejjil ?, Iran Op. Test 800? Indian Ocean
Jan 16 Emad RV Emad ?, Iran Op. Test 400? Indian Ocean
Jan 16 Emad RV Emad ?, Iran Op. Test 400? Indian Ocean
Jan 16 Ghadr RV Ghadr ?, Iran Op. Test 400? Indian Ocean
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| Jonathan McDowell | |
| Somerville MA 02143 | inter : planet4589 at gmail |
| USA | twitter: @planet4589 |
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