Jonathan's Space Report No. 631 2010 Aug 10 Somerville, MA ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Shuttle and Station ------------------- The Expedition 24 crew are commander Aleksandr Skvortsov and flight engineers FE-2 Tracy Caldwell-Dyson, FE-3 Mikhail Kornienko, FE-4 Doug Wheelock, FE-5 Fyodor Yurchikin, and FE-6 Shannon Walker. The Soyuz TMA-18, Soyuz TMA-19, Progress M-05M, and Progress M-06M ships are docked to the ISS. Thermal control system Loop A, one of the two independent cooling systems on the Station, is currently shut down following failure of its ammonia pumping system. On Jul 27, FE-3 Kornienko and FE-5 Yurchikin carried out ISS spacewalk VKD-25 (Russian spacewalk 25) from the Pirs module. The airlock was depressurized at around 0359 UTC, and the hatch opened at 0411. The astronauts went to the aft end of Zvezda and replaced the old Klest-154 video camera with a new one. The camera is used to image the European ATV cargo ships during their approach to docking with Zvezda. They then connected up cables between the new Rassvet module and the rest of the station, and finally at 1040 UTC Yurchikin, standing near the Pirs airlock, jettisoned the old Klest-154 into space. He and Kornienko then went back inside, closing the hatch at 1054 UTC and repressurizing Pirs at 1058 UTC, for a duration of 6h43m hatch open/close, and 6h59m depress/repress. The Klest-154 is about 0.3m in size, but I don't know its mass. Three objects were cataloged in orbit after the EVA; two of them were probably the camera, and a cable bundle handle that floated free at 0545 UTC. On Jul 31, a pump module on the S1 truss failed, forcing some of the Station's equipment to be shut down. The module is a key component in the Station's cooling system loop A and was launched integrated with S1 in Oct 2002 on mission STS-112. A similar module on the P1 truss, launched Nov 2002 on STS-113, is still operating as part of the backup cooling loop B. There are four spares on the Station: the third pump module was launched on mission STS-121 in Jul 2006 and installed on the ESP-2 spares platform during a spacewalk on 2006 Jul 10. On mission STS-127 a fourth module was carried up, and installed on the ESP-3 spares platform on 2009 Jul 20. Two further modules are on the ELC-1 and ELC-2 logistics carriers on P3 and S3, launched in 2009 on STS-129. The pressurized modules where the astronauts live are cooled by a water-based system which is still working, but the ammonia cooling loops keep the equipment on the station's truss cool, particularly the electrical power generation equipment used to run all the experiments; so, even if the second loop also failed, the habitable modules wouldn't directly overheat, but the station would lose power, so NASA considers it urgent to repair the system. On Aug 7 Wheelock and Caldwell-Dyson made a spacewalk from the Quest airlock in suits EMU 3005 and 3009 respectively. The airlock was depressurized (0.7 psi at 1114 UTC) and at 1117 UTC the hatch was opened. The intention was to replace the S1 pump module with the spare PM on ESP-2. In the event, problems removing the inaptly named 'quick disconnects' on the ammonia plumbing delayed the operation, which will be continued in subsequent spacewalks. Leaking ammonia flakes from the fluid lines sprayed near the astronauts, but their suits were not seriously contaminated. The astronauts returned to the airlock and closed the hatch at about 1911 UTC with repressurization at 1922 UTC, after checking for ammonia contamination. The official NASA spacewalk time was 8hr 3 min; actual time below 0.7psi was about 8hr 8min, of which only 7hr 11min was spent outside the airlock. A second repair spacewalk is expected on Aug 11. Kosmos-2462 ----------- Russia's Kobal't-M class imaging satellite, Kosmos-2462, completed its mission on Jul 21 and landed in either Russia or Kazakhstan at around 0910 UTC. The spacecraft made its last orbit raising burn on Jul 11, to 186 x 348 km x 67.1 deg. On Jul 18 it lowered its orbit from 183 x 330 km to 182 x 279 km, in preparation for landing; three debris pieces were also tracked briefly in orbit around Jul 20. The spacecraft is thought to carry two small recoverable film capsules; the second was presumably ejected shortly before the Jul 18 burn, while the first may have been recovered on or around Jun 9. Plausible capsule deorbit times on descending passes over Russia are 2010 Jun 9 at about 0425 and 2010 Jul 17 at about 1720 UTC, with recoveries circa 30 min later. Lifetime of Kosmos-2462 was 96 days, within the range of 76-107 days seen on the 5 earlier Kobal't-M missions between 2004 and 2009. Beidou ------- The fifth ('di wu ke') Beidou Daohang Weixing (North Star Navigation Satellite) was launched from Xichang on Jul 30 by a CZ-3A rocket. It is the first Beidou targeted for an inclined geosynchronous orbit. The CZ-3A was launched on an azimuth of around 140 deg, not used previously from Xichang, and entered a circa 190 x 400? km x 55 deg parking orbit about ten minutes after launch. The third stage then restarted after a brief 4 minute coast, to enter a 189 x 35850 km x 55.1 deg transfer orbit. BDW5 used its onboard engine to circularize its path on Aug 2; by Aug 4 it was in a 35652 x 35959 km x 55.1 deg orbit. Japan is planning to launch the Michibiki satellite into a somewhat similar orbit next month. After the early Syncom test satellites at 34 deg, the first highly inclined circular-orbit geosynchronous satellites were the LES 8 and 9 military communications satellites (1976) at 25 deg. More recently the Solar Dynamics Observatory entered a 28 deg orbit. The IUE and SDO observatories and the Sirius Radio satellites have used elliptical inclined 24-hour orbits. Ariane L554 ----------- Arianespace launched vehicle L554 - an Ariane 5ECA model - from Kourou on Aug 4 carrying two African satellites, both built by Thales Alenia Space (Cannes) using the Spacebus 4000 platform. Nilesat 201, for the Egyptian Nilesat organization, has a launch mass of 3200 kg and a Ku-band/Ka-band broadcasting payload. Rascom-QAF-1R has Ku and C band payloads for telecom, broadcasting and internet service to Africa for RASCOM, the Regional African Satellite Communications Organization; it has a launch mass of 3050 kg. The mission saw the first use of the Sylda 5K dual-launch adapter, an enlarged version of the usual Sylda 5A. Nilesat 201 sat on top of the Sylda during launch with RASCOM stashed inside it. The Ariane 5 core stage flew to a -1441 x 259 km x 9.2 deg transfer trajectory. The ESC-A upper stage completed its burn at 2123 UTC and deployed the satellites into a 260 x 35770 km x 2.0 deg geostationary transfer orbit. Yaogan ------ China's Yaogan Weixing shi hao (YW-10) satellite was launched by a CZ-4C from Taiyuan on Aug 9 into a 607 x 621 km x 98.7 deg orbit. Video of the launch included a payload illustration which suggests that the satellite carries a radar imaging instrument. Suborbital flights ------------------ The SUMI (Solar Ultraviolet Magnetograph Investigation) payload was launched on flight NASA 36.213NS from White Sands on Jul 30 - congratulations to my friend Jonathan Cirtain who led the development of this instrument. The French Navy launched an MSBS M51 missile from the coast of Bretagne into the Atlantic on Jul 10, and the Russian Navy launched two Sineva missiles from the submarine K-114 Tula on Aug 6. Black Brant X flight NASA 12.073GT, launched on Aug 4, was a qualification test of the Nihka solid motor, reported by NASA Wallops as 'a new manufacturing run with some minor design changes'. The Black Brant X consists of a Terrier booster and Black Brant sustainer, just like the Black Brant IX, but with a Nihka third stage. Planned apogee was 691 km. The '12' series NASA sounding rocket launches are experimental and one-off rocket tests; the first was NASA 12.01GT in May 1961, which tested a nosecone on a Nike booster. Regular BB X launches are in the NASA '35' series. Table of Recent (orbital) Launches ---------------------------------- Date UT Name Launch Vehicle Site Mission INTL. DES. Jun 2 0159 SERVIS 2 Rokot Plesetsk LC133/3 Tech 23A Jun 2 1553 Beidou DW4 Chang Zheng 3C Xichang Navigation 24A Jun 3 2200 Arabsat 5B Proton-M/Briz-M Baykonur LC200/39 Comms 25A Jun 4 1845 Dragon Qual Unit Falcon 9 Canaveral SLC40 Test 26A Jun 10 0801 STSAT-2B Naro-1 Naro Tech F02 Jun 15 0139 SJ-12 Chang Zheng 2D Jiuquan Science? 27A Jun 15 1442 Prisma-Mango ) Dnepr Yasniy Tech 28B Prisma-Tango ) Tech 28B Picard ) Solar phys 28A BPA-1 ) Navigation 28C Jun 15 2135 Soyuz TMA-19 Soyuz-FG Baykonur LC1 Spaceship 29A Jun 21 0214 Tandem-X Dnepr Baykonur LC109 Radar 30A Jun 22 1900? 'Ofeq-9 Shaviyt-1 Palmachim Imaging 31A Jun 26 2141 Arabsat 5A ) Ariane 5ECA Kourou ELA3 Comms 32A Chollian ) Comms/Weather 32B Jun 30 1535 Progress M-06M Soyuz-U Baykonur LC1 Cargo 33A Jul 10 1840 Echostar XV Proton-M/Briz-M Baykonur LC200/39 Comms 34A Jul 12 0352 Cartosat 2B ) PSLV-CA Sriharikota Imaging 35A Alsat 2A ) Imaging 35D AISSAT-1 ) Navigation 35C TISat-1 ) Tech 35B Studsat ) Tech 35G Jul 31 2130 Beidou DW5 Chang Zheng 3A Xichang Navigation 36A Aug 4 2059 Nilesat 201 ) Ariane 5ECA Kourou Comms 37A RascomQAF-1R) Comms 37B Aug 9 2249 Yaogan Weixing 10 Chang Zheng 4C Taiyuan Radar 38A Table of Recent (suborbital) Launches ---------------------------------- Date UT Payload/Flt Name Launch Vehicle Site Mission Apogee/km Jun 6 2225 BVT-1? GBI Vandenberg Test 300? Jun 8 USN RV x 8? Trident II SSBN 738, ETR Op Test 1000? Jun 8 USN RV x 8? Trident II SSBN 738, ETR Op Test 1000? Jun 9 USN RV x 8? Trident II SSBN 738, ETR Op Test 1000? Jun 9 USN RV x 8? Trident II SSBN 738, ETR Op Test 1000? Jun 16 1001 GT200-GM1? Minuteman III Vandenberg LF10 Op Test 1300? Jun 24 1000 NASA 41.088UO Terrier Orion Wallops LA2 Education 120? Jun 29 0732 FTT-14 Target FMA (Scud?) MLP, Kauai Target 80? Jun 30 1040 GT201GM RV Minuteman III Vandenberg LF04 Op Test 1300? Jul 10 0732 RV x 6? MSBS M51 S614, Baie d'Audierne Test 1000? Jul 11 0450 NASA 36.265UG Black Brant IX White Sands IR Astron 320? Jul 30 1821 NASA 36.213NS Black Brant IX White Sands Solar EUV 246? Aug 4 0915 NASA 12.073GT Black Brant X Wallops I. Test 693? Aug 6 RV x4? Sineva Tula, Barents Op Test 1000? Aug 6 RV x4? Shtil'? Tula, Barents Op Test 1000? .-------------------------------------------------------------------------. | Jonathan McDowell | phone : (617) 495-7176 | | Somerville MA 02143 | inter : jcm@www.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: http://www.planet4589.org/mailman/listinfo/jsr | '-------------------------------------------------------------------------'