Jonathan's Space Report No. 632 2010 Sep 22 Somerville, MA ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Shuttle and Station ------------------- Soyuz TMA-18, Soyuz TMA-19, Progress M-05M, and Progress M-07M are docked to the ISS. On Aug 11 Wheelock and Caldwell-Dyson made a second spacewalk from the Quest airlock to change out the S1 pump module. The old pump was removed from the truss and carried to a storage point, the POA (Payload and ORU Accommodation) unit on the Mobile Base System. The astronauts also prepared the new pump module on the ESP-2 platform. The airlock was depressurized at 1221 UTC with hatch open from 1226 to 1936 UTC, and repress at 1954 UTC. A third spacewalk on Aug 17 [ERRATUM: AUG 16] completed the work, with pump module S/N 004 moved from ESP-2 and installed in the S1 truss. The Quest hatch was opened at 1019 UTC and closed at 1737 UTC, with repressurization at 1740 UTC. The failed pump module, S/N 002, is still stashed on the MBS POA and will remain there for the time being. (If someone knows the serial numbers for the PMs on P1 and ESP-3, please let me know.) Progress M-06M undocked from Zvezda at 1121 UTC on Aug 31 to begin the free flying part of its mission. It was deorbited at 1213 UTC on Sep 6. Progress M-07M was launched on Sep 10 and docked with Zvezda at 1158 UTC on Sep 12. Tango ------ Sweden's Prisma Target satellite, Tango, separated from the main Prisma satellite Mango on Aug 11 at 1751 UTC to begin formation flying experiments. Note that the European Space Agency's Cluster FM8 satellite is also called Tango. Prisma-Tango is in a 784 x 787 km x 98.3 deg orbit; Cluster-Tango is in a 1856 x 130941 km x 129.6 deg orbit, close to its dance partners Samba, Salsa and Rumba. AEHF ---- The US Air Force's first Advanced EHF communications satellite was launched on Aug 14. AEHF 1 is a Lockheed Martin A2100M satellite with a launch mass of around 6200 kg. The AEHF constellation's SHF and EHF communications payloads will replace the Milstar satellite system launched in the 1990s. AEHF 1's Lockheed Martin/ULA Atlas V launch vehicle AV-019 was a model 531 variant with three strapon solid motors; the first burn of the Centaur upper stage reached a 167 x 1281 km x 27.8 deg orbit at 1121 UTC. Centaur restart at 1129 UTC pushed AEHF 1 into a 221 x 50179 km x 22.2 deg deployment orbit. Large burns with the liquid bipropellant apogee thruster was intended to raise the orbit initially followed by several months of burns from AEHF 1's Hall-thruster electric propulsion system. However, the bipropellant thruster cannot be operated and instead a series of small burns with a lower thrust monopropellant hydrazine engine, using the same hydrazine tank, will be needed. Many A2100 class satellites have used AMPAC's LEROS 1 engine, but AEHF 1 uses a different brand of apogee thruster, the BT-4 developed by Japan's IHI Aerospace. This thruster is also flown on Orbital's Star 2 satellites. Investigation has not yet revealed whether the fault is in the thruster itself or some other part of the propulsion system that interacts with the thruster. According to Ted Molczan on the SeeSat list, hobbyists have tracked AEHF following six hydrazine burns to date; on Sep 7 AEHF 1 was in a 1146 x 49994 km x 20.0 deg orbit; on Sep 20 it was in a 4546 x 49981 km x 15.4 deg orbit. Tianhui ------- The Tianhui yi hao weixing (Mapping Satellite 1) was launched from Jiuquan on Aug 24. The satellite was built by the Hangtian Dongfanghong Weixing YG (Spaceflight East Is Red Satellite Corp.) and is for research, mapping and land resource surveys. On Sep 21 it was in a 486 x 504 km x 97.4 deg orbit. SJ-12 ----- China's Shi Jian 12 satellite, which was launched into a 600 km polar orbit on Jun 15, carried out a close pass with the SJ-6/3A (Shijian liuhao sanzu A xing) satellite on Aug 19. Igor Lissov has pointed out that SJ-6/3A showed a very small orbital period increase following the pass, indicating that the spacecraft may have come into physical contact. On Sep 21 SJ-12 was in a 580 x 606 km x 97.8 deg orbit. Glonass ------- Three Uragan-M satellites, probably Nos. 736 to 738, were launched from Baykonur on Sep 2 to supplement the Glonass navigation constellation. They will probably be given the cover names Kosmos-2464 to 2466. The Proton-M launch vehicle placed the DM-2 upper stage in a 155 x 176 km parking orbit; after two burns the payloads were deployed in a 19115 x 19140 km x 64.8 deg orbit. Zhongxing 6A ------------ The Zhongxing (Chinasat) 6A satellite, also known as Xinnuo liuhao (Sinosat 6) was launched on Sep 4 by Chang Zheng 3B from Xichang into a 197 x 41886 km x 25.2 deg geostationary transfer orbit. The DFH-4 class satellite was built by CAST/Beijing for Zhongguo weixingtongxin jituangongsi (China Satcom Group). It carries C and Ku band communications payloads. The Sinosat broadcasting satellites Xinnuo 1 and 3, previously operated by the Xinnuo weixing TG, have been renamed Zhongxing 5B and 5C since that company's merger into China Satcom. Xinnuo 2 was retired in 2008 and decommissioned in Nov 2009. By Sep 21 Zhongxing 6A was in a 35775 x 35798 km x 0.4 deg orbit at 126E. Gonets ------- Three small Strela-3/Gonets-class satellites were launched into 1497 x 1507 km x 82.5 deg orbits on Sep 8. One is a civilian Gonets-M; the other two, given Kosmos names, are a 17F13 Strela-3 and the newer 14F132 model (Strela-3M or Rodnik?), and are part of the corresponding military constellation. The satellites were launched by the Rokot vehicle, which is based on Khrunichev's UR-100NU missile (known as the SS-19 in the West) with a Briz-KM upper stage. This is the 15th orbital Rokot launch and the 5th since the start of 2009, reflecting an increased flight rate as the Kosmos-3M and Tsiklon-3 are phased out. QZSS ---- Japan's first Quasi-Zenith Satellite System craft (Jun tenchou eisei shogou ki, QZSS 1), was launched on Sep 11. QZSS 1 is named 'Michibiki' ('guiding light'). It carries an L-band navigation payload to augment GPS and a C-band payload for communications; the satellite's special inclined geosynchronous orbit will spend time directly overhead Japan, providing a better signal to receivers whose view of GEO satellites on the southern horizon is blocked by tall buildings. The satellite is 4100 kg wet, 1800 kg dry and was built by Mitsubishi Electric (MELCO) at Kamakura. The satellite is controlled by JAXA from a ground station on Okinawa. The H-IIA rocket put QZSS in a roughly 280 x 280 km x 31.8 deg parking orbit at 1129 UTC; after a second burn at 1141 UTC the satellite was deployed into a 280 x 35336 km x 31.8 deg path; the on board engine was then used to circularize the trajectory and increase the inclination.By Sep 20 Michibiki was in a 32065 x 38982 km x 41.0 deg orbit with a period of 23h 42min. Suborbital flights ------------------ The RAISE (Rapid Acquisition Imaging Spectropgraph) instrument was launched from White Sands on Aug 23 as flight NASA 36.219US. RAISE was developed by Don Hassler of SWRI and Glenn Laurent of U. Colorado to take ultraviolet spectra of the Sun. On Aug 20, Iran launched Qiam-1, thought to be a modified version of the Shahab-2 missile with a new guidance system and no tail fins. Japan's JAXA launched the T-REX (Tether Technology Rocket Experiment) payload on a single stage S-520 rocket from the Uchinoura Space Center at Kagoshima on Aug 30. The 580 kg payload separated into three components: 'mother' and 'daughter' spacecraft separated by a 300-meter-long electrodynamic tether, and the small Tethered Space Robot connected to the daughter, I believe by another, smaller tether. The payloads fell in the Pacific after a ten-minute flight. On Sep 17, the USAF launched a Minuteman missile with a single reentry vehicle (either a Mk 12 or a Mk 21) on a suborbital flight from Vandenberg to an ocean impact area 320 km southwest of Guam. On Sep 21, NASA launched the SubTEC-III technology experiment package on a Terrier Orion from Wallops. Resurs-DK --------- The Resurs-DK satellite, which has been in a 355 x 573 km orbit since shortly after its launch in 2006 Jun, raised its orbit at around 1656 UTC on Sep 10 to a circular 567 x 573 km x 69.9 deg. Resurs-DK is a Russian remote sensing satellite; it also carries the Italian PAMELA antimatter detector. USA 215 ------- Lockheed Martin's Atlas AV-025 was launched from Vandenberg Air Force Base on Sep 21, carrying the National Reconnaissance Office's USA 215 (NROL-41) payload into a retrograde low Earth orbit. It is suspected that the payload may be a radar imaging satellite. The Centaur second stage was probably deorbited over the South Pacific on the first orbit. Table of Recent (orbital) Launches ---------------------------------- Date UT Name Launch Vehicle Site Mission INTL. DES. 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 Aug 14 1107 AEHF SV-1 Atlas V 531 Canaveral SLC41 Comms 39A Aug 24 0710 Tianhui-1 Weixing Chang Zheng 2D Jiuquan Imaging 40A Sep 2 0053 Kosmos-2464 ) Proton-M/DM2 Baykonur LC81/24 Navigation 41A Kosmos-2465 ) Navigation 41B Kosmos-2466 ) Navigation 41C Sep 4 1614 Zhongxing 6A Chang Zheng 3B Xichang Comms 42A Sep 8 0330 Kosmos-2467 ) Rokot/Briz-KM Plesetsk Comms 43A Gonets-M ) Comms 43B Kosmos-2468 ) Comms 43C Sep 10 1022 Progress M-07M Soyuz-U Baykonur LC31 Cargo 44A Sep 11 1117 Michibiki H-IIA 202 Tanegashima Nav/Comm 45A Sep 21 0403 USA 215 Atlas V 501 Vandenberg SLC3E Radar? 46A Table of Recent (suborbital) Launches ---------------------------------- Date UT Payload/Flt Name Launch Vehicle Site Mission Apogee/km 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 1515 RV x4? Sineva Tula, Barents Op Test 1000? Aug 6 1515 RV x4? Sineva Tula, Barents Op Test 1000? Aug 20 Shahab RV Qiam-1 ? Iran Test 100? Aug 23 1757 NASA 36.219US Black Brant IX White Sands Solar UV 295 Aug 30 2000 S-520-25 S-520 Uchinoura Tether test 309 Sep 1 RV Scud? Point Mugu? Target 100? Sep 17 1003 GT202GM Minuteman 3 Vandenberg LF09 Op test 1300? Sep 21 1307 NASA 41.082NP Terrier Orion Wallops I. Tech 130? .-------------------------------------------------------------------------. | 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 | '-------------------------------------------------------------------------'