Jonathan's Space Report No. 661 2012 Jul 1 Somerville, MA USA -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- International Space Station ---------------------------- On the ISS, Expedition 31, with commander Oleg Kononeko, and astronauts FE-1 Gennadiy Padalka, FE-2 Sergey Revin, FE-3 Joe Acaba, FE-5 Andre Kuipers and FE-6 Don Pettit, continued until Jun 30. On Jul 1 at 0448 UTC Soyuz TMA-03M undocked from Rassvet under the command of Kononenko, with Expedition 32 beginning on ISS under the command of Padalka. Kononenko, Kuipers and Pettit returned to Earth aboard TMA-03M on Jul 1. The deorbit burn at 0719 UTC lowered the Soyuz's perigee into the atmosphere The orbital module and service module (BO and PAO) separated from the descent module (SA) at 0747 UTC. All three objects reentered beginning at around 0751 UTC, with the BO and PAO burning up and the heat-shielded SA carrying the crew touching down in Kazakhstan at 0814:48 UTC. Padalka, Revin and Acaba are expected to be joined by Sunita Williams, Yuriy Malenchenko and Akido Hoshide aboard Soyuz TMA-05M later this month. Shenzhou and Tiangong ---------------------- The Shenzhou-9 crew undocked from Tiangong 1 at 0309 UTC on Jun 24 and backed off to 300 m, then reapproached first to 140m and then to a manually controlled redocking carried out by Liu Wang at 0449 UTC. (These times are based on the live TV reports; the post-landing press conference gave slightly later times.) On Jun 28 at 0122 UTC Shenhzhou 9 undocked again for the last time; a brief manual re-rendezvous to 140m was carried out, possibly around 0300 UTC? Return to Earth came on Jun 29 with orbital module sep at about 0116 UTC, retrofire at 0117 UTC, service module sep at 0138 UTC and landing at 0202 UTC in Siziwangqi, a district in Ulanqab prefecture in Inner Mongolia. Bob Christy has a nice summary of the reentry at http://www.zarya.info/Diaries/China/Shenzhou/9/Shenzhou9Landing.php The Shenzhou 9 orbital module ('guidao cang') was jettisoned into a 333 x 354 km orbit, but has not yet been tracked by the US. NuSTAR ------ The NuSTAR hard X-ray observatory extended its ten-meter mast on Jun 21 from 1743 to 1809 UTC, a critical mission event which places its twin optics modules at the correct distance from the focal plane detectors. It was reported on Jun 28 that the first light observation of Cyg X-1 was successful and shows a good image. NROL-38 ------- On Jun 20 a Lockheed Martin Atlas V 401, serial AV-023, was launched from Cape Canaveral on the NROL-38 mission for the National Reconnaissance Office. Analysts expect that the payload is a Satellite Data System communications and data relay satellite to be placed in geostationary orbit. The payload will probably be given the cover name USA 236. The Centaur stage is believed to have been deorbited after completing one elliptical revolution. NROL-15 ------- On Jun 29 the NROL-15 mission was launched on a Delta 4 Heavy, the first to use uprated RS-68A engines instead of the usual RS-68. The new engines were developed especially for the NROL-15 payload, which is therefore assumed to be unusually heavy. Evidence suggests a launch to geostationary orbit; the mission is likely to be a geostationary signals intelligence satellite. It is unclear whether the extra performance needed reflects an evolutionary (`block') change in the existing series of payloads (referred to as Advanced ORION by outside observers) or indicates an entirely new system of some kind, either as a successor or as a parallel system with a different mission. In my satellite tables I will assume for the sake of definiteness that it is a block change, and denote it `Heavy ORION' for the time being. The Delta 4's 5-meter second stage is also believed to be in near-geosynchronous orbit. Following on from the list in JSR 605: Probable satellites in the RHYOLITE lineage -------------------------------------------- For the satellites launched after 1990, no codename has been leaked. (The codename, of course, changes each time it is leaked). The 'Block' is a name made up by me to indicate suspected changes in satellite design. RH Desig. Unclass. Name Launch date Launch vehicle flight Codename Block 1 1970-46A OPS 5346 (Program 720) 1970 Jun 19 Atlas Agena S/N 5201A RHYOLITE RHYOLITE 2 1973-13A OPS 6063 (Program 720) 1973 Mar 6 Atlas Agena S/N 5202A RHYOLITE RHYOLITE 3 1977-114A OPS 4258 (Program 472) 1977 Dec 11 Atlas Agena S/N 5504A AQUACADE RHYOLITE 4 1978-38A OPS 8790 (Program 472) 1978 Apr 7 Atlas Agena S/N 5505A AQUACADE RHYOLITE 5 1985-10B USA 8 1985 Jan 24 Shuttle Mission 51-C MAGNUM MAGNUM 6 1985-90B USA 48 1989 Nov 23 Shuttle Mission STS-33 ORION MAGNUM 7 1995-22A USA 110 1995 May 14 Titan-Centaur 17 Advanced ORION 8 1998-29A USA 139 1998 May 9 Titan-Centaur 18 Advanced ORION 9 2003-41A USA 171 2003 Sep 9 Titan-Centaur 20 Advanced ORION 10 2009-01A USA 202 2009 Jan 18 Delta 337 (4H/RS68) Advanced ORION 11 2010-63A USA 223 2010 Nov 21 Delta 351 (4H/RS68) Advanced ORION 12 2012-34A USA 237 2012 Jun 29 Delta 360 (4H/RS68A) Heavy ORION X-37B ----- The US Air Force's X-37B flight vehicle 2, which had been in orbit since March 2011, landed on the runway at Vandenberg Air Force Base at 1248 UTC on June 16. The spacecraft had been in a 330 x 340 km x 42.8 deg orbit until a series of burns lowered it to 280 km during late May; hobbyist observers last saw it on May 31. The circa-5000-kg robot spaceplane, launched on an Atlas V, carried a secret payload. Flight vehicle 1, which flew in orbit from Apr-Dec 2010, is being prepared for its second spaceflight. The X-37B project is managed by the USAF's Rapid Capabilities Office in Washington; the vehicle was developed by Air Force Research Laboratory offices AFRL/RV at Kirtland AFB, New Mexico and AFRL/RB (Air Vehicles) at Wright-Patterson AFB, Ohio, with Boeing Phantom Works. This sets it apart from other USAF space projects which are mostly managed out of Los Angeles, and indicates a closer connection with the `air' side of the Air Force. 2012 Orbital launch summary to date ----------------------------------- 35 launches: China Russia USA Europe India Japan Iran N Korea 10 9 9 3 1 1 1 1(fail) Suborbital launches -------------------- Sounding rocket NASA 36.286 was launched from White Sands on Jun 23 carrying a payload to calibrate the SDO-EVE experiment on the Solar Dynamics Observatory satellite. Principal investigator is Tom Woods of U. Colorado. The rocket measured the spectrum and brightness of the Sun in the EUV and soft X-ray bands. Meanwhile, Jonathan Cirtain of NASA-Marshall is preparing two more solar rockets, NASA 36.284NS (SUMI) and NASA 36.272NS (Hi-C), for launch at White Sands in the coming weeks. Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory was also involved in building the Hi-C payload and SAO scientist Kelly Korreck is in New Mexico for the launch. Good luck Jonathan and Kelly! Germany's SHEFEX-II hypersonics experiment was launched on Jun 22 from Andoya in Norway. The two-stage Brazilian VS-40 rocket, with S-40 and S-44 motors, launched the reentry vehicle northwards into the Arctic. Table of Recent (orbital) Launches ---------------------------------- Date UT Name Launch Vehicle Site Mission INTL. DES. May 4 1842 AEHF 2 Atlas V 531 Canaveral SLC41 Comms 19A May 6 0710 Tianhui 1-02 Chang Zheng 2D Jiuquan SLS2 Imaging 20A May 10 0706 Yaogan Weixing 14) Chang Zheng 4B Taiyuan Imaging 21A Tiantuo 1 ) Tech/Sci 21B May 15 0301 Soyuz TMA-04M Soyuz-FG Baykonur LC1/5 Spaceship 22A May 15 2213 JCSAT 13 ) Ariane 5ECA Kourou ELA3 Comms 23A? Vinasat 2 ) Comms 23B? May 17 1405 Kosmos-2480 Soyuz-U Plesetsk LC16 Imaging 24A May 17 1639 Shizuku ) H-2A Tanegashima Y1 Climate 25A Arirang-3 ) Imaging 25B SDS-4 ) Tech 25C? Horyu-2 ) Tech 25D May 17 1912 Nimiq 6 Proton-M/Briz-M Baykonur LC81/24 Comms 26A May 22 0744 Dragon C2 ) Falcon 9 Canaveral LC40 Cargo 27A Celestis 11) Burial 27B May 26 1556 Zhongxing 2A Chang Zheng 3B/E Xichang Comms 28A May 29 0731 Yaogan Weixing 15 Chang Zheng 4C Taiyuan Radar? 29A Jun 1 0523 Intelsat IS-19 Zenit-3SL Odyssey, Pacific Comms 30A Jun 13 1600 NuStar Pegasus XL L-1011,Kwajalein Astronomy 31A Jun 16 1037 Shenzhou 9 Chang Zheng 2F Jiuquan Spaceship 32A Jun 20 1228 USA 236 (NROL-38) Atlas 5 401 Canaveral SLC41 Comms? 33A Jun 29 1315 USA 237 (NROL-15) Delta 4H Canaveral SLC37B Sigint? 34A Table of Recent (suborbital) Launches ---------------------------------- Date UT Payload/Flt Name Launch Vehicle Site Mission Apogee/km May 10 0618 FTM-16/2A Target Terrier Orion Kauai Target 100? May 10 0620? FTM-16/2A KV SM-3 Block IB USS Lake Erie Intercept 100? May 23 0615 RV Topol'-M2? Plesetsk R&D 1000? Jun 7 1739 RV Topol' Kapustin Yar Op Test 1000? Jun 21 1040 NASA 41.101UO Terrier Orion Wallops I. Education 117 Jun 22 1918 SHEFEX II VS-40 Andoya Hypersonic 177 Jun 23 1930 NASA 36.286UE Black Brant 9 White Sands Solar 300? .-------------------------------------------------------------------------. | Jonathan McDowell | phone : (617) 495-7176 | | Somerville MA 02143 | inter : planet4589 at gmail | | 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 | '-------------------------------------------------------------------------'