Jonathan's Space Report No. 683 2013 Jul 30, Somerville, MA --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- International Space Station ---------------------------- Expedition 36 is continuing. The crew are commander Pavel Vinogradov, Flight Engineers FE-2 Alexandr Misurkin, FE-3 Chris Cassidy, FE-4 Yurchikin, FE-5 Parmitano and FE-6 Nyberg. Ferry ship Soyuz TMA-08M is at Poisk and TMA-09M at Rassvet. Cargo ship ATV-4 is at the Zvezda module and Progress M-20M is at the Pirs module. Progress M-18M undocked from the Pirs module at 2053 UTC on Jul 25 and was deorbited over the South Pacific 3 hours later, with debris ocean impact around 0042 UTC Jul 26. Progress M-20M was launched from Baykonur on Jul 27 at 2045 UTC into a 189 x 218 km x 51.6 deg orbit and carried out a series of maneuvers to reach the ISS orbit of 413 x 419 km and dock with the Pirs module 5hr 41min after launch. Unusually, the US did not release any orbital data for Progress M-20M during its flight to the ISS. IRNSS-1A --------- India's navigation satellite is now in inclined geostationary orbit at 35702 x 35870 km x 27.0 deg, orbiting over the 52 to 58 deg E range. IRIS ---- NASA's IRIS ultraviolet solar observatory opened its telescope door on Jul 17, and has taken its first images of the solar transition region. MUOS 2 ------ The second Mobile User Objective System satellite was launched on Jul 19 into geostationary transfer orbit (possibly around 3800 x 35786 km x 19.1 deg according to estimates by Ted Molczan). MUOS 2 provides UHF communications links for the US Navy. The satellite is built by Lockheed Martin and has a mass of around 6700 kg full 3800 kg dry. It probably reached geostationary orbit in late July. Chinese triple launch --------------------- A CZ-4C rocket launched on Jul 19 placed three experimental satellites in a 666 x 673 km x 98.1 deg sun-synchronous orbit with an 06:42 local time descending node. The SJ-15 satellite is thought to be carrying out observations of space debris, while SY-7 is testing a robotic arm. debris. The CX-3 small satellite is thought to have been built by the Chinese Academy of Sciences and may be carrying technology experiments and/or serve as a target for the robotic arm tests. Ariane launch -------------- Ariane vehicle 569, on flight VA214, placed the Alphasat and Insat 3D satellites in a 224 x 35827 km x 3.5 deg geostationary transfer orbit on Jul 25. Alphasat is a major joint project between the European Space Agency and the maritime satellite operator Inmarsat. The new Alphabus class spacecraft is intended to demonstrate advanced technologies for ESA, including a laser communications system and radio communications links in Q and V band, while carrying a useful `extended L-band' payload to add to Inmarsat's satellite broadband capacity. The Alphabus propulsion system features what I believe is the first flight of the new Astrium/Lampoldshausen 500N EAM (European Apogee Motor), a MON/MMH system with an Isp of about 325s. Alphasat has a launch mass of 6650 kg; dry mass is probably around 3500 kg. By Jul 30 Alphasat was in a 25608 x 35809 km x 0.3 deg orbit. Insat 3D carries a meteorological payload for the Indian Space Research Organization. In addition to a 6-channel imager and a 19-channel sounder, the satellite has a data relay system for Earth-based meteo stations and a Satellite Aided Search and Rescue transponder. Insat 3D is 2090 kg full, 935 kg dry. On Jul 27 Insat 3D raised its orbit to 15780 x 35800 km x 0.7 deg, and on Jul 28 it reached 31800 x 35795 km x 0.02 deg, although US tracking seems to have missed these orbit manuevers. Delta 114 reentry ------------------ Delta 114 reentered over Africa on Jul 14, with debris landing near the Zimplats platinum mine (about 18.7S 30.4E) in the Mhondoro district of Zimbabwe south of Harare. Delta 114 was a Model 2914 Delta launch vehicle launched from Cape Canaveral on 1975 Aug 27, and placed the French-German Symphonie 2 satellite in orbit. The second stage made two burns to a 410 x 2020 km x 25.3 deg orbit; the third stage then fired to get to geostationary transfer orbit. By April this year, the Delta 114 second stage orbit had decayed to a nearly-circular 300 x 410 km and rapid decay set in, with the last orbit data on Jul 13 showing 174 x 185 km x 25.3 deg. SpaceTrack's TIP decay notice gives a reentry time of Jul 14 0600 UTC +/- 2 min, over the Gulf of Guinea. Extrapolating the final ground track shows that reentering debris would have passed over central Zimbabwe at around 0612 UTC. Reports from Zimbabwe indicate multiple high altitude sonic booms heard on Jul 14, with photographs of what appears to be a dented second stage propellant tank found on the ground. Erratum - the leaky spacesuit ------------------------------ EMU 3011, which leaked water into Luca Parmitano's helmet during the recent spacewalk, had three previous station tours, not two. Here is its flight history: Flight 1 STS-79 1996 Sep 16-1996 Sep 25 (Apt, not used) Flight 2 STS-83 1997 Apr 4-1997 Apr 8 (Spacelab, Gernhardt, not used) Flight 3 STS-94 1997 Jul 1-1997 Jul 17 (Spacelab, Gernhardt, not used) Flight 4 STS-91 1998 Jun 2-1998 Jun 12 (Chang, not used) Flight 5 STS-95 1998 Oct 29-1998 Nov 7 (Robinson, not used) Flight 6 STS-96 1999 May 27-1999 Jun 6 (Barry, 1 EVA) Flight 7 STS-101 2000 May 19-2000 May 29 (Horowitz, not used) Flight 8 STS-106 2000 Sep 8-2000 Sep 20 (Backup, not used) Flight 9 STS-97 2000 Dec 1-2000 Dec 11 (Tanner, 3 EVA) Flight 10 STS-100 2001 Apr 19-2001 Jul 25 (ISS tour, Hadfield (2), down on 104) Flight 11 STS-109 2002 Mar 1-2002 Mar 12 (HST, Massimino(2)) Flight 12 STS-111 2002 Jun 5-2005 Aug 9 (ISS tour, Sellers (3),Pettit(2), down on 114) Flight 13 STS-126 2008 Nov 15-2009 Nov 27 (ISS tour, down on 129, not used) Flight 14 STS-132 2010 May 14-present (ISS tour; Williams (1), Hoshide (2), Parmitano(2)) EMU 3011 incorporates the PLSS 1011 backpack - this contains most of the systems and you can think of it as the core of the suit considered as its own spaceship, with the other components as a relatively inert bubble containing the human occupant. Before the EMU 3000 series nomenclature was adopted, PLSS 1011 flew multiple times: Flight 1 STS 61-B 1985 Nov 27-1985 Dec 3 EMU 1070/PLSS 1011 (Spring, 1 EVA) Flight 2 STS-26R 1988 Sep 29-1988 Oct 3 EMU 1090/PLSS 1011 (Lounge, not used) Flight 3 STS-27R 1988 Dec 2-1988 Dec 6 EMU 1090/PLSS 1011 (Ross, not used) Flight 4 STS-29R 1989 Mar 13-1989 Mar 18 EMU 1090/PLSS 1011 (Springer, not used) Flight 5 STS-28R 1989 Aug 8-1989 Aug 13 EMU 1098/PLSS 1011 (Brown, not used) Flight 6 STS-36 1990 Feb 28-1990 Mar 4 EMU 2008/PLSS 1011 (Thout, not used) Flight 7 STS-41 1990 Oct 6-1990 Oct 10 EMU 2008/PLSS 1011 (Akers, not used) Flight 8 STS-39 1991 Apr 28-1991 May 6 EMU 2008/PLSS 1011 (Harbaugh, not used) Flight 9 STS-48 1991 Sep 12-1991 Sep 18 EMU 2008/PLSS 1011 (Buchli, not used) Flight 10 STS-46 1992 Jul 31-1992 Aug 8 EMU 2021/PLSS 1011 (Chang, not used) Flight 11 STS-73 1995 Oct 20-1995 Nov 5 EMU 2034/PLSS 1011 (Coleman, not used) So, this PLSS has flown a total of 25 times in space over 28 years - although of course there's a bit of a "grandfather's axe" paradox involved as it's not clear how many of the original components remain. Table of Recent (orbital) Launches ---------------------------------- Date UT Name Launch Vehicle Site Mission INTL. Jun 3 0918 SES-6 Proton-M/Briz-M Baykonur LC200/39 Comms 26A Jun 5 2152 ATV-4 Ariane 5ES Kourou ELA3 Cargo 27A Jun 7 1837 Kosmos-2486 Soyuz-2-1B Plesetsk LC43/4 Imaging 28A Jun 11 0938 Shenzhou 10 Chang Zheng 2F Jiuquan Spaceship 29A Jun 25 1728 Resurs-P Soyuz-2-1B Baykonur LC31/6 Imaging 30A Jun 25 1927 O3b SC1/PFM) Soyuz ST-B Kourou ELS Comms 31D O3b SC2/FM2) Comms 31C O3b SC3/FM4) Comms 31B O3b SC4/FM5) Comms 31A Jun 27 1653 Kosmos-2487 Strela Baykonur LC175 Radar 32A Jun 28 0227 IRIS Pegasus XL L1011, Vandenberg Solar 33A Jul 1 1811 IRNSS-1A PSLV-XL Sriharikota LP1 Navigation 34A Jul 2 0238 Glonass-M No. 48 ) Proton-M/DM-03 Baykonur LC81/24 Navigation F02 Glonass-M No. 49 ) Navigation F02 Glonass-M No. 50 ) Navigation F02 Jul 15 0927 SJ-11-05 Chang Zheng 2C Jiuquan Early Warn 35A Jul 19 1300 MUOS 2 Atlas V 551 Canaveral SLC41 Comms 36A Jul 19 2337 Shi Jian 15 ) Chang Zheng 4C Taiyuan Tech 37 Shiyan 7 ) Surveill. 37 Chuangxin 3 ) Tech 37 Jul 25 1954 Alphasat ) Ariane 5ECA Kourou ELA3 Comms 38A Insat 3D ) Ariane 5ECA Kourou ELA3 Weather 38B Jul 27 2045 Progress M-20M Soyuz-U Baykonur LC31 Cargo 39A Suborbital launches ------------------- JAXA launched two sounding rockets on Jul 20 to study medium-scale travelling ionospheric disturbances. S-310-42 released a TMA package (trimethyl-aluminium) to study E-region neutral winds, while S-520-27 carried out measurements of density and electric field, and released lithium to study F-region neutral winds. Table of Recent (suborbital) Launches ---------------------------------- Date UT Payload/Flt Name Launch Vehicle Site Mission Apogee/km Jun 6 0305 CIBER Black Brant XII Wallops I. IR Astron 577 Jun 6 1745 RV Rubezh Kapustin Yar R&D launch 1000? Jun 20 0930 NASA 41.106UO Terrier Imp. Orion Wallops I. Education 118 Jun 21 1357 SL-7/FOP-1 SpaceLoft XL Spaceport America Tech 119 Jul 4 1431 NASA 21.140GE Black Brant V Wallops I. Ionosphere 135? Jul 4 1431 NASA 41.090GE Terrier Imp. Orion Wallops I. Ionosphere 160? Jul 5 1829? FTG-07 Target? LV-2? Kwajalein Target 1000? Jul 5 1835 FTG-07 CE-I EKV GBI Vandenberg Intercept 1000? Jul 15 0553 MAPHEUS 4 VS-30 ESRANGE,Kiruna Micrograv 151 Jul 20 0200 S-310-42 S-310 Uchinoura Atmos sci 139 Jul 20 0257 S-520-27 S-520 Uchinoura Atmos sci 316 .-------------------------------------------------------------------------. | 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 | '-------------------------------------------------------------------------'