Jonathan's Space Report No. 721 2016 Jan 18 Somerville, MA --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- International Space Station --------------------------- Expedition 46 continues aboard ISS with Scott Kelly, Mikhail Kornienko, Sergey Volkov, Yuriy Malenchenko, Tim Kopra and Tim Peake. On Dec 17 the Mobile Transporter (the truck that the SSRMS Canadarm-2 robot arm rides on) got stuck just after leaving worksite 4, one of the stations on the truss railway. The MT has two CETA carts attached to it, and the brakes on one CETA were accidentally engaged - probably left in the wrong position on an earlier spacewalk. Since a stuck MT is considered a safety issue for dockings, astronauts Kelly and Kopra made a spacewalk on Dec 21 to release the brake. They also completed some left-over cabling tasks. The Quest airlock was depressurized at about 1238 UTC and repressurized at 1601 UTC. Kelly and Kopra used EMU suits 3010 and 3011. The MT is now working fine. The Progress M-28M cargo ship undocked from Pirs at 0735 UTC Dec 19 and was deorbited over the South Pacific, with debris impact at 1128 UTC. On Dec 21 Russia launched the first Progress-MS cargo ship. Progress-MS is similar to previous Progress ships but with improved onboard systems. It docked with the Pirs module at 1027 UTC Dec 23. On Jan 15 astronauts Kopra and Peake made a spacewalk from the Quest airlock in EMU suits 3011 and 3008. They replaced the Sequential Shunt Unit (SSU) electronics box at the base of the 1B solar array on the S6 truss segment. The replacement SSU was launched on STS-96 in 1999 and had been stored since then inside Unity and then PMA-3 until being unpacked in December for the spacewalk. The old SSU failed on Nov 13, shutting down power to the 1B solar array (one of eight on ISS). Full power has now been restored. The astronauts also continued cabling work for the IDA docking adapter and relocated a vent on the Tranquility module. The spacewalk was cut short when Kopra's suit developed a small water leak which accumulated in his helmet; this was the same suit that had a more serious leak during Luca Parmitano's spacewalk in Jul 2013, but it's not clear if the two problems are related. Kopra and Peake depressurized Quest at about 1243 UTC and ventured outside at 1300 UTC, returning with hatch closure at 1727 UTC and repressurization at 1731 UTC. Peake, who is a European Space Agency astronaut sponsored by the UK, made the first UK-flagged spacewalk, and the first spacewalk by a British citizen who is not also a dual-nationality US citizen. GalileoSat ---------- Two more European Galileo FOC-class navigation satellites were launched on Dec 17. The Soyuz rocket and Fregat stage delivered them to the target orbits. GalileoSat 11 = FOC FM8 = GSAT0208 = Adriana GalileoSat 12 = FOC FM9 = GSAT0209 = Liene Falcon 9 -------- On Dec 22 SpaceX launched their first Falcon 9 since the CRS-7 failure. Core F9-021 was also the first 'full thrust' Falcon 9 with improved performance. The primary payload was a cluster of Orbcomm OG2 comm satellites. The 11 OG2s and one non-separating mass simulator were mounted on the circumference of a dispenser consisting of three ESPA rings attached to the second stage. After the satellites were deployed, the second stage was deorbited. The first stage shut down at an altitude of around 80 km and a velocity of 1.65 km/s (Earth-relative), just before stages 1 and 2 separated. The stage reached an apogee of around 200 km before beginning a boostback burn to kill its eastward velocity and send it back towards Florida. Following a third, reentry, burn the stage landed back at Cape Canaveral's Landing Zone 1 (former pad 13). The fully controlled vertical landing came at 0139 UTC Dec 22. On the US West Coast, another Falcon 9 was launched on Jan 17 with the Jason-3 satellite. This was vehicle F9-019, the last version 1.1 core; it took off soutbound from Space Launch Complex 4-East at Vandenberg AFB at 1842 UTC, entered a 175 x 1321 km x 66 deg transfer orbit at 1851 UTC, and circularized the orbit at apogee with spacecraft separation at 1938 UTC. The second stage was then deorbited with a burn at around 1945 UTC lowering perigee into the atmosphere, leading to a reentry around 2030 UTC over the northeastern Pacific. Meanwhile the first stage completed a boostback burn and flew down to the center of the target on the ASDS ship "Just Read The Instructions" in the Pacific at about 1852 UTC. However, on landing one of the deployed legs failed to lock in place and the vehicle toppled and was destroyed. Jason-3 is the fourth in a series of French/US satellites carrying the Poseidon altimeter to measure sea surface height across the world, an important parameter in climate change studies. The satellites also carry microwave radiometers. The first Poseidon satellite was the TOPEX/Poseidon research experiment which operated from 1992 to 2006. This was followed on by the progressively more operational Jason series; Jason-1 in 2001-2013, and the still operational Jason-2 launched in 2008. The 550 kg satellite is built by Thales Alenia (Cannes) using the Proteus bus and owned by the French space agency CNES. Lead agencies for the overall Jason-3 program are the US weather agency NOAA and the European weather satellite group EUMETSAT, taking over from CNES and JPL who led the earlier missions. Ekspress-AMU1 ------------ Russia launched the Ekspress-AMU1 satellite on Dec 24. Ekspress-AMU1, built by Astrium using the Eurostar 3000 bus, has 61 Ku-band transponders and 10 Ka transponders. The multi-beam Ka antennas use a new feed array developed by Airbus Defense and Space. Gao Fen 4 --------- China's Gao Fen 4 high resolution imaging satellite was launched into geotransfer orbit on Dec 28. GF-4 has a 50-metre-resolution imager. Belintersat ----------- The first Belarussian communications satellite, Belintersat 1, was launched on Jan 15. The satellite is a Chinese-built DFH-4 with a mass of 5200 kg, and it rode a Chinese CZ-3B to geotransfer orbit. Belintersat is a state-sponsored private company and will provide services to Belarus and central Europe. 2015 Orbital Launches --------------------- There were 87 orbital launch attempts. Three launches (2 US, 1 Russian) failed to reach orbit. Two Russian launches reached the correct orbit but had failures at payload separation. Of the 84 launches reaching orbit, one (Vega VV04) did not receive an international designation. These 84 launches included - 25 Russian (14 Soyuz, 7 Proton, 2 Rokot, 1 Zenit, 1 Dnepr) - 19 Chinese (16 CZ2/3/4, 1 CZ6, 1 CZ11) - 18 US (9 Atlas 5, 6 Falcon 9, 2 Delta 4, 1 Delta 2) - 9 European (Ariane, Vega) - 5 Indian - 4 Japanese - 1 Iranian - 3 Russian/European Soyuz-ST launches from French Guiana. I remain uncertain whether I should count the Soyuz-from-French-Guiana missions as Russian, European, or joint. They are owned by Arianespace but the vehicle is fully Russian and I believe most of the launch crew are. Even neglecting these, Russia remains the leader in number of orbital launches; China continues strengthening its record. Table of Recent Orbital Launches ---------------------------------- Date UT Name Launch Vehicle Site Mission INTL. Catalog Perigee Apogee Incl Notes km km deg Dec 3 0404 LISA Pathfinder Vega Kourou ZLV Astron/Tech 70A S41043 En route SEL1 Dec 5 1409 Kosmos-2511 ) Soyuz-2-1V Plesetsk LC43/4 Imaging 71A S41098 685 x 694 x 98.2 Kosmos-2512 ) Calibration 71B S41099 684 x 693 x 98.2 0600LT SSO Dec 6 2144 Deke Slayton II Atlas V 401 Canaveral SLC41 Cargo 72A S41101 404 x 418 x 51.6 Docked ISS Dec 9 1646 Zhongxing 1C Chang Zheng 3B Xichang Comms 73A S41103 35777 x 35796 x 0.1 Dec 11 1345 Elektro-L No. 2 Zenit-3SLBF Baykonur LC45/1 Weather 74A S41105 35680 x 35813 x 0.1 GEO drift Dec 13 0019 Kosmos-2513 Proton-M/Briz-M Baykonur LC81/24 Comms 75A S41121 401 x 35657 x 48.6 Dec 15 1103 Soyuz TMA-19M Soyuz-FG Baykonur LC1 Spaceship 76A S41124 404 x 418 x 51.6 Docked ISS Dec 16 1230 TeLEOS-1 ) Imaging 77D S41169 534 x 549 x 15.0 VELOX-C1 ) Weather(RO) 77A S41166 533 x 549 x 15.0 Kent Ridge 1) PSLV-CA Sriharikota LP1 Imaging 77B S41167 533 x 549 x 15.0 VELOX-II ) Tech 77F S41171 536 x 549 x 15.0 Galassia ) Sci/Tech 77E S41170 528 x 548 x 15.0 Athenoxat-1 ) Imaging 77C S41168 531 x 548 x 15.0 Dec 17 0012 Wukong Chang Zheng 2D Jiuquan Astron 78A S41173 487 x 504 x 97.3 Dec 17 1151 GalileoSat-11 ) Soyuz-ST-B CSG ELS Navigation 79A S41174 23511 x 23568 x 55.0 GalileoSat-12 ) Navigation 79B S41175 23552 x 23617 x 55.0 Dec 21 0844 Progress MS Soyuz-2-1A Baykonur LC31 Cargo 80A S41177 270 x 279 x 51.6 Dec 22 0129 Orbcomm FM105 ) Falcon 9 FT Canaveral SLC40 Comms 81C S41181 613 x 657 x 47.0 Orbcomm FM108 ) Comms 81J S41187 614 x 658 x 47.0 Orbcomm FM110 ) Comms 81D S41182 614 x 657 x 47.0 Orbcomm FM112 ) Comms 81F S41184 614 x 657 x 47.0 Orbcomm FM113 ) Comms 81G S41185 613 x 657 x 47.0 Orbcomm FM114 ) Comms 81A S41178 613 x 655 x 47.0 Orbcomm FM115 ) Comms 81H S41186 612 x 654 x 47.0 Orbcomm FM116 ) Comms 81L S41189 613 x 656 x 47.0 Orbcomm FM117 ) Comms 81K S41188 614 x 656 x 47.0 Orbcomm FM118 ) Comms 81E S41183 613 x 654 x 47.0 Orbcomm FM119 ) Comms 81B S41180 613 x 654 x 47.0 Dec 24 2131 Ekspress-AMU1 Proton-M/Briz-M Baykonur LC200/39 Comms 82A S41191 4323 x 35760 x 22.4 Dec 28 1604 Gao Fen 4 Chang Zheng 3B Xichang LC2 Imaging 83A S41194 205 x 35806 x 23.0 Jan 15 1657 Belintersat-1 Chang Zheng 3B Xichang LC3 Comms 01A S41238 193 x 41730 x 26.4 Jan 17 1842 Jason-3 Falcon 9 v1.1 Vandenberg SLC4E Climate 02A S41240 1295 x 1320 x 66.0 Table of Recent Suborbital Launches ----------------------------------- Japan's JAXA launched an S-310 sounding rocket on Jan 15 to study plasma heating in the ionosphere. Date UT Payload/Flt Name Launch Vehicle Site Mission Apogee/km Target Dec 1 0500 MASER 13 VSB-30 Kiruna, Sweden Microgravity 270? ESRANGE B Zone, Sweden Dec 5 0600 DXL-2 Black Brant 9 White Sands X-ray Astron 238 White Sands Dec 8 CTV-02 SM-3 Block IIA San Nicolas I, Calif. Test 100? Point Mugu Sea Range Dec 10 0612 Target Silver Sparrow F-15D, Med. Sea Target 150? Intercepted Dec 10 0615 Arrow 3 KV Arrow 3 Palmachim, Israel Interceptor 150? Intercept Dec 10 FTO-O2E1a Target SRALT? C-17, Pacific Ocean Target 300? Intercepted Dec 10 Aegis KV SM-3 Block IB Kauai Interceptor 150? Intercept Dec 10 1355 PAC-3 Target Juno Ft. Wingate, NM Target 100? White Sands Dec 11 Shaheen RV Shaheen III Somniani?,Pakistan Test 500? Arabian Sea Dec 12 RV x 4? Sineva K-51, Barents Sea Test 1000? Kura, Kamchatka Dec 13 0432 RENU 2 Black Brant XIIA Andoya, Norway Auroral 447 Andoya range Dec 15 Shaheen RV Shaheen IA Somniani?,Pakistan Test 100? Arabian Sea Dec 18 0652 FORTIS 3 Black Brant IX White Sands UV Astron 282 White Sands Dec 24 1755 Topol'-E RV? Topol' Kapustin Yar Reentry test 1000? Sary Shagan Jan 15 0300 S-310-44 S-310 Uchinoura Ionosphere 161 Pacific Ocean .-------------------------------------------------------------------------. | Jonathan McDowell | | | Somerville MA 02143 | inter : planet4589 at gmail | | USA | twitter: @planet4589 | | | | 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 | '-------------------------------------------------------------------------'