Jonathan's Space Report No. 618 2009 Nov 27 Somerville, MA ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Shuttle and Station -------------------- Japan's HTV-1 cargo vehicle has left the Station. It was released at 1731 UTC on Oct 30 and deorbited on Nov 1 at 2125 UTC over the S Pacific. The Poisk module (Maliy Issledovatel'ny Modul'-2, MIM-2) was launched on Nov 10. Poisk is the successor to the Pirs docking module and the Mir SO module: Article Spacecraft Name Mass Cargo tug 1995 316GK No. 1 SO - 4000 kg None (STS-74) 2001 240GK No. 1L SO Pirs 3676 kg Progress M-SO1 No. 301 2009 240GK No. 2L MIM-2 Poisk 3670 kg Progress M-SO2 No. 302 Poisk is launched attached to a Progress propulsion module, Progress M-MIM2 No. 302 (or M-SO2 No. 302). Poisk has the factory designation 240GK No. 2L and is loosely derived from the Soyuz BO (orbital module). The module docked with the zenith docking port on Zvezda at 1541 UTC on Nov 12. The propulsion module will be discarded in December. Atlantis was launched on Nov 16 on mission STS-129. It docked with the Station at 1651 UTC on Nov 18. Two Express Logistics Carrier pallets, ELC-1 and ELC-2, were transferred to the station truss. The pallets carry external spares such as gyros, which will be hard to get to the station once the Shuttle is retired; two more ELCs will be delivered on a later mission. On the first spacewalk on Nov 19, astronauts Foreman and Satcher installed a spare S-band antenna on the Z1 truss segment and lubed the robot arm fixtures on the mobile transporter and the Kibo arm. On the second spacewalk on Nov 21, Foreman and Bresnik installed antennas on Columbus and relocated an electrostatic charging monitor from S1 to P1, as well as deploying truss fixtures where equipment will be mounted in future. The third spacewalk on Nov 23 by Satcher and Bresnik began with airlock depressurization and hatch opening around 1322 UTC; they installed the MISSE 7 exposure experiment and a new oxygen tank for the Quest airlock before closing the hatch at 1904 UTC and repressurizing 2 min later. The Atlantis crew of Charles Hobaugh, Barry Wilmore, Leland Melvin, Randy Bresnik, Michael Foreman and Robert Satcher, supplemented by Nicole Stott completing her tour as a station crew member, undocked on Nov 25 at 0953 UTC. They returned to Earth on Nov 27 with the deorbit burn at 1337 UTC lowering the orbit from 336 x 348 km to about 16 x 347 km. STS-129 landed on runway 33 at Kennedy Space Center at 1444 UTC. Aboard the station with commander Jeff Williams (NASA) are Frank De Winne (ESA/Belgium), Robert Thirsk (CSA/Canada), Roman Romanenko (FKA/Russia), and Maksim Suraev (FKA/Russia). Expedition 22 began at 1500 UTC on Nov 24; Williams assumed command at 1812 UTC. STS-129 cargo bay manifest - estimate ------------------------------------- Name Bay location Mass (kg,guess) Orbiter Docking System 1-2 1800 with EMU 3008, 3010 suits 260? APC/SPDU 3 port 17? SPA/S-band Antenna (SASA) 3 stbd 272 APC/MISSE 7A 4 port 98 APC/MISSE 7B 4 stbd 98 EXPRESS Logistics Carrier ELC1 6-9 6396 ROEU umbilical 9 port 79? ROEU umbilical 9 stbd 79? EXPRESS Logistics Carrier ELC2 10-13 6136 RMS 301 Sill 410 OBSS Sill 382? ----------------------------------------------------- Total 16027 SMOS/PROBA-2 ------------ Khrunichev launched a Rokot (UR-100N missile with Briz-KM upper stage) from Plesetsk on Nov 2 and placed the European SMOS and PROBA-2 satellites in orbit. SMOS is the Soil Moisture and Ocean Salinity mission, obtaining climate-related data using a microwave aperture-synthesis interferometer. PROBA-2 is a techology mission. SMOS is in a 758 x 759 km x 98.4 deg orbit, PROBA-2 slightly lower at 709 x 728 km. Shijian 11-1 ------------ China has launched a test satellite 'Shijian shi yihao 01 xing', SJ-11-01, which can be translated as 'Practice Sat 11-01' or 'Experiment Sat 11-01'. SJ11-01 is in a 689 x 703 km x 98.3 deg orbit. Kosmos-2455 ----------- A Russian Defense Ministry satellite was launched on Nov 20 and given the cover name Kosmos-2455. It is probably the first Lotos-S electronic intelligence satellite. Lotos-S satellites are built by TsSKB-Progress Samara Space Center (Samara) and KB Arsenal (Sankt-Peterburg) for the Russian Defense Ministry. Initial orbit is 199 x 904 km x 67.2 deg. After a small perigee tweak on Nov 22, a major burn by the onboard propulsion unit circularized the orbit at 903 x 906 km on Nov 23. NASA 36.252UH ------------- Webster Cash's latest X-ray spectroscopy payload was launched from White Sands on Nov 14 to take a look at the Cyg Loop. This is probably a reflight of the CyXESS payload first launched in Nov 2006. TEXUS 46 -------- ESA and DLR launched a TEXUS microgravity rocket from Kiruna in Sweden on Nov 22, carrying European and Japanese experiments. IS-14 ------ Intelsat IS-14 was launched on Nov 23 using a United Launch Alliance/ Lockheed Martin Atlas V rocket, model 431, serial AV-024. IS-14, a Loral 1300 class satellite with a launch mass of 5663 kg and dry mass of 2517 kg, will replace IS-1R at 24W over the Atlantic. Centaur AV-024 entered an initial 175 x 25998 km x 25.0 deg orbit and then deployed IS-14 into a 6157 x 39094 km x 22.5 deg transfer orbit at 0853 UTC. W7 --- Eutelsat W7 was launched Nov 24 by ILS/Khrunichev Proton-M; it will replace SESAT-1 with broadcasting and data services to Russia and Africa. Erratum -------- Michel Laliberte pointed out to me that the recent Centaur was not the first solar orbit launch from Vandenberg - NRL's Clementine space probe preceded it, in 1994. Table of Recent (orbital) Launches ---------------------------------- Date UT Name Launch Vehicle Site Mission INTL. DES. Oct 1 2159 COMSATBw-1 ) Ariane 5ECA Kourou ELA3 Comms 54A Amazonas 2 ) Comms 54B Oct 8 1851 WorldView-2 Delta 7920 Vandenberg SLC2W Imaging 55A Oct 15 0114 Progress M-03M Soyuz-U Baykonur LC1/5 Cargo 56A Oct 18 1612 DMSP 5D F-18 Atlas V 401 Vandenberg SLC3E Weather 57A Oct 29 2000 NSS 12 ) Ariane 5ECA Kourou ELA3 Comms 58A Thor 6 ) 58B Nov 2 0151 SMOS ) Rokot Plesetsk Rem.Sensing 59A PROBA-2 ) Tech 59B Nov 10 1422 Poisk Soyuz-U Baykonur LC1/5 Station mod.60A Nov 12 0245 SJ-11-01 Chang Zheng 2C Jiuquan Tech 61A Nov 16 1928 Atlantis Space Shuttle Kennedy LC39A Spaceship 62A Nov 20 1044 Kosmos-2455 Soyuz-U Plesetsk Sigint 63A Nov 23 0655 Intelsat IS-14 Atlas V 431 Canaveral SLC41 Comms 64A Nov 24 1419 Eutelsat W7 Proton-M/Briz-M Baykonur LC200/39 Comms 65A Table of Recent (suborbital) Launches ---------------------------------- Date UT Payload/Flt Name Launch Vehicle Site Mission Apogee/km Sep 16 1346 PAC-3 Target Hera? Ft Wingate Target 90? Oct 6 Volna RV ) Volna K-433, Okhotsk Op. Test 1000? x4? ) Oct 7 Volna RV ) Volna K-44, Okhotsk Op. Test 1000? x4? ) Oct 16 ARAV B Terrier Oriole Kauai Target 100? Oct 16 ARAV B Terrier Oriole Kauai Target 100? Oct 28 0400 Dummy RV? Unknown Kauai Target 150? Oct 28 0404 Aegis KV SM-3 JS Myoko, Kauai Intercept 150? Nov 1 Sineva RV ) Sineva? K-117, Barents Op. Test 1000? x4? Nov 5 ARAV C Talos Castor Kauai Target 300? Nov 14 0230? NASA 36.252UH Black Brant IX White Sands XR Astron 300? Nov 22 1115 TEXUS 46 VSB-30 Esrange Micrograv 252 .-------------------------------------------------------------------------. | Jonathan McDowell | phone : (617) 495-7176 | | Somerville MA 02143 | inter : jcm@host.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: mail majordomo@host.planet4589.org, (un)subscribe jsr | '-------------------------------------------------------------------------'