Jonathan's Space Report
No.
774 2020 Jan 31
Somerville,
MA
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
International
Space Station
---------------------------
Expedition 61
continues.
On Dec 23 the BCDU FRAM (the adapter for the recently used
spare BCDU) was moved
from the Dextre EOTP to the CRS-19 Dragon trunk, where
it will be destroyed on
reentry.
On around Dec 27, the failed MSBU S/N
C250636 (brought inside on Sep 5) and
the failed BCDU S/N 011 (brought inside
on Oct 18) were transferred to the CRS-19
Dragon's cabin for return to
Earth.
On Dec 27 at 0128 and 0436 UTC the Progress MS-13 cargo ship
docked to the Pirs module
fired its engines to raise the ISS orbit from 411 x
422 km to 415 x 422 km.
On Jan 3 to 4 the Dextre arm was used to transfer
the Space Debris
Sensor (SDS) and SOLAR payloads from the Columbus external
payload
facility to external attachment points on the PCM module of the
S.S.
Alan Bean (Cygnus NG-12) cargo ship for reentry disposal. SDS
was
launched in 2017 on Dragon CRS-13, but failed in Jan 2018. SOLAR
was
launched on STS-122 in 2008. On Jan 6 a Resupply Stowage Platform
(possibly RSP 1008/SE177, launched on STS-131) was moved from the
PMM1D3
rack location to the Bean's pressurized module for disposal.
On
Jan 7 at about 0500 UTC the Canadarm-2 unberthed the Dragon CRS-19
ship from
the Harmony module. Dragon was released back into orbit at
1005 UTC, and
performed three separation burns between 1008 and 1020
UTC. The plume from
one of those firings was reported to have made the
Cygnus NG-12 solar arrays
wobble, which is something one tries to avoid.
Dragon fired its thrusters to
deorbit at 1451 UTC until 1504 UTC,
jettisoned the trunk section at 1508 UTC
and entered the atmosphere at
1524 UTC with splashdown near 121.0W 31.2N at
1542 UTC.
On Jan 15 astronauts Koch and Meir, in suits EMU 3004 and 3008,
made
spacewalk US EVA-62 to continue battery replacements from the EP8
pallet
to the P6 truss 4B channel. The airlock was depressurized from 1130
to
1904 UTC. Transfers made were:
NiH 0104 from P6 4B1 to
EP8-Z
Li-ion 21 from EP8-F to P6 4B1
NiH 0106 from P6-4B2 to
EP8-F
Adapter plate 0014 from EP8-F to P6 4B2
NiH 0101 from P6-4B3 to
P6-4B2 on top of the adapter plate
Li-ion 22 from EP8-E to P6-4B3
NiH
0103 from P6-4B4 tp EP8-Y
On Jan 20 Meir and Koch completed the P6 4B
battery work with US EVA-63. The airlock
was depressurized from 1127 to 1833
UTC. Transfers made were:
Adapter plate 0013 from EP8-E to P6-4B4
NiH
0098 from P6-4B6 to P6-4B4 on top of the adapter plate
Li-ion 23 from EP8-C
to P6-4B6
NiH 0102 from P6-4B5 to EP8-C
Adapter plate 0011? from EP8-C
to P6-4B5
On Jan 23 at 1415 and 1723 UTC Progress MS-13 fired its engines
to
raise the ISS orbit by about 1 km.
On Jan 25 astronauts Morgan
(EV1/EMU 3004) and Parmitano (EV2/EMU 3008)
made US spacewalk EVA-64 to
complete repairs to the AMS-02 experiment.
The airlock was depressurized from
1158 to 1820 UTC. The crew performed
leak checks on the new cooling system.
Leaks were found in cooling line
number 5, and after a couple of cycles of
tightening the connector the
leak was stopped. An insulation `tent' was
placed over the system. After
the AMS-02 work, camera lens covers on the CP8
and CP9 external cameras
were removed.
CZ-5
----
China's
largest rocket, the Chang Zheng 5, made a successful third flight on Dec
27,
after a major engine rework following the failure of the second flight in
July 2017.
The CZ-5 second stage put the Shi Jian 20 communications satellite
in supersync
transfer orbit. SJ-20 was on station in GEO at 115E by Jan
6.
Jilin-1 KF-1
------------
On Jan 15 China's SAST launched a
CZ-2D with Chuanguang's biggest
satellite to date, the 1.5t Jilin-1 Kuanfu-1.
The rocket also placed
three smaller satellites in orbit, two Satellogic
Nusat imagers (Sophie
and Marie) and Guodian Gaokeji's
Tianqi-5.
Ariane 5
--------
On Jan 16 Arianespace launched
another Ariane 5ECA, putting Eutelsat Konnect
and GSAT-30 in geotransfer
orbit. Eutelsat Konnect is a Ka-band payload
for the European operator
Eutelsat; GSAT-30 is a Ku/C band satellite
for the Indian space agency
ISRO.
Starlink
--------
The third launch of 60 Starlink
satellites, V1.0 Batch 2, was orbited on Jan 7.
As I have previously
reported, the unexpected brightness of Starlink
satellites has caused
widespread concern among astronomers. Thousands of
such satellites could
dominate the visible view of the night sky in dark
areas; the bright
satellites crossing the field of view of astronomical
detectors could cause
bright streaks, electronic cross-talk and `ghost
images' compromising deep
exposures of faint objects. At a meeting of
the American Astronomical Society
in January, SpaceX representatives
seemed confident they would be able to
reduce the brightness of future
satellites so that they would no longer be
naked eye objects, and
expressed committment to iterative improvements to
address the concerns
of professional astronomers. I welcome the willingness
of SpaceX to address
the issue (nevertheless, I do think some formal
regulations on light pollution
are needed, because other constellations will
also be an issue).
The latest launch includes a modified satellite,
Starlink 1130, with a
special dark coating on the bus to reduce its
brightness. This
satellite will be used to improve SpaceX's models of
satellite light
scattering, allowing engineers to evaluate design
improvements for
future versions of the satellite.
It will be
important to get visual magnitude estimates of Starlink 1130
once it reaches
its operational orbit.
As with V1.0 Batch 1, the 60 satellites were
split into three groups,
with orbit raising of two of the groups pausing at
350 km to precess to
different orbital planes.
Stage 2 of the Falcon 9
was deorbited south of Australia, reentering
at approximately 0448 UTC Jan 7
after 1.6 orbits.
The fourth launch, V1.0-L3, placed a further 60
satellites in 280 km
orbit on Jan 29.
TJS 5
------
On
Jan 7 China launched the Tongxing Jishu Shiyan 5 satellite to
geotransfer
orbit. The TJS series of `experimental communications
satellites' is believed
to be a cover for a range of military programs,
and TJS 5 appears to be an
SAST/Shanghai `Houyan' early warning
satellite like 2017's TJS 2.
Crew
Dragon
-----------
Crew Dragon C205 was launched from KSC LC39A at
1530 UTC Jan 19 on a Falcon 9
for the Inflight Abort Test.
A
preplanned shutdown of core stage B1046 at 90s into flight triggered
an
inflight abort and the Super Draco thrusters pushed Dragon to a 44 km
apogee
followed by a parachute-aided splashdown in the Atlantic. The Falcon
9
disintegrated in flight 7 seconds after
separation.
Spitzer
-------
SIRTF, the Space Infrared Telescope
Facility, was launched in Aug 2003.
In Dec 2003 it was renamed the Spitzer
Space Telescope, the 4th and last
of the Great Observatories program. After
16 years of great science,
Spitzer entered final safemode and fell silent at
2215:45 UTC Jan 30.
IRAS/POPPY-5B
-------------
On Jan 29 at
2339 UTC two defunct satellites had a very near miss -
probably less than
100 metres apart. The IRAS astronomical satellite,
which operated from 1983
to 1985, and the NRO/NRL POPPY 5B signals
intelligence satellite (codenamed
GGSE 4), which operated from 1967 to
1972, passed each other at a relative
velocity of 14.7 km/s.
Errata
------
Danna Barnett informs me
that Tyvak-0092 is actually built for Israel's Elbit Systems
and not for an
Italian company. Elbit calls the satellite NANOVA; it has a UHF
comm
payload.
The dual-engine Centaur on the Atlas V N22 uses the
RL10-A4-2 engine, not RL10-A4-1.
Table of Recent Orbital
Launches
----------------------------------
Date UT Name
Launch Vehicle Site Mission INTL. Catalog Perigee
Apogee Incl Notes
Dec 5 1729 Dragon CRS-19 Falcon
9 Canaveral SLC40 Cargo 83A S44821 203 x 378 x 51.7
Dec 6
0800? Kosmos-2543? Kosmos-2542, LEO Inspector
79D S44835 368 x 858 x 97.9
Dec 6 0818 ALE-2 )
Electron Mahia LC1 Tech 84A S44824 397 x 415 x
97.0
NOOR 1A
) Com 84D S44827 348
x 403 x 97.0
NOOR 1B
) Com 84E S44828 348
x 403 x 97.0
SMOG-P
) Sigint 84J S44832 348
x 403 x 97.0
TRSI-Sat
) Tech 84H S44831 348
x 403 x 97.0
FossaSat-1) Tech 84F
S44829 348 x 403 x 97.0
ATL-1
) Sigint/Tech 84G S44830 348
x 403 x 97.0
Dec 6 0934 Progress MS-13 Soyuz-2-1A
Baykonur LC31 Cargo 85A S44833 186 x 219 x 51.6
Dec 7 0255
Jilin-1 Gaofen 02B Kuaizhou-1A Taiyuan Imaging 86B
S44837 531 x 544 x 97.5
Dec 7 0852 HEDE-2A )
Kuaizhou-1A Taiyuan Comms 87 S44839 495 x 511 x
97.4
HEDE-2B
) Comms 87 495
x 511 x 97.4
Tianqi-4A
) Comms 87 495
x 511 x 97.4
Tianqi-4B
) Comms 87 495
x 511 x 97.4
Tianyi-16
) Imaging 87 495
x 511 x 97.4
Tianyi-17
) Imaging 87 495
x 511 x 97.4
Dec 11 0854 Kosmos-2544 Soyuz-2-1B/Fregat
Plesetsk LC43/3 Nav 88A S44850 19125 x 19150 x 64.8
Dec 11 0955
RISAT-2BR1) PSLV-QL Satish Dhawan Radar 89F
S44857 564 x 574 x 37.0
Izanagi
) Radar 89E S44856 568
x 579 x 37.0
1HOPSAT
) Imaging 89 568
x 579 x 37.0
Duchifat-3) Tech 89C
S44854 568 x 579 x 37.0
Tyvak-0092) Comms 89A
S44852 568 x 579 x 37.0
Tyval-0129) Tech
89 568 x 579 x 37.0
Lemur-2-HiMomAndDad) AIS/Met 89J
S44860 568 x 579 x 37.0
Lemur-2-Pappy
) AIS/Met 89K S44861 568 x 579
x 37.0
Lemur-2-JPGSquared
) AIS/Met 89D S44855 568 x 579
x 37.0
Lemur-2-Theodosia
) AIS/Met 89M S44863 568 x 579
x 37.0
Dec 16 0722 Beidou DW 52 ) Chang Zheng 3B/YZ1 Xichang
LC3 Nav 90A S44864 21528 x 22192 x 55.0
Beidou DW 53
) Nav 90B S44865 21528 x
22192 x 55.0
Dec 17 0010 JCSAT-18/Kacific-1 Falcon 9
Canaveral SLC40 Comms 91A S44868 272 x 20319 x 26.9
Dec 18 0854 CSG
1 ) Soyuz ST-A/Fregat CSG ELS Radar 92A
S44873 622 x 623 x 97.8
CHEOPS
) Astronomy 92B S44874
698 x 709 x 98.2
ANGELS
) Comms 92D S44876
508 x 527 x 97.4
EyeSat
) Astronomy 92E S44877
508 x 527 x 97.4
OPS-SAT
) Tech 92F S44878
508 x 527 x 97.4
Dec 20 0322 CBERS-4A ) Chang Zheng
4B Taiyuan Imaging 93A S44879 615 x 635 x
98.0
ETRSS-1
) Imaging 93
Tianqin-1 ) Sci/Tech
93
BDSAGR-1
) Imaging 93
Yuheng ) Comms
93
Shuntian
) Comms 93
Yizheng 1 ) Imaging
93
Xingshidai 8
) Imaging 93
FloripaSat-1 ) Tech 93G
S44485 614 x 635 x 98.0
Dec 20 1136 Starliner OFT Atlas V
N22 Canaveral LC41 Spaceship 94A S44900 180 x 221 x 51.6
Dec 24
1203 Elektro-L No. 3 Proton-M/DM-03 Baykonur LC81/24 Weather
95A S44903 35372 x 35571 x 0.6
Dec 26 2312 Gonets-M No. 24
Rokot Plesetsk LC133/3 Comms 96A S44905 1500 x 1508 x
82.5
Gonets-M No.
25 Comms 96B S44906 1500 x
1508 x 82.5
Gonets-M No.
26 Comms 96C S44907 1500 x
1508 x 82.5
Dec 27 1245 Shi Jian 20 Chang Zheng 5
Wenchang Comms 97A S44910 180 x 67690 x 19.4
Jan 7 0219
Starlink 1066 ) Falcon 9 Canaveral SLC40 Comms 01AS
S44954 301 x 305 x 53.0
Starlink 1069-1104
) Comms )
Starlink 1106-1119 ) Comms )
Starlink 1121-1126
) Comms )
Starlink 1128 ) Comms )
01A-01BM
Starlink 1130
) Comms ) 44914-
Starlink 1144 ) Comms )
44973
Jan 7 1520 TJS 5 Chang Zheng 3B
Xichang Comms 02A S44978 195 x 35804 x 27.5
Jan 15 0253
Jilin-1 Kuanfu 1 ) Chang Zheng 2D Taiyuan Imaging 03A
S45016 477 x 492 x 97.3
Sophie
) Imaging 03B S45017 475 x
492 x 97.3
Marie
) Imaging 03C S45018 477 x
493 x 97.3
Tianqi-5
) Comms 03D?S45019 475 x
492 x 97.3
Jan 16 0302 Yinhe 1 Kuaizhou 1A
Jiuquan Comms 04A S45024 1200 x 1213 x 80.0?
Jan 16 2105
Eutelsat Konnect ) Ariane 5ECA Kourou ELA3 Comms 05B
S45027 499 x 36234 x 6.0
GSAT-30
) Comms 05A S45026 35775 x
35799 x 0.1
Jan 29 1406 Starlink 1120 ) Falcon 9
Canaveral SLC40 Comms )
Starlink 1127
) Comms )
Starlink 1129 ) Comms
)
Starlink
1131-1137) Comms ) 06A-06BM
272 x 292 x 53.0
Starlink
1139-1142) Comms
)
Starlink
1145-1153) Comms
)
Starlink
1155-1186) Comms
)
Starlink 1190
) Comms )
Starlink 1193-1196) Comms
)
Table of Recent Suborbital
Launches
-----------------------------------
On Jan 7 Iran launched a
series of Zulfiqar and Qiam-1 missiles against US military targets in
Iraq.
The exact number and mix of missiles is unknown.
Date
UT Payload/Flt Name Launch Vehicle Site Mission
Apogee/km Target
Dec 10 0930 CHI Black Brant IX
Svalbard Ionosphere 360 Arctic
Dec 11 1753 New Shepard
NS12 New Shepard West Texas Test 105 West
Texas
Dec 12 1630 IRBM Test Castor 4B? Vandenberg
TP-01 Test 500? Pacific
Jan 7 2245? HE Warhead
Zulfiqar ?, Iran Weapon 100? Al Asad,
Iraq
Jan 7 2245? HE Warhead Zulfiqar ?, Iran
Weapon 100? Erbil, Iraq
Jan 7 2245? HE Warhead
Zulfiqar ?, Iran Weapon 100? Al Asad,
Iraq
Jan 7 2245? HE Warhead Zulfiqar ?, Iran
Weapon 100? Al Asad, Iraq
Jan 7 2245? HE Warhead
Qiam-1 ?, Iran Weapon 100? Al Asad,
Iraq
Jan 7 2245? HE Warhead Qiam-1 ?, Iran
Weapon 100? Al Asad, Iraq
Jan 7 2315? HE Warhead
Zulfiqar ?, Iran Weapon 100? Al Asad,
Iraq
Jan 7 2315? HE Warhead Zulfiqar ?, Iran
Weapon 100? Erbil, Iraq
Jan 7 2315? HE Warhead
Qiam-1 ?, Iran Weapon 100? Erbil,
Iraq
Jan 9 0800 S-310-45 S-310 Uchinoura
Test 131 Pacific
Jan 19 RV
K-4 Visakhapatnam Test 500? Indian
Ocean
Jan 27 1340 Polar NOx 2 Black Brant 9 Poker
Flat Aeronomy 260
Alaska
-------------------------------------------------------------------------.
|
Jonathan McDowell | |
|
Somerville MA 02143 | inter : planet4589 at gmail |
|
USA | twitter: @planet4589
|
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