Jonathan's Space Report
No. 827 draft 2023 Nov 18 Somerville, MA
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International Space Station
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Expedition 70 continues.
The Dextre robot arm installed the AWE payload on Express Logistics Carrier 1 (ELC-1)
Site 3 on Nov 18. Meanwhile, the STP-H5 payload was relocated from
ELC-1 to ELC-3 on Nov 17.
The Progress MS-23 cargo ship undocked from the Poisk module at 0755 UTC Nov 29,
fired its engines for the deorbit burn at 1102 UTC, and reentered east of New Zealand
around 1145 UTC.
Progress MS-25 was launched on Dec 1. It docked with the Poisk module at 1118:31 UTC Dec 3.
Kosmos-2570/2571
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The Lotos subsatellite Kosmos-2571 seems to have ejected an additional object around 1400 UTC Nov 23,
as first reported by LeoLabs. The object may be an adapter rather than a third payload.
Kosmos-2572
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Russia launched Kosmos-2572 on Nov 25 into a 299 x 320 km x 96.6 deg sun-synch orbit with 12:30 local time
orbital plane. It is suspected to be the first Razdan spy satellite and likely has a mass around 7000 kg.
Manligyeong 1-3
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North Korea's third Cheonlima-1 (Chollima-1 in a more common transliteration scheme) successfully
reached orbit on Nov 21. The rocket's third stage is in a 467 x 511 km x 97.4 deg orbit and
the payload, the Manligyeong-1 spy satellite, is in a 492 x 512 km x 97.4 deg orbit in a 22:00 local
time orbital plane. North Korea reports the satellite has already returned images of locations in US and South Korea.
SAST launches
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On Nov 23 China's SAST launched a CZ-2D with a YZ-3 upper stage. The YZ-3 made two burns to
a 1092 x 1108 km x 50.0 deg orbit, released three internet communications satellite test payloads,
and made a third burn to deorbit itself.
The launch announcement described the payloads as Weixing Hulianwang Jishu Shiyan Weixing
(Satellite-internet technology test satellite) like the sats on the July 9 launch.
Other source reported in nasaspaceflight.com that the satellites
are actually named Xingwang Qinxie Guidao 02 zu A/B/C xing (StarNet Inclined Orbit Group 02 Sats A,B,C)
and as Chuangxing-20 01,02,03 xing. The satellites are built by the Shanghai Engineering Center for Microsatellites.
On Dec 10 SAST launched a CZ-2D with the fifth triplet of Yaogan 39 satellites.
Starlink launches
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Starlink Group 7-7 (22 sats) launched from Vandenberg on Nov 20.
Starlink Group 6-29 (23 sats) launched from Canaveral on Nov 22.
Starlink Group 6-30 (23 sats) launched from Canaveral on Nov 28.
Starlink Group 6-31 (23 sats) launched from Canaveral on Dec 3.
Starlink Group 6-33 (23 sats) launched from Canaveral on Dec 7.
Starlink Group 7-8 (22 sats) launched from Vandenberg on Dec 8.
Korea 425
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South Korea's Project 425 EO/IR Sat 1 spy satellite was launched by SpaceX on Dec 1.
A set of 24 secondary payloads were carried, but a full list is not available.
It seems possible that 4 of these are actually just hosted payloads on ION, and not separate
satellites.
The list of known payloads includes:
D-Orbit (Italy) ION SCV 'Daring Diego' (probably SCV012) tug
PlanetIQ (US) GNOMES-4 IoT comms sat
SITAEL(Italy) mu-HETsat, 70 kg satellite to test Hall-effect electric thruster.
Bane, from York Space Systems, carrying hosted technology payloads
Kanazawa U. (Japan) KOYOH satellite, 43 kg
EIRSAT-1 2U cubesat from University College Dublin, testing a gamma ray detector
BazoomQ Research Lab (Yerevan, Armenia) Hayasat-1 1U cubesat
CS Univ. Montpellier (France) ENSO 1U cubesat to measure solar radiation
Melbourne/Rome 6U SpIRIT cubesat with wide field X-ray astronomy detector
Three Alba Orbital (Scotland/Germany) Unicorn-2 3P satellites, probably with imaging payloads
TU Berlin (Germany) NanoFF-1 and 2, 2U cubesats for formation flying tests
Inst. Astrofisica Canarias (Spain) ALISIO 6U Earth imaging satellite
Innova (Argentina) 2P MDQSAT comms satellite. (Innova is a subsidary of Miota Aerospace SAS.,
which is being credited with the satellite in the D-Orbit brochure. Possibly it is the same satellite
as Unicorn-2P).
Also suspected to be aboard:
Satoro 1? (Taiwan), 3D technology cubesat
South Korean solid launch vehicle
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On Dec 4 South Korea's defense agency ADD launched a three-stage launch vehicle from a barge off the coast
of Jeju Island, placing a 100-kg-class Hanwha Systems experimental radar satellite in orbit.
The name of the rocket has not been released; it is referred to as Goche Yeollyo Uju Balsache
(Solid fuel space launcher) Siheom bihaengche 2 (Test Vehicle 2).
The first two stages are solid fuelled and the third stage has a liquid propellant engine.
I will label the rocket ADD TV2 for now.
The reported NOTAM impact area of stage 2 corresponds to about a -1550 x 650 km trajectory
with impact around 0530 UTC, implying that the Stage 3 burn was around 730 m/s.
The operational rocket will have an additional solid stage between TV2's first and second stages.
MisrSat-2
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CALT launched the joint Egyptian-Chinese MisrSat-2 (Egyptsat-2) imaging satellite on a CZ-2C
from Jiuquan on Dec 4. China calls the satellite Aiji-2 (a Pinyin phonetic rendering of 'Egypt').
The 350 kg satellite was assembled at a Chinese-built factory in New Cairo. This satellite
is not to be confused with an earlier Russian-built Egyptsat-2 launched in 2014.
The launch also placed two small Xingchi-1 Group 02 satellites in orbit for Toyuan Shikong ('Ellipical Space').
The Xingchi constellation is marketed in English as `Starpool'.
Gushenxing-1
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Xinghe Dongli (Galactic Energy) launched Gushenxing-1 Y9 on Dec 4.
Payloads were the Xingchi-1A imaging sat for Touyuan Shikong, and the
Jiheng-1 microwave radiometer sat for Gengyu muxing (Beijing) Kongjian
Keji YG. The upper stage was left in orbit without a perigee lowering burn.
Jielong-3
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China Long March Rocket Co launched the second Jielong-3 on Dec 5 at
1924 UTC, placing another broadband internet test satellite in orbit.
Launch was from the ship Bo Run Jiu Zhou (MMS 413536970) at 112.0E 21.3N
off the coast of Guangdong
The satellite has been cataloged in a 904 x 922 km x 86.5 deg orbit; the
4th stage in a 360 x 921 km orbit. Comparison with the NOTAM warning
zones suggest that the 3rd stage was in a -3580 x 916 km x 88.8 deg
orbit with the 4th stage making a small dogleg to decrease inclination.
Zhuque-2
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The third Zhuque-2 launch placed three satellites in a 432 x 461 km
sun-sync orbit (LTDN 06:00) on Dec 8 for Tianyi Research and Shanghai
Lanjian Hongqing Keji YG. Honghu-1 carries tests of Ar, Kr, and Xe
electric propulsion systems. The Honghu satellites are technology tests
for a future LEO comm satellite constellation.
The previous ZQ-2 launch carried a dummy payload, so this is the first
time a methalox rocket has orbited active satellites.
Chandrayaan-3 PM
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On Oct 8 India's Chandrayaan-3 Propulsion Module changed its lunar orbit from 140 x 180 km x 89.5 deg to
150 x 5125 km x 89.7 deg. A further burn on Oct 13 increased the orbit to 155 x 53767 km x 91.1 deg.
This orbit passed close enough to the Earth-Moon Hill sphere boundary to be strongly perturbed, and
without further manuevers the C3PM left the Moon's gravitational sphere at 0802 UTC Nov 10, entering
a 230000 x 316000 km x 27 deg Earth orbit in a test of future lunar sample return navigation techniques.
Table of Recent Orbital Launches
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Date UT Name Launch Vehicle Site Mission INTL. Catalog Perigee Apogee Incl Notes
Nov 3 1454 TJS-10 Chang Zheng 7A Wenchang LC201 Unk 169A 181 x 35844 x 17.0
Nov 4 0037 Starlink Group 6-26 Falcon 9 Canaveral LC40 Comms 170 283 x 292 x 43.0
Nov 8 0505 Starlink Group 6-27 Falcon 9 Canaveral LC40 Comms 171 283 x 292 x 43.0
Nov 9 1123 Zhongxing-6E Chang Zheng 3B Xichang Comms 172A 215 x 35754 x 28.4
Nov 10 0128 Dragon CRS-29 Falcon 9 Kennedy LC39A Cargo 173A 209 x 360 x 51.7
Nov 11 1849 Transporter-9 Falcon 9 Vandenberg SLC4E Tug 174 523 x 544 x 97.5
Nov 12 2108 O3b MPOWER 5 Falcon 9 Canaveral LC40 Comms 175 2599 x 7005 x 9.0
O3b MPOWER 6 Comms 175 2596 x 7005 x 9.0
Nov 16 0355 Haiyang 3-01 Chang Zheng 2C/YZ-1S Jiuquan Imaging 176A 786 x 788 x 98.7
Nov 18 0505 Starlink Group 6-28 Falcon 9 Canaveral LC40 Comms 177 283 x 292 x 43.0
Nov 18 1303 Starship OFT-2 Starship Starbase OLP1 Test F11 -1750 x 149 x 26.5
Nov 20 1030 Starlink Group 7-7 Falcon 9 Vandenberg SLC4E Comms 178 284 x 291 x 53.1
Nov 21 1342 Manligyeong-1 F3 Cheonlima-1 Sohae Imaging 179A 492 x 512 x 97.4
Nov 22 0747 Starlink Group 6-29 Falcon 9 Canaveral LC40 Comms 180 283 x 292 x 43.0
Nov 23 1000 XQG-02A Chang Zheng 2D/YZ3 Xichang Comms 181 1091 x 1111 x 50.0
XQG-02B Comms 181 1092 x 1108 x 50.0
Chuangxin-20 Comms 181 1091 x 1107 x 50.0
Nov 25 2058 Kosmos-2572? Soyuz-2-1B Plesetsk LC43/4 Imaging 182A 299 x 320 x 96.6
Nov 28 0420 Starlink Group 6-30 Falcon 9 Canaveral LC40 Comms 183 284 x 292 x 43.0
Dec 1 0925 Progress M-25 Soyuz-2-1A Baykonur LC31 Cargo 184A 264 x 282 x 51.6
Dec 1 1819 Korea Project 425 EO/IR Falcon 9 Vandenberg SLC4E Imaging 185A 554 x 570 x 97.6
ION SCV012? Tug
Bane Unknown
GNOMES-4 Comms
ENSO Tech
Spirit Astron 185 508 x 525 x 97.5
EIRSAT-1 Tech
Hayasat-1 Tech
Koyoh Tech
Satoro 1 Tech
Unicorn-2L, 2M, 2N Imaging
ALISIO Imaging
MDQubeSAT-1 Comms
NanoFF-1, 2 Tech
uHETSAT Tech
LOGSATS Comms
2 Unknown Payloads? Unknown
Dec 3 0400 Starlink Group 6-31 Falcon 9 Canaveral LC40 Comms 186 285 x 292 x 43.0
Dec 4 0410 MisrSat-2 Chang Zheng 2C Jiuquan Imaging 187A 626 x 642 x 98.0
Xingchi-1 02A Img/Comms 187B
Xingchi-1 02B Img/Comms 187C
Dec 4 0500 S-STEP ADD TV2 Jeju Radar 188A 636 x 653 x 47.0
Dec 4 2333 Xingchi-1A Gushenxing-1 Jiuquan Imaging 189 494 x 511 x 97.5
Jiheng-1 Rem.sens.189 494 x 511 x 97.5
Dec 5 1924 Chuangxin-19 Jielong-3 BRJZ, S China Sea Comms 190A 904 x 921 x 86.5
Dec 7 0507 Starlink Group 6-33 Falcon 9 Canaveral LC40 Comms 191 285 x 292 x 43.0
Dec 8 0803 Starlink Group 7-8 Falcon 9 Vandenberg SLC4E Comms 192 285 x 295 x 53.1
Dec 8 2339 Honghu-1 Zhuque-2 Jiuquan Tech 193 432 x 461 x 97.3
Honghu-2 Tech 193
Tianyi-33 Tech 193
Dec 10 0158 Yaogan 39 hao 05 zu 01 xing Chang Zheng 2D Xichang Sigint 194A 490 x 501 x 35.0
Yaogan 39 hao 05 zu 02 xing Sigint 194 490 x 501 x 35.0
Yaogan 39 hao 05 zu 03 xing Sigint 194 490 x 501 x 35.0
Table of Recent Suborbital Launches
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Nov 1 0701? GT248 Minuteman 3 Vandenberg Test 100? Pacific (RSO destruct)
Nov 2 1544 Galactic 05 Spaceship Two Sp. America EBR3 Tourist 87 Sp. America
Nov 4? RV x6? Bulava K-554, White Sea Test 1000? Kura
Nov 8 0941 DISSIPATION Terrier Oriole Poker Flat Auroral 150? PFRR
Nov 9 1014 Beam-PIE Black Brant XII Poker Flat Auroral 450? PFRR
Nov 15 H4H-4? T.T.Imp. Mal. Wallops I Hypersonic 100? Atlantic
Nov 15 H4H-5? T.T.Imp. Mal. Wallops I Hypersonic 100? Atlantic
Nov 18 1819 M51 RV M51.3 Biscarosse Test 1000? Atlantic
Dec 2 0700 S-520-33 S-520 Uchinoura Tech 304 Pacific
Dec 2 0730 MAIUS-2 VSB-30 Kiruna Micrograv 230? ESRANGE
Dec 6 Bio Capsule Salman Semnan Life Sci 130 Iran
Dec 11 1425? FTG-12 Target IRBM-T1? C-17, Pacific Target 500? Pacific
Dec 11 1430? FTG-12 EKV GBI Vandenberg Interceptor 300? Pacific (intercept)
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| Jonathan McDowell | |
| Somerville MA 02143 | inter : planet4589 at gmail |
| USA | twitter: @planet4589 |
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