[JSR] Jonathan's Space Report, No. 665
Jonathan McDowell
jcm at planet4589.org
Tue Aug 21 19:45:53 EDT 2012
Jonathan's Space Report
No. 665 2012 Aug 21 Somerville, MA USA
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International Space Station
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On the ISS, Expedition 32 continues with astronauts Gennadiy Padalka, Sergey
Revin, Joseph Acaba, Yuriy Malenchenko, Sunita Willams and Akihiko Hoshide.
Japan's HTV-3 External Pallet (EP) was attached to Kibo's Exposed Facility
(EF) on Aug 6. On Aug 7 the Canadian SSRMS/Dextre robotics system was used to
move NASA's SCaN Testbed payload from the EP to the ELC-3 pallet on the
truss. On Aug 9 the Japanese JEM-RMS robot arm was used to move the MCE package from
the EP to slot 8 in the EF. Finally, on Aug 10, the JEM and SSRMS arms were used
to move the empty EP back into the HTV cargo ship; it will be destroyed on reentry
after HTV undocks.
The old Progress M-15M cargo vehicle, after three weeks of independent
flight involving Radar-Progress experiments using thruster burns to
study the ionosphere, was deorbited over the Pacific on Aug 20.
On Aug 20 astronauts Padalka and Malencheko carried out spacewalk VKD-31
from the Pirs module using spacesuits Orlan-MK No. 5 and 6. At 1829 UTC
they ejected the Sfera-53 passive air density calibration satellite into
a 401 x 406 km x 51.6 deg orbit using a special handling device
delivered aboard Progress M-15M. According to Andrey Krasil'nikov,
Sfera-53 was launched on Progress M-16M, and has a mass of 8.0 kg and a
diameter of 0.53m.
The Pirs airlock was depressurized at about 1518 UTC and its hatch was
opened at 1537 UTC. The astronauts transferred the GsTM-2 crane from
Pirs to Zarya. It and then GsTM-1 crane moved in February will therefore
remain available after the old Pirs module, launched in 2001, is
eventually discarded. Next, the crew installed five more space debris
shields on Zvezda. The DPP debris shields were delivered in two bundles,
packets 5 and 6, on Progress M-14M in January. The astronauts also
retrieved a Biorisk experiment canister but were unable to pack up an
SKK exposure cassette. The hatch was closed at 2128 UTC and the Pirs
airlock was repressurized at 2133 UTC, for a duration of 5h 51m (hatch
opened) or 6h15m (depressurized).
The 28 Zvezda space debris shields were delivered in six bundles, as follows:
Bundle Panels Launch Stored outside ISS: EVA Installed EVA
1 1-6 2002 Jun 5 STS-111 2002 Jun 9, PMA-1 111/1 2002 Aug 16 VKD-7
2 7-12 2006 Dec 10 STS-116 2006 Dec 16, PMA-3 116/3
2007 May 30, Zvez. VKD-18 2007 Jun 6 VKD-19
3 13-18 2006 Dec 10 STS-116 2006 Dec 16, PMA-3 116/3
2007 May 30, Zvez. VKD-18 2007 Jun 6 VKD-19
4 19-23 2006 Dec 10 STS-116 2006 Dec 16, PMA-3 116/3 2007 May 30 VKD-18
5 24-26 2012 Jan 25 M-14M - 2012 Aug 20 VKD-31
6 27-28 2012 Jan 25 M-14M - 2012 Aug 20 VKD-31
For example, Bundles 2 and 3 were stored outside ISS on the PMA-3 adapter from 2006
Dec 16 to 2007 May 30, then moved to another storage position on Zvezda, then finally
installed on 2007 Jun 6 - thus featuring in three separate spacewalks.
Mars and Vesta
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Updated timeline data for MSL's entry: Entry Aug 6 0510:46 UTC (as
expected); Parachute deploy 0515:05; heatshield sep 0515:25; landing
0517:57. Backshell sep was reported as 95 sec after heatshield sep.
Departure of the Dawn probe from Vesta is underway, after a brief
delay thanks to a problematic reaction wheel. Dawn is expected
to escape (4) Vesta and enter solar orbit on Sep 5, en route to (1) Ceres.
IS-21
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Energia Logistics Ltd. (US) carried out the launch of a Zenit-3SL rocket from
the Sea Launch Odyssey platform in the Pacific. The Blok DM-SL No. 34 stage
made a single burn to a 255 x 35583 km x 0.1 deg geostationary transfer orbit,
delivering a Boeing 702MP communications satellite. The Intelsat IS-21 satellite
will replace IS-9 and provide western hemisphere coverage.
Suborbital launches
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India's DRDO made two test launches of Agni missiles from Chandipur into the
Bay of Bengal in July and August. The Agni is based on the old SLV-3 satellite
launch vehicle; the first stage has now made 30 launches since 1979.
2012 Orbital launch summary to date
-----------------------------------
46 launches, including one fail-to-orbit (N Korea) and one fail-in-orbit (Russia):
Russia China USA Europe Japan India Iran N Korea
16 11 9 5 2 1 1 1
Table of Recent (orbital) Launches
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Date UT Name Launch Vehicle Site Mission INTL.
DES.
Jul 5 2136 Echostar 17 ) Ariane 5ECA Kourou ELA3 Comms 35A
Meteosat 10 ) Weather 35B
Jul 9 1838 SES-5 Proton-M/Briz-M Baykonur LC81/24 Comms 36A
Jul 15 0240 Soyuz TMA-05M Soyuz-FG Baykonur LC1/5 Spaceship 37A
Jul 21 0206 Kounotori 3 H-IIB Tanegashima LP2 Cargo 38A
Jul 22 0641 Kanopus-V ) Imaging 39
BelKA-2 ) Soyuz-FG/Fregat Baykonur LC31/6 Imaging 39
TET-1 ) Tech 39D
exactView-1) Comms/AIS 39C
MKA-PN1 ) Science 39E
Jul 25 1543 Tianlian-1 (03) Chang Zheng 3C Xichang Comms 40A
Jul 28 0135 Gonets-M No. 13) Rokot Plesetsk LC133 Comms 41B
Gonets-M No. 15) Comms 41D
Kosmos-2481 ) Comms 41A
MiR ) Sci 41C
Aug 1 1935 Progress M-16M Soyuz-U Baykonur LC1 Cargo 42A
Aug 2 2054 Intelsat IS-20 ) Ariane 5ECA Kourou ELA3 Comms 43A
Hylas 2 ) Comms 43B
Aug 6 1931 Telkom-3 ) Proton-M/Briz-M Baykonur LC81/24 Comms 44A
Ekspress MD2) Comms 44B
Aug 19 0655 Intelsat IS-21 Zenit-3SL SL Odyssey, Pacific Comms 45A
Aug 20 1829 Sfera-53 - ISS, LEO Sci 98-067CM
Table of Recent (suborbital) Launches
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Date UT Payload/Flt Name Launch Vehicle Site Mission Apogee/km
Jul 3 Shahab RV Shahab 1 ?, Iran Exercise 100?
Jul 3 Shahab RV Shahab 2 ?, Iran Exercise 100?
Jul 3 Shahab RV Shahab 3 ?, Iran Exercise 150?
Jul 5 1850 NASA 36.284NS Black Brant 9 White Sands Solar 275?
Jul 11 1850 NASA 36.272NS Black Brant 9 White Sands Solar 268
Jul 13 0436 Agni RV Agni I Chandipur Test 200?
Jul 23 1101 NASA 39.011NR Black Brant 11 Wallops Reentry test 458
Jul 24 1917 NASA 36.263US Black Brant 9 White Sands Solar 324
Aug 7 0730 S-310-41 S-310 Uchinoura Reentry test 150
Aug 9 0316 Agni RV Agni II Chandipur Test 220?
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| Jonathan McDowell | phone : (617) 495-7176 |
| Somerville MA 02143 | inter : planet4589 at gmail |
| USA | jcm at cfa.harvard.edu |
| |
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