[JSR] Jonathan's Space Report, No. 689
Jonathan McDowell
jcm at planet4589.org
Tue Nov 19 23:25:03 EST 2013
Jonathan's Space Report
No. 689 2013 Nov 20, Somerville, MA
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International Space Station
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Expedition 38 began on Nov 10 with commander Oleg Kotov, and flight
engineers FE-2 Sergey Ryazanskiy, FE-3 Michael Hopkins, FE-4 Mikhail
Tyurin, FE-5 Rick Mastracchio and FE-6 Koichi Wakata. Ferry ship Soyuz
TMA-10M is at Poisk. Cargo ship Progress M-20M is at the Pirs module.
Soyuz TMA-11M was launched on Nov 7 carrying Mikhail Tyurin,
Rick Mastracchio and Koichi Wakata, and docked with the Rassvet module
at 1027 UTC the same day.
Astronauts Kotov and Ryazanskiy made spacewalk VKD-36 from the Pirs
module on Nov 9. They carried an (unlit, of course) Olympic torch for a
publicity event, which was carried out successfully. The maintenance
tasks that made up the rest of the spacewalk were more problematic. The
Yakor platform was removed from Zvezda's transfer compartment but could
not be attached to the VRM/URM-D articulating mount on side IV of the
main part of Zvezda, and was brought inside instead. A piece of
equipment called DPN was be removed from the VRM (it was installed on
the last EVA in August). On another URM-D experiment mount on side II of
Zvezda is the RK-21-8 Radiometria experiment installed on 2011 Feb 16.
This experiment was disconnected, but the astronauts had trouble stowing
its deployed panels. The Pirs airlock was depressurized at 1417 UTC and
the hatch opened at 1434 UTC; the hatch was reclosed at 2024 UTC and
Pirs was repressurized at 2027 UTC.
Soyuz TMA-09M undocked from the Zvezda module on Nov 10 at 2326 UTC
and landed in Kazakhstan at 0249 UTC Nov 11, carrying
astronauts Yurchikin, Nyberg and Parmitano.
On Nov 19 a J-SSOD cubesat deployer was retrieved from the Kibo module
airlock by the JEM RMS arm and moved to a deployment position; at 1218 UTC
it ejected three 1U cubesats - PicoDragon for Vietnam, and two
Ardusats for a demonstration of spaceborne Arduino processors for the
US company NanoSatisfi.
Kuaizhou 1
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China's Kuaizhou 1 satellite continues to operate in low orbit. KZ-1 was
launched on Sep 25 into a 275 x 293 km orbit, raised on Sep 27 to 299 x
306 km. The orbit decayed to 279 x 288 km and then was raised on Oct 17
to 288 x 321 km; after a further decay another reboost on Nov 1 restored
the orbit to 290 x 317 km. The third reboost on Nov 19 raised the orbit
from 267 x 294 km to 287 x 322 km.
Mars Orbiter Mission
--------------------
India began its Mars Orbiter Mission with the launch of the Mars Orbiter
Spacecraft from Satish Dhawan Space Center on Sriharikota Island north
of Chennai on Nov 5. The MOS was inserted in elliptical Earth orbit;
it will use its own propulsion to enter solar orbit.
ISRO officials seem to be using the name 'Mars Orbiter Spacecraft' for
the vehicle (as opposed to the mission), although the press kit uses
'Mars Orbiter Satellite'. Parts of the Indian press media are also using
the nickname 'Mangalyaan' but this is never used by ISRO, so I consider
this name incorrect, although the correct name is admittedly boring.
'Mars Orbiter Mission' (MOM) is also used widely for the spacecraft.
The third stage rocket reentered off the coast of Peru after half an orbit;
the fourth stage and MOM payload entered a 251 x 23892 km x 19.4 deg orbit
with first perigee over the South Pacific. On Nov 7 the orbit was raised
to 259 x 28726 km, and on Nov 8 to over 70000 km apogee.
A further burn on Nov 10 delivered only 35m/s, raising the
apogee less than planned. A makeup burn on Nov 11 fixed the problem, and
a burn on Nov 15 put the spacecraft in a 853 x 194683 km x 19.4 deg orbit.
Solar orbit insertion is scheduled for around Dec 1.
Raduga-1M
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A Russian Globus-1M (cover name Raduga-1M) military communications
satellite was sent toward geostationary orbit by a Proton launch on Nov
11. On Nov 17 the satellite was in a 35249 x 35599 km x 0.2 deg orbit
drifting eastward over 78E.
MAVEN
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The Mars MAVEN mission was launched on Nov 18. It is designed to enter
Martian orbit and study the escape of gases from the upper Martian atmosphere.
It carries particles and fields instruments and an imaging ultraviolet
spectrometer.
MAVEN reached a 167 x 315 km x 26.7 deg parking orbit at 1841 UTC; the Centaur AV-038
stage restarted at 1909 UTC and inserted MAVEN into a 195 x -78200 km x 27.7 deg
hyperbolic Earth orbit. MAVEN and the Centaur will leave the Earth-Moon system
on Nov 21 and enter a 0.97 x 1.47 AU x 2.1 deg heliocentric orbit which will take them
to the vicinity of Mars in Sep 2014.
ORS-3
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The ORS-3 mission was launched by a Minotaur I from Wallops Island
into a 497 x 507 km x 40.5 deg orbit carrying the STPSat-3 research
satellite and two CubeStack wafers which eject a total of 28 cubesats
(Deployment of the cubesats has not yet been confirmed).
STPSat-3 carries technology and space weather experiments, including an
important Total Solar Irradiance sensor, TCTE, to provide data lost when
the Glory launch failed. The ORS-3 Minotaur final stage carries an
experimental launch tracking system and a drag device to reduce the
amount of time it spends in orbit. The upper wafer carries four 6U
Cubesat dispensers for NRO missions, and the lower wafer carries eight
3U P-POD cubesat dispensers for various payloads including NASA's ELANA
IV cubesat cluster. The basic 1U Cubesat is a 0.1m cube; 3U Cubesats are
0.1 x 0.1 x 0.3m boxes. The 28 Cubesats on the launch total 48U of
volume.
Counting the final stage as a payload (since it carries active experiments)
this total of 30 payloads more than doubles the existing record for active
payloads on a single launch. The previous record was the 2007-012 Dnepr launch,
with 14 payloads. The three Soviet Kol'tso radar calibration missions
1988-113, 1989-100, and 1990-104 (Kosmos-1985, 2053 and 2106) appear to have
each carried 36 subsatellites, but these were passive calibration targets.
The SDIO Delta 181 launch in 1988 had 15 payloads, but some were also
passive calibration objects.
The ELANA IV cluster consists of 10 of the 1U Cubesats and one 3U one -
TJ3Sat, from Thomas Jefferson High School, Virginia
DragonSat, from Drexel University, Penn. and the US Naval Academy, Annapolis
COPPER, from Saint Louis University, Missouri
ChargerSat 1, from U. Alabama-Huntsville
SwampSat, from U. Florida-Gainesville
Ho'oponopono 2, a 3U sat for radar calibration, from U. Hawaii-Manoa
KySat-2 from Kentucky Space, Lexington, Kentucky
CAPE 2, from U. Louisiana-Lafayette
Trailblazer, from U. New Mexico-Albequerque
Vermont Lunar Cubesat, from Vermont Technical College, testing equipment for
a proposed future lunar mission
PhoneSat-2.4, from NASA-Ames, with systems based on a Nexus/Android cellphone
Two further 1U satellites are packaged with ELANA IV:
NPS-SCAT for the US Navy Postgraduate School, with a solar cell exposure experiment
Black Knight 1, for the US Military Academy at West Point, New York
This accounts for 5 of the 8 P-POD deployers on the lower deck. The remaining
satellites are
Firefly, a 3U science sat for the National Science Foundation
built by the Hawk Institute for Space Sciences in Maryland in collaboration
with Siena College, that will study terrestrial gamma-ray flashes;
Horus (STARE-B), a 3U Lawrence Livermore experiment for space debris monitoring;
SENSE-A and SENSE-B 3U ionospheric monitoring satellites for the USAF Space and
Missile Center
8 Prometheus low orbit tactical communications satellites,
each 1.5U, for the US Southern Command (SOCOM), developed by Los Alamos.
ORSES, a 3U ORS Enabler Satellite, a tactical comms satellite for the USAF
Operationally Responsive Space office and the US Space and Missile Defense Command.
ORS Tech 1 and 2, 3U technology demo satellites for USAF ORS developed by APL.
All of the satellites on the launch are US satellites (led by
organizations from 13 different US states), so this also sets a record
for the number of satellites from a single country orbited on a single
launch. Both the absolute and single-country record may not stand long,
with launches planned later this year that will surpass the ORS-3
record.
Table of Recent (orbital) Launches
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Date UT Name Launch Vehicle Site Mission INTL.
Sep 1 1916 Yaogan 17 ) Chang Zheng 4C Jiuquan LC603 SIGINT 46A
YW-17 subsat 1) SIGINT 46B
YW-17 subsat 2) SIGINT 46C
Sep 7 0327 LADEE Minotaur V Wallops I. LA0B Lunar probe 47A
Sep 11 2323 Gonets-M No. 14 ) Rokot Plesetsk LC133/3 Comms 48A
Gonets-M No. 16 ) Comms 48B
Gonets-M No. 17 ) Comms 48C
Sep 14 0500 Hisaki Epsilon Uchinoura Astronomy 49A
Sep 18 0810 AEHF 3 Atlas V 531 Canaveral SLC41 Comms 50A
Sep 18 1458 Cygnus Demo Antares 110 Wallops I. LA0A Cargo 51A
Sep 23 0307 Fengyun-3 3 Chang Zheng 4C Taiyuan LC9 Weather 52A
Sep 25 0437 Kuaizhou-1 Kuaizhou Jiuquan Imaging? 53A
Sep 25 2058 Soyuz TMA-10M Soyuz-FG Baykonur LC1 Spaceship 54A
Sep 29 1600 Cassiope ) Falcon 9 v1.1 Vandenberg SLC4E Comm/Sci 55A
POPACS 1 ) Sci 55D
POPACS 2 ) Sci 55E
POPACS 3 ) Sci 55F
DANDE ) Sci 55C
CUSat ) Tech 55B
Sep 29 2138 Astra 2E Proton-M/Briz-M Baykonur LC200/39 Comms 56A
Oct 25 0350 Shi Jian 16 Chang Zheng 4B Jiuquan Tech? 57A
Oct 25 1808 Sirius FM6 Proton-M/Briz-M Baykonur LC200/39 Comms 58A
Oct 29 0250 Yaogan 18 Chang Zheng 2C Taiyuan Radar? 59A
Nov 5 0908 Mars Orbiter Spacecraft PSLV-XL Sriharikota Mars probe 60A
Nov 7 0414 Soyuz TMA-11M Soyuz-FG Baykonur LC1 Spaceship 61A
Nov 11 2346 Raduga-1M Proton-M/Briz-M Baykonur LC81/24 Comms 62A
Nov 18 1828 MAVEN Atlas V 401 Canaveral SLC41 Mars probe 63A
Nov 19 1218 PicoDragon ) ISS, LEO Tech 98-067DA?
Ardusat-1 ) Tech 98-067DB?
Ardusat-X ) Tech 98-067DC?
Nov 20 0115 STPSAT-3 ) Minotaur I Wallops I LA0B Tech 64A?
ORS-3 ) Tech 64
TJ3Sat ) Tech 64
DragonSat ) Tech 64
COPPER ) Tech 64
ChargerSat 1 ) Tech 64
SwampSat ) Tech 64
Ho'oponopono 2 ) Radar cal 64
KySat-2 ) Tech 64
CAPE 2 ) Tech 64
Trailblazer ) Tech 64
Vermont Lunar Cubesat ) Tech 64
PhoneSat-2.4 ) Tech 64
NPS-SCAT ) Tech 64
Black Knight 1 ) Tech 64
Firefly ) Science 64
Horus/STARE-B ) Space Surv. 64
SENSE-A ) Ionospheric 64
SENSE-B ) Ionospheric 64
ORSES ) Comms 64
ORS Tech 1 ) Tech 64
ORS Tech 2 ) Tech 64
Prometheus 1A? ) Comms 64
Prometheus 1B ?) Comms 64
Prometheus 2A? ) Comms 64
Prometheus 2B ?) Comms 64
Prometheus 3A? ) Comms 64
Prometheus 3B ?) Comms 64
Prometheus 4A? ) Comms 64
Prometheus 4B ?) Comms 64
Suborbital launches
-------------------
The Wisconsin/Goddard X-ray Quantum Calorimeter payload made its sixth flight on Nov 3
from White Sands.
Table of Recent (suborbital) Launches
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Date UT Payload/Flt Name Launch Vehicle Site Mission Apogee/km
Sep 3 0616 Radar target Silver Sparrow F-15, Med. Sea Target 150?
Sep 6 0520 Bulava RV Bulava K-550, White Sea Test 100?
Sep 10 MBRV? Unknown Wake Island Target 300?
Sep 10 MBRV? eMRBM C-17, Pacific Target 300?
Sep 10 Aegis KV SM-3 USS Decatur,Pacific Interceptor 150?
Sep 10 THAAD KV THAAD Meck Island Interceptor 100?
Sep 10 THAAD KV THAAD Meck Island Interceptor 100?
Sep 10 2110? USN RV Trident D-5 SSBN, Atlantic O. Test 1000?
Sep 10 2110? USN RV Trident D-5 SSBN, Atlantic O. Test 1000?
Sep 12 USN RV Trident D-5 SSBN, Atlantic O. Test 1000?
Sep 12 USN RV Trident D-5 SSBN, Atlantic O. Test 1000?
Sep 15 0920 Agni RV Agni V Wheeler I. IC4 Test 800?
Sep 19 0030 FTM-21 Target ARAV-C++ Kauai Target 300?
Sep 19 0032? Aegis KV SM-3-1B USS Lake Erie Interceptor 300?
Sep 19 0032? Aegis KV SM-3-1B USS Lake Erie Interceptor 300?
Sep 22 1001 Mk 21 RV? Minuteman 3 Vandenberg LF10 Op. test 1300?
Sep 26 1033 Mk 21 RV? Minuteman 3 Vandenberg LF09 Op. test 1300?
Oct 4 0533 FTM-22 Target ARAV-ER Kauai Target 300?
Oct 4 0537? Aegis KV SM-3-1B USS Lake Erie Interceptor 150?
Oct 7 0345 Prithvi RV Prithvi II Chandipur Op. test 100?
Oct 8 0650? Prithvi RV Prithvi II Chandipur Op. test 100?
Oct 10 1339 Exptl. RV Topol' Kapustin Yar RV test 1000?
Oct 21 1800 NASA 36.290US Black Brant IX White Sands Solar 278?
Oct 30 10 RVs?? R-36M2 Yasniy Exercise 1000?
Oct 30 Topol' RV Topol' Plesetsk Exercise 1000?
Oct 30 RV Sineva? K-117, Barents Sea Exercise 1000?
Oct 30 RV Volna K-433, S.of Okhotsk Exercise 1000?
Nov 3 0925 NASA 36.294UH Black Brant IX White Sands X-ray Astron 280?
Nov 12 1615? SL-8 SpaceLoft XL Spaceport America Tech 116
.-------------------------------------------------------------------------.
| Jonathan McDowell | |
| Somerville MA 02143 | inter : planet4589 at gmail |
| USA | twitter: @planet4589 |
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