Jonathan's Space Report No. 751 2018 Jul 28 Somerville, MA --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- The Edge of Space ------------------ In a new paper in Acta Astronautica (2018, vol 151, 668) "The edge of space: Revisiting the Karman Line" I argue that outer space should be considered to begin at 80 km altitude, and not at the 100 km level which has been popular in recent years. The paper is open access and is available at https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0094576518308221 and https://planet4589.org/space/papers/Edge.pdf International Space Station --------------------------- Aboard ISS, Expedition 56 continues with astronauts Feustel, Artemev, Arnold, Prokop'ev, Aunon-Chancellor and Gerst. On Jun 20 the Canadarm-2/Dextre robot arm combo plucked Surrey's RemoveDebris technology satellite from the Kibo airlock and released it into orbit. On Jun 23 at 0815 UTC the ISS orbit was boosted with a 0.4m/s burn from Progress MS-08 which increased apogee by 2 km. On Jun 29 SpaceX launched the Dragon CRS-15 cargo ship on a Falcon 9 from Cape Canaveral. CRS-15 uses capsule C111, on its second flight, and as usual a new trunk section, this time carrying the ECOSTRESS experiment and a spare latching end effector for the Canadarm-2 robot arm, LEE S/N 205, attached to a flight support equipment (FSE) plate. Dragon CRS-15 arrived at the ISS on Jul 2; Canadarm-2 grappled the vehicle at 1054 UTC and was berthed on the Harmony module at 1352 UTC. On Jul 5 the Canadarm-2 unberthed ECOSTRESS from Dragon and handed it off to the JEM RMS which installed it on the Kibo Exposed Facility at EFU10. When the old spare LEE, S/N 204, was pressed into service as the new LEE-B on the arm, it left behind an FSE plate on External Stowage Platform 2. On Jul 6 the Dextre arm was used to move the FSE plate to the Dragon trunk for disposal and moved the new LEE to ESP-2. On Jul 11 the JEM RMS arm moved the old HREP (HICO/RAIDS Exposed Payload) from the Kibo Exposed Facility EFU6 to EFU13, where the Canadarm-2 picked it up and relocated it to the Dragon trunk for disposal. HREP was launched in 2009 on the first HTV cargo ship. On Jul 9 Progress MS-09 was launched from Baykonur and made the fastest-ever ISS rendezvous, docking with the Pirs module only 3h 39m 13s after launch. The only faster flights in history from Earth launch to orbital rendezvous and docking were Kosmos-188 and Gemini 11, at 1h 8m and 1h 34min respectively. The cargo ship delivered spacesuit Orlan MKS-5 to the station. On Jul 13 Nanoracks NRCSD-14 was extracted from the Kibo airlock by the JEM RMS and ejected a total of 9 cubesats, including Phil Kaaret's HaloSat X-ray astronomy mission. Cygnus OA-9E tested its ability to reboost the ISS with a small 0.05m/s burn on Jul 10 at 2024UTC. It was unberthed from the Unity module on Jul 15 at 1026 UTC and released at 1236 UTC, carrying 3001 kg of cargo for disposal. Sometime on Jul 15 to Jul 16 it deployed 6 further cubesats for SpireGlobal and the Aerospace Corporation, but the deployment times have not been revealed. On Jul 26 Progress MS-08 fired its engines to adjust the ISS orbit in preparation for the forthcoming Soyuz MS-08 landing. Tiangong 2 ----------- China's Tiangong-2 spacelab was used for a single human expedition in 2016; China has announced that no further visits are planned. Since Shenzhou 11 left in Nov 2016, TG-2 has made small reboost manuevers on 2017 Mar 5, Apr 5-6, May 13, Jun 17-20, Sep 17, and Nov 4. The Tianzhou-1 freighter docked with it several times between Apr and Sep 2017 and transferred an unknown amount of propellant. The freighter carried about 2000 kg of propellant in eight 250 kg tanks, half of which were for its own maneuevers. I am guessing each of the three propellant transfer exercises that were carried out involved one tank's worth. On 2018 Jun 13 at around 0645 and 0735 UTC the lab made a two-impulse manuever to lower its orbit from 388 x 391 km to 293 x 299 km. It seemed as if this might be a precursor to a deorbit burn, but on Jun 22 at about 0117 and 0202 UTC a second two-impulse manuever restored the orbit to 390 x 399 km. The full sequence used about 330 kg of propellant. If we assumed Tianzhou left the 1000-kg-capacity tanks full, that leaves about 670 kg. Total mass of Tiangong-2 including propellant is probably now around 8500 kg. At least 250 kg of propellant is required to safely deorbit the vehicle at end of mission. As of Jul 26, Tiangong-2 remained in a 386 x 395 km orbit. Chinese technology satellites ----------------------------- On Jun 27 China launched two satellites carrying intersatellite communications and imaging sensor technology experiments. The satellites are referred to as `xin jishu shiyan' A and B xing (New Technology Test sat A and B). Satellite A made small orbit corrections from Jun 29 to Jul 3, and is now leading satellite B by 1100 km. Beidou DW 32 ------------ Although China's Beidou-3 navigation satellite system has now been deployed, operation of the older generation Beidou-2 system is being maintained. Beidou daohang weixing 32, also known as Beidou-2 I7, was launched on Jul 9 to replenish the Beidou-2 inclined geosynchronous network. The satellite circularized its orbit sometime between Jul 10 and Jul 16. PRSS/PakTes ------------ China launched two satellites for Pakistan on Jul 9, using the CZ-2C with a rarely seen SMA solid upper stage motor. PRSS-1 (Pakistan Remote Sensing Satelite 1) is a Chinese-built imaging satellite; the smaller PakTES-1 was developed by Pakistan in collaboration with South Africa. The satellites are operated by Pakistan's space agency SUPARCO. PakTes-1a raised its orbit by 30 km on Jul 11-14; PRSS-1 remaines in its original orbit. Telstar 19V ----------- Telesat's Telstar 19 Vantage was launched on Jul 22 from Cape Canaveral. The SpaceX Falcon 9 put the 7075 kg SSL-1300 satellite into a subsynchronous transfer orbit of 243 x 17857 km x 27.0 deg. On Jul 25 the satellite begain orbit raising, reaching 300 x 23182 km. Telstar 19V will provide broadband Ku/Ka-band services from 63W. Galileo ------- Four more Galileo navigation satellites were launched on Jul 25 by the final Ariane 5ES (vehicle L596, flight VA244). The satellites are owned by the EU GNSS Agency and have the usual multiplicity of names: FOC FM19 to 22, GalileoSat-23 to 26, Tara, Samuel, Anna and Ellen. Iridium Next ------------- SpaceX launched the Iridium-7 mission from Vandenberg on Jul 25, while the Ariane launch was still in progress. Ten Iridium satellites were deployed from the upper stage, which then was deorbited. This was the 14th SpaceX orbital launch so far this year. Hayabusa-2 ---------- On Jun 27 at 0030 UTC Hayabusa-2 began stationkeeping 20 km from the 0.9 km-diameter asteroid (162173) Ryugu. On Jul 17-25 the probe approached to 6 km from Ryugu and then returned to the 20 km point. The probe will later approach the asteroid and obtain samples for return to Earth. Kosmos-2519/2521/2523 --------------------- The Russian inspector satellite experiment launched in 2017 continues. From Jun 27 to Jul 19 the host satellite Kosmos-2519 made a series of burns which changed its orbit from 644 x 659 km to 318 x 664 km. Kosmos-2521 appears to have made a single burn on Jul 20 to go from 346 x 362 km to 292 x 348 km. Kosmos-2523 remains in the 553 x 665 km orbit into which it was ejected last October. TESS ---- The TESS observatory has completed commissioning and begun its first set of exoplanet search observations. Table of Recent Orbital Launches ---------------------------------- Date UT Name Launch Vehicle Site Mission INTL. Catalog Perigee Apogee Incl Notes Jun 2 0413 Gao Fen 6 ) Chang Zheng 2D Jiuquan Imaging 48A S43484 635 x 646 x 98.0 Luojia-1 KSW 01 ) Imaging 48B S43485 635 x 647 x 98.0 Jun 4 0445 SES-12 Falcon 9 FT Canaveral SLC40 Comms 49A S43488 6203 x 66863 x 12.5 Jun 5 1307 Fengyun 2 09 Chang Zheng 3A Xichang LC2 Weather 50A S43491 35894 x 35924 x 2.2 Jun 6 1112 Soyuz MS-09 Soyuz-FG Baykonur LC1 Spaceship 51A S43493 190 x 247 x 51.6 Jun 12 0420 IGS R-6 H-IIA Tanegashima Radar 52A S43495 500 x 502 x 97.4 Jun 16 2146 Kosmos-2527 Soyuz-2-1B/Fregat Plesetsk Navigation 53A S43508 19116 x 19155 x 64.8 Jun 20 1135 RemoveDebris ISS, LEO Tech 9867NT S43510 401 x 407 x 51.6 Jun 27 0330 XJS A ) Chang Zheng 2C Xichang Tech 54A S43518 465 x 483 x 35.0 XJS B ) Tech 54B S43519 476 x 486 x 35.0 Jun 29 0942 Dragon CRS-15 Falcon 9 FT Canaveral SLC40 Cargo 55A S43522 402 x 408 x 51.6 Jul 9 0356 PRSS-1 ) Chang Zheng 2C/SMA Jiuquan Imaging 56A S43529 589 x 625 x 98.1 PakTes-1a ) Imaging 56B S43530 639 x 640 x 98.1 Jul 9 2058 Beidou DW32 Chang Zheng 3A Xichang Navigation 57A S43539 35691 x 35875 x 55.1 Jul 9 2151 Progress MS-09 Soyuz-2-1A Baykonur LC31 Cargo 58A S43537 402 x 408 x 51.6 Jul 13 0805 RainCube ) ISS, LEO Tech 9867NU? S43546 399 x 407 x 51.6 HaloSat ) Astron 9867NV? S43547 399 x 407 x 51.6 Jul 13 0905 Radix ISS, LEO Tech 9867NW? S43548 399 x 407 x 51.6 Jul 13 1235 TEMPEST-D ) ISS, LEO Sci 9867NX? S43549 399 x 407 x 51.6 CubeRRT ) Tech 9867NY? S43550 399 x 407 x 51.6 Jul 13 1420 RadSat-g ) ISS, LEO Tech 9867NZ? S43551 399 x 407 x 51.6 Equisat ) Tech 9867PA? S43552 399 x 407 x 51.6 MemSat ) Tech 9867PB? S43553 399 x 407 x 51.6 Endurosat One ) Comms 9867PC? S43554 399 x 407 x 51.6 Jul 16? Lemur-2-TomHenderson ) OA-9, LEO Com/Met 46C S43556 477 x 489 x 51.6 Lemur-2-Yuasa ) Com/Met 46D S43557 477 x 489 x 51.6 Jul 16? Lemur-2-Alexander ) OA-9, LEO Com/Met 46E S43558 477 x 489 x 51.6 Lemur-2-Vu ) Com/Met 46F S43559 477 x 489 x 51.6 Jul 16? Aerocube-12A ) OA-9, LEO Tech 46G S43560 477 x 489 x 51.6 Aerocube-12B ) Tech 46H S43561 477 x 489 x 51.6 Jul 22 0550 Telstar 19V Falcon 9 FT Canaveral SLC40 Comms 59A S43562 243 x 17862 x 27.0 Jul 25 1125 GalileoSat-23 ) Ariane 5ES Kourou ELA3 Navigation 60A S43564 22896 x 22929 x 56.3 GalileoSat-24 ) Navigation 60B S43565 22902 x 22918 x 56.3 GalileoSat-25 ) Navigation 60C S43566 22908 x 22948 x 56.2 GalileoSat-26 ) Navigation 60D S43567 22899 x 22925 x 56.3 Jul 25 1139 Iridium SV154 Falcon 9 FT Vandenberg SLC4E Comms 61F S43574 608 x 623 x 86.7 Iridium SV155 Comms 61E S43573 608 x 623 x 86.7 Iridium SV156 Comms 61H S43576 608 x 623 x 86.7 Iridium SV158 Comms 61C S43571 607 x 623 x 86.7 Iridium SV159 Comms 61K S43578 608 x 623 x 86.7 Iridium SV160 Comms 61A S43569 607 x 623 x 86.7 Iridium SV163 Comms 61G S43575 607 x 623 x 86.7 Iridium SV164 Comms 61J S43577 607 x 623 x 86.7 Iridium SV165 Comms 61D S43572 607 x 623 x 86.7 Iridium SV166 Comms 61B S43570 608 x 623 x 86.7 Table of Recent Suborbital Launches ----------------------------------- The suborbital launches table includes known flights above 80 km. Virgin Galactic's Spaceship Two, made a piloted rocket flight into the mesosphere on Jul 26 with pilots Mackay and Masucci aboard. This doesn't make the suborbital list below, which is restricted to flights with apogees above 80 km. It is, however, the first time a piloted rocket flight has had an apogee in the mesosphere since 2004. MICRO-X is a long-awaited sounding rocket flight to test X-ray microcalorimeter technology in space, developed by Tali Figueroa at Northwestern University (and earlier at MIT). Unfortunately the science observations of Cas A were lost due to a pointing failure, but lots of calibration data on the sky background were obtained. This should help planning for future X-ray astronomy satellites. Previous attempts to do X-ray microcalorimeter observations in orbit were largely unsuccessful (AXAF-S: cancelled; ASTRO-E: rocket failed; ASTRO-E-II: cryo vented; ASTRO-H: spun itself to bits, but got two spectra.). The XQC series of 6 sounding rocket flights also fewl early calorimeter designs from 1995 to 2013. Pavel Podvig reports a possible but unconfirmed Yars missile launch from Plesetsk on about Jun 19. Date UT Payload/Flt Name Launch Vehicle Site Mission Apogee/km Target Jun 3 0418 Agni RV Agni V Kalam Island Test 800 Indian O. Jun 18 1900 EVE 7 Black Brant 9 White Sands Solar EUV 290 White Sands Jun 21 0930 NASA 41.125UO Terrier Imp.Orion Wallops Island Education 120 Atlantic Jul 18 1511 New Shepard CC2.0 New Shepard West Texas Abort test 119 West Texas Jul 23 0600 MICRO-X Black Brant 9 White Sands XR Astron 270 White Sands .-------------------------------------------------------------------------. | Jonathan McDowell | | | Somerville MA 02143 | inter : planet4589 at gmail | | USA | twitter: @planet4589 | | | | JSR: http://www.planet4589.org/jsr.html | | Back issues: http://www.planet4589.org/space/jsr/back | | Subscribe/unsub: http://www.planet4589.org/mailman/listinfo/jsr | '-------------------------------------------------------------------------'