Jonathan's Space Report No. 796 2021 Aug 23 Somerville, MA ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- International Space Station --------------------------- Expedition 65 continues. The Nauka module made a 15m/s orbit raising burn on Jul 22. Further orbit raising burns left it in a 334 x 406 km orbit by Jul 25, with the initial propulsion system problems resolved. On Jul 26 at 1055 UTC the docked Progress MS-16/Pirs complex undocked from the nadir port of the Zvezda module. Pirs had been attached to Zvezda since 2001. At 1401 UTC Progress MS-16 performed a 120 m/s deorbit burn and the 9-tonne Progress MS-16/Pirs reentered the atmosphere over the South Pacific at 1442 UTC, with debris reaching the ocean surface at 1452 UTC. Nauka successfully docked with the Zvezda nadir port at 1329 UTC Jul 29. Oleg Novitskiy was within seconds of taking over manual TORU remote control for the final 10 metres of the approach, as the automatic system was experiencing some oscillations in alignment, but according to a report by Anatoliy Zak the issue straightened itself out just in time and automatic docking was allowed to run to completion. Nauka's adventures were not over At 1645 UTC the Nauka thrusters began unexpectedly firing, threatening loss of attitude control for the ISS. The Zvezda and Progress MS-17 thrusters tried to counteract the unwanted torque, but ISS tumbled until Nauka's propellant was depleted and the other modules could restore attitude. Note that initial reports of a mere 45 degree attitude deviation were superseded; one flight controller commented `we [i.e. ISS] proceeded to do headstands and cartwheels. Olympic judges would be proud' and reported that the station made 1.5 full rotations in pitch before being brought under control. However, by around 1800 UTC the situation on ISS was stable. Hatches to Nauka were opened on Jul 30. On Aug 10 Northrop Grumman launched the Cygnus NG-16 cargo ship S.S. Ellison Onizuka. The Onizuka arrived at ISS on Aug 12, with Canadarm-2 grappling it at 1007 UTC and berthing it on the nadir Unity CBM at 1342 UTC. NG-16 carries another IROSA mod kit for installation on the truss. PIRPL, an infrared sensor payload from the US military Space Development Agency and Missile Defense Agency, is attached externally to the Cygnus PCM and will be operated after Cygnus leaves the ISS. Language Change and Civilian Astronauts: A Rant ------------------------------------------------ In general, language change is inevitable. Specific changes, however, are not - especially when those changes are instigated by one individual or group with an agenda. Sometimes it's a good thing: in my lifetime I have seen widespread adoption of deliberate changes to make English less sexist. I applaud, endorse and adopt those changes. However, "language changes are inevitable" is not a good reason to roll over and accept bad changes without a fight. In that sprit, I oppose the proposed change to the dictionary meaning of the word 'civilian', and the phrase 'civilian astronaut' proposed by SpaceX and the Inspiration Four team. 'Civilian astronaut' means 'not active military'; the first all-civilian orbital space crew was that of Soyuz TMA-3 in 2003, with Aleksandr Kaleri, Mike Foale and Pedro Duque. The first civilian in space was NASA's Joe Walker (on the X-15, 1963); the first in orbit was Dr. Konstantin Feoktistov (Voskhod 1, 1964); and the first American civilian in orbit was Neil Armstrong (Gemini 8, 1966). At the time of Apollo 11 the US press made a big deal of the fact that the first lunar mission was commanded by a civilian, so the term 'civilian astronaut' has an important history in the politics of astronautics. A correct term for a space traveller who is not a government employee is `private astronaut'. Other terms, e.g. private-citizen astronaut, are also correct. 'Civilian astronaut' is not correct when used as a term meant to exclude NASA astronauts or other government astronauts. Non-military government employees are also civilians, and attempting to change the language to say that they aren't is pernicious and stupid. I call on journalists, editors, keepers of style guides, and all users of the English language to consider this proposed new usage incorrect and to rigorously avoid using it themselves. The Inspiration Four crew, if they launch as planned, will be the first all-private-citizen orbital space crew. It will also be an all-civilian, but NOT the first all-civilian, orbital space crew. Yunhai 1-02 collision --------------------- At 0741 UTC on Mar 18 an event happened on China's Yunhai 1-02 satellite that resulted in the generation of a cloud of orbital debris, although the satellite continued to operate after the event. It has now become clear that the source of the event was a collision with a small Russian debris object. Object 48078, 1996-051Q, is associated with the Zenit second stage from the 1996 Kosmos-2333 launch. The object was cataloged on around Mar 25 and only a single orbital solution, with epoch Mar 16, is associated with it. Using this orbit and the TLEs for Yunhai 1-02, I infer that the two objects were within 1 km of each other at 0741:19 UTC over 19.4E 70.9N, 780 km above Tromso, Norway, travelling at a relative velocity of 13.26 km/s. In August Space-Track added a comment to the object 48078 catalog entry: "Collided with satellite", implicitly confirming that the Yunhai debris event was a collision. SpaceForce has since confirmed this interpretation. Rocket Lab ---------- Electron mission 21 was launched from New Zealand on Jul 29, placing the US Air Force Research Lab's Monolith (STP-27RM) satellite in orbit. Monolith will test the ability of a cubesat to stably deploy an external sensor whose size is comparable to the satellite. Tianhui 1-04 ------------ China's SAST launched a CZ-2D on Jul 29 placing the TH1-04 mapping satellite in orbit. Ariane VA254 ------------- Following a redesign of the nose fairing, Ariane 5 returned to flight on Jul 30 with the launch of flight VA254 (probably vehicle 5113?) carrying the Star One D2 and Eutelsat Quantum satellites to geotransfer orbit. KLEO ---- Two Ka-band communications test satellites for the German company KLEO Connect, KL-Beta A and B, were launched by CZ-6 from Taiyuan on Aug 4. Transporter-2 -------------- The D-Orbit ION SVC-03 'Dauntless David' released two more of its passengers on Jul 21 and Jul 22: Reaktor's W-Cube to test W-band propagation and Endurosat's SPARTAN with a variety of experiments. The final payload, Neptuno, was released on Jul 24. Most of the Transporter-2 objects have now been identified; PACE-1, PAINANI-2 and Faraday Phoenix are still unclaimed. The 11 kg Echostar EG-3 cubesat, built by Tyvak and owned by Echostar Australia, raised its orbit from 523 x 537 km to 642 x 655 km on Jul 16-17. This is the largest orbit change performed by a cubesat, using a new propulsion system from the California-based company Stellar Exploration with 6.5 kg of hydrazine and eight 0.25N hydrazine thrusters (four axial and four attitude, so 1N total nominal axial thrust). The company reports a 65 m/s delta-V, which is consistent with my own estimate of the delta-V required for this orbit change. SQX-1 ----- China's Xingji Rongyao Kongjian Keji YG (iSpace, or Interstellar Glory Space Tech Ltd) launched the third Shuang Quxian 1 (Hyperbola-1) orbital vehicle from Jiuquan on Aug 3, but it apparently failed to reach its target 500 km, 1400 LTDN sun-synchronous orbit due to the failure of the payload fairing to separate. A final velocity of 7400 m/s has been reported which would imply impact in Antarctica. Payload on the vehicle is suspected to have been the 18 kg Jilin-1 Mofang-01A imaging satellite for Changguang Satellite Tech but this is not yet confirmed. ZX-2E ----- China's CALT launched a CZ-3B to geotransfer orbit on Aug 5, carrying the Shentong 2-05 military communications satellite, which has the cover name Zhongxing-2E (ZX-2E). EOS-03 ------ EOS-03, a 2268 kg I2K-class satellite with a hyperspectral imaging payload, was lost on Aug 12 when the cryogenic third stage of India's GSLV Mk II rocket tumbled out of control shortly after ignition. The vehicle fell in the Andaman Sea near 96E 9N. Vega VV19 --------- The Arianespace Vega rocket carried out a successful flight VV19 on Aug 17, deploying the Airbus imaging satellite Pleiades Neo 4 to a 623 km orbit and then four cubesats to a 560 km orbit: BRO-4 for Unseen Labs, LEDSAT for U. Roma La Sapienza, Sunstorm for Reaktor Space, and Radcube for Hungarian company C3S. Tianhui 2 --------- On Aug 18 China's SAST launched a CZ-4B with two radar mapping satellites, Tianhui 2 hao 02 zu 01 and 02 zing (Tianhui Type 2 Group 02 Sats 01 and 02). The satellites carry X-band SAR radars with 3 metre resolution. Tiangong space station ---------------------- Astronauts Nie and Liu made a spacewalk on Aug 20, deploying a camera, installing an external pump, and carrying out further tests of the robot arm. The hatch was open from 0038 to 0633 UTC. OneWeb ------ 34 more OneWeb satellites were launched from Baykonur on Aug 21. Table of Recent Orbital Launches ---------------------------------- Date UT Name Launch Vehicle Site Mission INTL. Catalog Perigee Apogee Incl Notes Jun 18 0630 Yaogan 30 hao 09 zu 01 xing) Chang Zheng 2C Xichang Sigint? 55A S48860 590 x 603 x 35.0 Yaogan 30 hao 09 zu 02 xing) Sigint? 55B S48861 591 x 602 x 35.0 Yaogan 30 hao 09 zu 03 xing) Sigint? 55D S48863 592 x 602 x 35.0 Tianqi 14 ) Comms 55E S48864 571 x 681 x 35.1 Jun 22 1055 MIR-SAT1 ISS, LEO Tech 9867SP S48868 416 x 420 x 51.6 Jun 22 1200? G-SATELLITE 2 ISS, LEO Tech 9867SN S48867 415 x 419 x 51.6 Jun 23? Test satellite? Simorgh? Khomeini Test? F03 Jun 25 1950 Kosmos-2550 Soyuz-2-1b Plesetsk LC43/4 Sigint 56A S48865 195 x 466 x 67.1 Jun 29 2250 IT-SPINS ) Cygnus NG-15, LEO Sci 13G S49017 489 x 503 x 51.6 MySat-2 ) Tech 13F S49016 489 x 503 x 51.6 Jun 29 2327 Progress MS-17 Soyuz-2-1a Baykonur LC31 Cargo 57A S48869 280 x 383 x 51.7 Jun 30 1447 CNCE 1 ) Launcher One B747, Mojave Com 58E S48875 495 x 520 x 60.7 CNCE 3 ) Com 58D S48874 495 x 520 x 60.7 Gunsmoke-J 4 ) Com 58H S48878 495 x 526 x 60.7 HALO-Net FF ) Tech 58G S48877 495 x 522 x 60.7 Brik-II ) Tech/Com 58F S48876 495 x 522 x 60.7 STORK 4 ) Imaging 58C S48873 495 x 526 x 60.7 STORK 5 ) Imaging 58B S48872 495 x 522 x 60.7 Jun 30 1931 Transporter-2 ) Falcon 9 Canaveral SLC40 Dispenser 59 530 x 545 x 97.5 Starlink 3003 ) Comms 59A S48879 515 x 536 x 97.5 Starlink 3004 ) Comms 59B S48880 515 x 536 x 97.5 Starlink 3005 ) Comms 59C S48881 510 x 525 x 97.5 SHERPA-LTE-1 ) Dispenser 59BQ S48941 524 x 536 x 97.5 SHERPA-FX-2 ) Dispenser 59CH S48958 511 x 537 x 97.5 ION-SVC-003 ) Dispenser 59AK S48912 520 x 537 x 97.5 YAM-2 ) Tech 59 YAM-3 ) Tech 59AN S48915 519 x 537 x 97.5 Nusat-19 (Rosalind) ) Imaging 59AC S48905 521 x 537 x 97.5 Nusat-20 (Grace) ) Imaging 59AU S48921 521 x 537 x 97.5 Nusat-21 (Elisa) ) Imaging 59AT S48920 521 x 537 x 97.5 Nusat-22 (Sofya) ) Imaging 59AS S48919 521 x 537 x 97.5 Umbra-SAR 2001 ) Radar 59AD S48906 521 x 537 x 97.5 ICEYE-X11 ) Radar 59AR S48918 519 x 537 x 97.5 ICEYE-X12 ) Radar 59AM S48914 519 x 537 x 97.5 ICEYE-X13 ) Radar 59AP S48916 519 x 537 x 97.5 ICEYE-X15 ) Radar 59AQ S48917 519 x 537 x 97.5 Capella 5 ) Radar 59AL S48913 520 x 536 x 97.5 TUBIN ) Tech 59X S48900 523 x 537 x 97.5 Lemur-2-Jackson ) Com/Met 59G S48885 524 x 537 x 97.5 Lemur-2-AnnaBanana ) Com/Met 59AW S48923 524 x 537 x 97.5 D2/AtlaCom-1 ) Tech 59AV S48922 516 x 537 x 97.5 PACE-1 ) Tech 59 TROPICS Pathfinder ) Sci 59Y S48901 522 x 537 x 97.5 Mandrake 2A ) Com 59AE S48907 521 x 537 x 97.5 Mandrake 2B ) Com 59AF S48908 521 x 537 x 97.5 LINCS 1 ) Com 59Z S48902 521 x 538 x 97.5 LINCS 2 ) Com 59AA S48903 521 x 538 x 97.5 Centauri 4 ) Com 59V S48898 522 x 538 x 97.5 GNOMES 2 ) Com 59AH S48910 519 x 537 x 97.5 EG-3 ) Com 59P S48892 642 x 655 x 97.5 SpaceBEENZ-7 ) Com 59L S48889 525 x 536 x 97.5 SpaceBEENZ-8 ) Com 59N S48891 525 x 536 x 97.5 SpaceBEENZ-9 ) Com 59J S48887 525 x 536 x 97.5 SpaceBEENZ-10 ) Com 59D S48882 525 x 536 x 97.5 SpaceBEE-88 ) Com 59BJ S48935 525 x 536 x 97.5 SpaceBEE-89 ) Com 59BG S48933 525 x 536 x 97.5 SpaceBEE-90 ) Com 59BW S48947 525 x 536 x 97.5 SpaceBEE-91 ) Com 59BP S48940 525 x 536 x 97.5 SpaceBEE-92 ) Com 59BF S48932 525 x 536 x 97.5 SpaceBEE-93 ) Com 59BN S48939 525 x 536 x 97.5 SpaceBEE-94 ) Com 59BL S48937 525 x 536 x 97.5 SpaceBEE-95 ) Com 59BU S48945 525 x 536 x 97.5 SpaceBEE-96 ) Com 59BH S48934 525 x 536 x 97.5 SpaceBEE-97 ) Com 59BK S48936 525 x 536 x 97.5 SpaceBEE-98 ) Com 59BY S48949 525 x 536 x 97.5 SpaceBEE-99 ) Com 59BV S48946 525 x 536 x 97.5 SpaceBEE-100 ) Com 59E S48883 525 x 536 x 97.5 SpaceBEE-101 ) Com 59F S48884 525 x 536 x 97.5 SpaceBEE-102 ) Com 59H S48886 525 x 536 x 97.5 SpaceBEE-103 ) Com 59K S48888 525 x 536 x 97.5 SpaceBEE-104 ) Com 59M S48890 525 x 536 x 97.5 SpaceBEE-105 ) Com 59T S48896 525 x 536 x 97.5 SpaceBEE-106 ) Com 59Q S48893 525 x 536 x 97.5 SpaceBEE-107 ) Com 59R S48894 525 x 536 x 97.5 SpaceBEE-108 ) Com 59S S48895 525 x 536 x 97.5 SpaceBEE-109 ) Com 59U S48897 525 x 536 x 97.5 SpaceBEE-110 ) Com 59W S48899 525 x 536 x 97.5 SpaceBEE-111 ) Com 59AB S48904 521 x 536 x 97.5 Jun 30 2300? Astrocast-0201 ) Sherpa-FX2, LEO Com 59CD S48954 512 x 533 x 97.5 Astrocast-0202 ) Com 59CL S48961 512 x 533 x 97.5 Astrocast-0203 ) Com 59CE S48955 512 x 533 x 97.5 Astrocast-0204 ) Com 59CB S48952 512 x 533 x 97.5 Astrocast-0205 ) Com 59CK S48960 512 x 533 x 97.5 Hawk 3A ) Sigint 59CG S48957 513 x 536 x 97.5 Hawk 3B ) Sigint 59BE S48931 513 x 536 x 97.5 Hawk 3C ) Sigint 59BX S48948 513 x 536 x 97.5 Lynk 06 (Shannon) ) Com 59BM S48938 513 x 536 x 97.5 Painani-2 ) Tech 59 Lemur-2-John-Treires ) Com/Met 59AY S48925 524 x 537 x 97.5 Lemur-2-AC-Cubed ) Com/Met 59BA S48927 524 x 537 x 97.5 Lemur-2-Merima ) Com/Met 59BC S48929 524 x 537 x 97.5 Jun 30 2300? Aurora/Shasta ) Sherpa-LTE1, LEO Sigint 59CF S48956 511 x 537 x 97.5 Polar Vigilance 1 ) Sigint 59BD S48930 513 x 534 x 97.5 Polar Vigilance 2 ) Sigint 59AZ S48926 513 x 534 x 97.5 Polar Vigilance 3 ) Sigint 59BR S48942 513 x 534 x 97.5 Polar Vigilance 4 ) Sigint 59 Faraday Phoenix ) Tech 59 Lemur-2-CarlSantaMari ) Com/Met 59CJ S48959 524 x 537 x 97.5 Ayan-21 ) Tech 59BT S48944 512 x 536 x 97.5 ARTHUR-1 ) Tech 59CC S48953 513 x 534 x 97.5 Tenzing ) Tech 59CA S48951 512 x 537 x 97.5 Jun 30 1500 ORCA-6 Cygnus NG-15,LEO Tech? 13E? S49013 492 x 501 x 51.6 Jun 30 1630 ORCA-7 Cygnus NG-15,LEO Com 13C S49015 487 x 503 x 51.6 Jun 30 1830 Gunsmoke-J 2 Cygnus NG-15, LEO Com 13D S49014 487 x 503 x 51.6 Jul 1 1238 OneWeb SL0249-SL0284 ) Soyuz/Fregat Vostochniy PU1 Com 60A-AM 443 x 454 x 87.4 Jul 3 0251 Jilin-1 KF01B ) Chang Zheng 2D Taiyuan Imaging 61A S49003 531 x 545 x 97.5 Jilin-1 GF03D-01) Imaging 61 S49004 530 x 543 x 97.5 Jilin-1 GF03D-02) Imaging 61 S49005 526 x 543 x 97.5 Jilin-1 GF03D-03) Imaging 61 S49006 525 x 543 x 97.5 Xingshidai 10 ) Imaging 61 S49007 525 x 543 x 97.5 Jul 4 2328 Fengyun-3 05 Chang Zheng 4C Jiuquan Meteo 62A S49008 792 x 815 x 98.7 Jul 6 1553 TianLian 1-05 Chang Zheng 3C Xichang Comms 63A S49010 180 x 39784 x 17.6 Jul 9 1159 Zhongzi 2-01 ) Chang Zheng 6 Taiyuan Sigint 64A S49018 857 x 867 x 45.0 Zhongzi 2-02 ) Sigint 64B S49019 857 x 867 x 45.0 Zhongzi 2-03 ) Sigint 64C S49020 857 x 867 x 45.0 Zhongzi 2-04 ) Sigint 64D S49021 857 x 867 x 45.0 Zhongzi 2-05 ) Sigint 64E S49022 857 x 867 x 45.0 Jul 16 QMR-KWT) ION-SVC03, LEO Tech 59 Ghalib ) Tech 59 Jul 18 NAPA-2 ION-SVC03, LEO Img 59CN S48963 519 x 541 x 97.5 Jul 19 0019 Yaogan 30 hao 10 zu 01 xing ) Chang Zheng 2C Xichang Sigint 65A? S49026 588 x 599 x 35.0 Yaogan 30 hao 10 zu 02 xing ) Sigint 65B? S49027 588 x 599 x 35.0 Yaogan 30 hao 10 zu 03 xing ) Sigint 65C? S49028 588 x 599 x 35.0 Tianqi 15 ) Com 65D? S49029 591 x 602 x 35.0 Jul 21 1458 Nauka Proton-M Baykonur LC39/200 Module 66A S49044 190 x 346 x 51.6 Jul 21 SPARTAN ION-SVC03, LEO Tech 59 519 x 533 x 97.5 Jul 22 W-Cube ION-SVC03, LEO Tech 59CQ S48965 520 x 540 x 97.5 Jul 24 Neptuno ION-SVC03, LEO Sigint 59 519 x 533 x 97.5 Jul 29 0401 Tianhui 1-04 Chang Zheng 2D Jiuquan Imaging 67A S49049 488 x 503 x 97.5 Jul 29 0600 Monolith Electron Mahia LC1A Tech 68A S49052? 598 x 610 x 37.0 Jul 30 2100 Star One D2 ) Ariane 5ECA+ Kourou ELA3 Comms 69A S49055 261 x 35771 x 3.0 Eutelsat Quantum ) Comms 69B S49056 232 x 35555 x 3.0 Aug 3 0739 Jilin-1 Mofang-01A? Shuang Quxian 1 Jiuquan Tech F05 F01589 -250?x500? x 97? Aug 4 1101 KL-Beta A ) Chang Zheng 6 Taiyuan Comms 70A S49059 899 x 908 x 89.0 KL-Beta B ) Comms 70A S49060 899 x 908 x 89.0 Aug 5 1630 Zhongxing-2E Chang Zheng 3B Xichang Comms 71A S49062 423 x 35138 x 23.6 Aug 10 2201 S.S. Ellison Onizuka Antares 230+ MARS LA0A Cargo 72A S49064 178 x 375 x 51.6 Aug 12 0013 EOS-03 GSLV Mk II Satish Dhawan Comms F06 F01593 -4500 x 140 x 17.9 Aug 17 0147 Pleiades Neo 4 ) Vega Kourou ELV Imaging 73E S49070 615 x 617 x 97.9 LEDSAT ) Tech 73 522 x 562 x 97.6 Sunstorm ) Solar 73 522 x 562 x 97.6 BRO-4 ) Sigint 73 522 x 562 x 97.6 RADCUBE ) Sci 73 522 x 562 x 97.6 Aug 18 2232 Tianhui 2-02-01) Chang Zheng 4B Taiyuan LC9 Radar 74A S49071 501 x 520 x 97.5 Tianhui 2-02-02) Radar 74B S49072 501 x 520 x 97.5 Aug 21 2213 OneWeb SL0285-0291) Soyuz-2-1b/Fregat Baykonur LC31 Comms 75A OneWeb SL0293-0302) -75AK 445 x 473 x 87.4 OneWeb SL0304-0305) OneWeb SL0308-0319) OneWeb SL0323 ) OneWeb SL0329-0330) Table of Recent Suborbital Launches ----------------------------------- Date UT Payload/Flt Name Launch Vehicle Site Mission Apogee/km Target Jul 11 1525 Unity 22 Spaceship Two Spaceport America Test 86 Spaceport America Jul 11 1756 Dynamo 2B Black Brant 9 Wallops I Ionosphere 133 Atlantic Jul 16 YG Chongfu Shiyong YGCS Jiuquan Test 200? Alashan Youqi Jul 19 SR payload SR-0.1? Sinop, Turkey Test 100? Black Sea Jul 20 1311 RSS First Step New Shepard West Texas Tourism 107 West Texas Jul 24 FTM-33 Target Terrier Oriole? Kauai Target 100? Pacific Jul 24 FTM-33 Target Terrier Oriole? Kauai Target 100? Pacific Jul 26 2030 S-520-31 S-520 Uchinoura Technology 235 Pacific Jul 30 1820 MaGIXS Black Brant 9 White Sands Solar X-ray 300 White Sands Jul 31 0800 Tenga MOMO Hokkaido Tech 92 Pacific Aug 11 0753 GT239GM Minuteman III Vandenberg LF09 Op. Test 1300? Kwajalein Aug 12 RV Ghaznavi Somniani? Test 100? Pakistan? Aug 19 2100 RockSat-X Terrier Imp.Mal. Wallops I Education 158 Atlantic .-------------------------------------------------------------------------. | Jonathan McDowell | | | Somerville MA 02143 | inter : planet4589 at gmail | | USA | twitter: @planet4589 | | | | JSR: https://www.planet4589.org/jsr.html | | Back issues: https://www.planet4589.org/space/jsr/back | | Subscribe/unsub: https://www.planet4589.org/mailman/listinfo/jsr | '-------------------------------------------------------------------------'