Jonathan's Space Report
No. 839 2024 Nov 18 Somerville, MA
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International Space Station
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Expedition 72 continues with Suni Williams (ISS commander), Barry Wilmore, Aleksey Ovchinin, Ivan Vagner,
Don Pettit, Nick Hague and Aleksandr Gorbunov.
On Nov 3 at 1135 UTC Hague, Gorbunov, Wilmore and Williams undocked
Dragon Crew-9 from the IDA-2 port, flew out to a 60 metre distance, and
then redocked with the zenith port, IDA-3, at 1225 UTC.
On Nov 5 SpaceX launched the Dragon CRS-31 cargo ship from KSC. It docked with IDA-2
at 1452 UTC Nov 5. On Nov 8 at 1750 UTC CRS-31 performed the first Dragon reboost of ISS,
with a 12.5 minute, 0.3m/s burn.
On Nov 10 Dextre removed the CODEX experiment from the CRS-31 trunk. CODEX was
installed on ELC-3 on Nov 11.
Chinese Space Station
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The Chinese station reboosted its orbit on Oct 23 at about 0530 UTC with a circa 4.5m/s burn.
Two further burns were carried out on Oct 28 at 0700 UTC and Nov 6 at 0630 UTC, about
5.0m/s and 3.0 m/s respectively. The burns were probably all done by the Tianzhou-7
freighter prior to its departure.
Shenhou 19 was launched on Oct 29 with the TGZR8 expedition 8 crew of Cai Xuzhe, Song Lingdong and Wang Haoze.
It docked with the Tianhe forward port at 0300 UTC Oct 30.
Shenzhou 18 undocked from the nadir port on Nov 3 at 0816 UTC, with the expedition 7 crew of Ye Guangfu,
Li Guangsu and Li Cong. The orbital module was jettisoned at 1635 UTC. Following the deorbit burn at 1636 UTC
the propulsion module was jettisoned at 1659 UTC. Shenzhou 18 landed
at the target landing site in the Dongfeng landing area at about 1724:27 UTC. Mission duration
was 192 days 4h 25m.
The Tianzhou 7 cargo ship undocked from the aft port on Nov 10 at 0830 UTC. It was deorbited
over the Pacific on Nov 17, with reentry at 1325 UTC near Vanuatu. The ship ejected a 6U cubesat,
Nanjing, sometime after undocking.
The space station made a 2 m/s orbit reboost on Nov 13, presumably with its own engines, to
an orbit of 390 x 395 km.
The Tianzhou 8 cargo ship was launched on 2024 Nov 15 and docked with the aft port of Tiane on Nov 15 at 1832 UTC.
Starlink
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Starlink Group 10-8 (22 sats) was launched from Canaveral on Oct 26 to a 53 deg orbit.
Starlink Group 9-9 (20 sats) was launched from Vandenberg on Oct 30 to a 53 deg orbit.
Starlink Group 10-13 (23 sats) was launched from Canaveral on Oct 30 to a 53 deg orbit.
Starlink Group 6-77 (23 sats) was launched from Canaveral on Nov 7 to a 43 deg orbit.
Starlink Group 9-10 (20 sats) was launched from Vandenberg on Nov 9 to a 53 deg orbit.
Starlink Group 6-69 (24 sats) was launched from Canaveral on Nov 11 to a 43 deg orbit.
Starlink Group 9-11 (20 sats) was launched from Vandenberg on Nov 14 to a 53 deg orbit.
Starlink Group 6-68 (24 sats) was launched from Canaveral on Nov 14 to a 43 deg orbit.
Starlink Group 9-12 (20 sats) was launched from Vandenberg on Nov 18 towards a 53 deg orbit.
The Oct 24 Starshield launch carried only 17 payloads, fewer than previous Starshield launches.
Orbital height data released on Space-Track.org around Nov 7 show the lowest of the 17 satellites
in 480 km orbits. If this is the deployment orbit it would explain the lower number of
satellites on the launch. The 515 km altitude of the highest of the satellites may
reflect the operational altitude.
North Korean ICBM
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North Korea launched a test of the Hwasong-19 ICBM on Oct 30. To avoid
flying over Japan, their ICBM tests use a 'lofted' trajectory with a
very high apogee - of 7687 km in this case - and a relatively short 1000
km range. Launch site was Chongdong (Samsok) near Pyongyang.
Because the total energy of the trajectory is comparable to
orbital energy, I have given it a special 'U' designation, 2024-U05, and
included it in the list of near-orbital flights.
Kosmos-2579
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On Oct 31 at 0751 UTC a Soyuz-2-1a was launched from Plesetsk carrying the
Kosmos-2579 sat (probably the Bars-M No. 6 cartographic sat) for the
Russian Defense Ministry to a 338 x 498 km x 97.6 deg sunsync orbit with
2333 LTDN orbit plane.
By Nov 7 it had raised its orbit to 497 x 508 km to begin operations.
Kirameki 3
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Japanese military communications satellite Kirameki 3 (DSN 3) was launched by H3
from Tanegashima on Nov 4.
Soyuz rideshare
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On Nov 4 Roskosmos launched a Soyuz-1B/Fregat with the two Ionosfera-M research satellites,
Iran's Kowsar 30 kg imaging satellite and its Hodhod IOT cubesat, Zimbabwe's ZIMSAT-2 cubesat,
Harbin Inst. Tech. 's ASRTU-1 cubesat,
and: 20 Russian university cubesats from
Northern (Arctic) Federal U., St Peterburg Poly. U,
Samara Nat. Res. U., TUSUR (Tomsk), YuZGU (Kursk), BGTU (St-Peterburg), SPbGUT (St-Peterburg),
Novosibirsk State U., Chechen State U., Saransk Polytechnic, MGU (Moscow),
RTU MIREA (Moscow), Bauman (Moscow), and MTUSI (Moscow).
as well as 29 Russian commercial comsats -
24 SITRO-AIS satellites for an AIS (ship tracking) constellation operated by SITRONIX
4 satellites for STTs (St Peterburg), in
1 satellite for MGU Standard, a Moscow State U. (MGU) spinoff company.
As of Nov 18, the Space Force had not released any orbital data for objects from this launch.
Secret Electron
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Rocket Lab launched an Electron on Nov 5 with a secret commercial satellite aboard, named Protosat-1.
It is believed to be a communications satellite for E-Space.
CALT launches
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CALT launched a CZ-2C from Jiuquan on Nov 9 with four PIESAT (Hongtu Hangtian) satellites,
likely with X-band radars.
SAST launches
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SAST launched a CZ-4B from Taiyuan on Nov 13 with the Hai Yang 4-01 radar-carrying oceanographic satellite.
CAS Space
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CAS Space launched Lijian-1 Y5 from Jiuquan on Nov 11 with 15 satellites aboard to 1030 LTDN SSO.
The Oman Zhineng Yaogan 1 satellite was built by the Chinese Star Vision company
for Sultan Qaboos University in Oman.
Koreasat 6A
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Korea Telecom/KTSat's Koreasat 6A is a 3500 kg Thales Alenia Spacebus 4000 Ku-band communications
sat. It was launched to GTO on Nov 11 by a Falcon 9.
Optus X
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An Australian military communications satellite, variously called Optus X, TD7 or ADS-01, was
launched by Falcon 9 from Kennedy Space Center on Nov 17 to a supersynchronous transfer orbit.
Table of Recent Orbital (and near-Orbital) Launches
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Date UT Name Launch Vehicle Site Mission INTL. Catalog Perigee Apogee Incl Notes
Oct 4 1125 Cert-2 Vulcan VC2S Canaveral SLC41 Test 179A 735 x -237885 x 26.7
Oct 7 1452 Hera Falcon 9 Canaveral SLC40 Probe 180A 190 x -36368 x 34.2
Oct 8 1025 CySat-1 ISS, LEO Tech 98067WZ 408 x 421 x 51.6
Oct 8 1035 DORA ISS, LEO Tech 98067XA 410 x 420 x 51.6
Oct 10 1350 HGW 03 Chang Zheng 3B Xichang Comms 181A 198 x 35774 x 28.4
Oct 13 1225 Starship 30 Starship Starbase OLP1 Test U04 -15 x 213 x 26.2
Oct 14 1606 Europa Clipper Falcon Heavy Kennedy LC39A Probe 182A 180 x -32078 x 32.9
Oct 15 0610 Starlink Group 10-10 Falcon 9 Canaveral LC40 Comms 183 280 x 291 x 53.2
Oct 15 0821 Starlink Group 9-7 Falcon 9 Vandenberg SLC4E Comms 184 277 x 287 x 53.2
Oct 15 1106 Qianfan Jigui 02 (01 to 18) Chang Zheng 6A Taiyuan Comms 185
Oct 15 2345 Gao Fen 12-05 Chang Zheng 4C Jiuquan Radar 186A 594 x 600 x 97.9
Oct 18 2331 Starlink Group 8-19 Falcon 9 Canaveral LC40 Comms 187 280 x 291 x 53.2
Oct 20 0513 OneWeb L20 Falcon 9 Canaveral LC40 Comms 188 591 x 595 x 86.5
Oct 22 0010 Tianping-3A(01) Chang Zheng 6 Taiyuan Calib 189A 555 x 566 x 97.6
Tianping-3B(01) Calib 189B
Tianping-3B(02) Calib 189C
Oct 23 0109 Yaogan 43-03-01 Chang Zheng 2C Xichang Comms? 190A 490 x 502 x 35.0
Yaogan 43-03-02 Comms? 190B
Yaogan 43-03-03 Comms? 190C
Oct 23 2147 Starlink Group 6-61 Falcon 9 Canaveral LC40 Comms 191 284 x 291 x 43.0
Oct 24 1713 Starshield Group 1-4 Falcon 9 Vandenberg SLC4E Imaging? 192 300 x 310 x 70.0
Oct 26 2147 Starlink Group 10-8 Falcon 9 Canaveral LC40 Comms 193 290 x 301 x 53.2
Oct 29 2027 Shenzhou 19 Chang Zheng 2F Jiuquan Spaceship 194A 382 x 392 x 41.5
Oct 30 1207 Starlink Group 9-9 Falcon 9 Vandenberg SLC4E Comms 195 285 x 295 x 53.2
Oct 30 2110 Starlink Group 10-13 Falcon 9 Canaveral LC40 Comms 196 269 x 278 x 53.2
Oct 30 2211 Hwasong-19 RV Hwasong-19 Chongdong Test U05 -6243 x 7687 x 42
Oct 31 0751 Kosmos-2579 Soyuz-2-1a Plesetsk LC43/4 Imaging 197A 338 x 498 x 97.6
Nov 4 0648 Kirameki 3 H3-22S Tanegashima Comms 198A 396 x 35415 x 24.8
Nov 4 2318 Ionosfera-M No. 1 Soyuz-2-1b/Fregat Vostochniy PU1S Sci 199A
Ionosfera-M No. 2 Sci 199B
Rideshare sats
Nov 5 0229 Dragon CRS-31 Falcon 9 Kennedy LC39A Cargo 200A 193 x 210 x 51.6
Nov 5 1054 E-Space 4? Electron Mahia LC1B Comms 201B 640 x 652 x 97.9
Nov 7 2019 Starlink Group 6-77 Falcon 9 Canaveral LC40 Comms 202 282 x 290 x 43.0
Nov 9 0339 PIESAT 2-1 Chang Zheng 2C Jiuquan Radar? 203A 516 x 537 x 97.5
PIESAT 2-2 Radar? 203B
PIESAT 2-3 Radar? 203C
PIESAT 2-4 Radar? 203D
Nov 9 0644 Starlink Group 9-10 Falcon 9 Vandenberg SLC4E Comms 204 284 x 295 x 53.2
Nov 11 0403 Shiyan 26A Lijian-1 Jiuquan Imaging? 205A 513 x 532 x 97.5
Shiyan 26B Imaging? 205B
Shiyan 26C Imaging? 205B
Jilin-1 GF05B Imaging 205
Jilin-1 PT02A03 Imaging 205
Yunyao-1 31 to 36 GNSS-RO 205
Xiguang-1-04 Imaging 205
Xiguang-1-05 Imaging 205
Tianyan-24 Imaging? 205
Oman Zhineng Yaogan 1 Imaging 205
Nov 11 1722 Koreasat-6A Falcon 9 Kennedy LC39A Comms 206A 388 x 35333 x 26.2
Nov 11 2128 Starlink Group 6-69 Falcon 9 Canaveral LC40 Comms 207 281 x 289 x 43.0
Nov 13 2242 Hai Yang 4-01 Chang Zheng 4B Taiyuan EO Sci 208A 632 x 645 x 98.0
Nov 14 0523 Starlink Group 9-11 Falcon 9 Vandenberg SLC4E Comms 209 282 x 292 x 53.2
Nov 14 1321 Starlink Group 6-68 Falcon 9 Canaveral LC40 Comms 210 277 x 284 x 43.0
Nov 15 1513 Tianzhou 8 Chang Zheng 7 Wenchang Cargo 211A 201 x 334 x 41.5
Nov 17 2228 Optus X (TD7) Falcon 9 Kennedy SLC39A Comms 212A 425 x 49656 x 17.8
Table of Recent Suborbital Launches
-----------------------------------
Date UT Payload Rocket Site Mission Apogee Target
Oct 1 1309 SL-15 SpaceLoft XL Spaceport America Micrograv 100? White Sands?
Oct 1 1630? Warhead Shahab-3? (x180) S Shiraz Weapon 200? Israel
Emad?
Ghadr-110?
Kheibar Shekan?
Fattah-1?
Oct 20 1824 Aftershock II Aftershock Black Rock Test 143 Black Rock
Oct 23 1525? NS-27 New Shepard West Texas Test 101? West Texas
Oct 24 2310 Target? Terrier Oriole? Wallops Target? 100? Atlantic
Nov 6 0701 GT251 RV Minuteman 3 Vandenberg LF10 Op.Test 1300? Kwajalein
Nov 8 SL-20 SpaceLoft XL Spaceport America Tech 100? White Sands?
Nov 8 Warhead Palestine-2 Sanaa? Weapon 200? Israel
Nov 10 2136 VORTEX 2A Black Brant 9 Andoya Atmosphere 358 Norw. Sea
Nov 10 2138 VORTEX 2B Terrier Imp.Orion Andoya Atmosphere 144 Norw. Sea
Nov 11 Warhead Palestine-2 Sanaa? Weapon 200? Israel
Nov 11 0838 MAPHEUS 15 Red Kite/IM ESRANGE Microgravity 309 ESRANGE
Nov 14 0230 S-520-34 S-520 Uchinoura Tech 217 Pacific Ocean
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| Jonathan McDowell | |
| Somerville MA 02143 | inter : planet4589 at gmail |
| USA | twitter: @planet4589 |
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