Jonathan's Space Report No. 722 2016 Feb 17 Somerville, MA --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- International Space Station --------------------------- Expedition 46 continues aboard ISS with Scott Kelly, Mikhail Kornienko, Sergey Volkov, Yuriy Malenchenko, Tim Kopra and Tim Peake. The AggieSat-4 satellite was ejected from the ISS on Jan 29 using the Kibo JRMS arm and the SSIKLOPS deployer. The 55 kg AggieSat-4, developed by students at Texas A&M University, will eject the 3U cubesat Bevo-2 (from students at U. Texas-Austin) and perform formation flying experiments with it. On Feb 3 astronauts Malenchenko and Volkov carried out spacewalk VKD-42 from the Pirs module. The hatch was opened at 1255 UTC and closed at 1740 UTC. They retrieved the EXPOSE-R2 and SKK 2-M2 materials exposure experiments and installed SKK 3-M2 and two Vinoslivost panels. They also jettisoned a small package consisting of a bag of towels attached to a commemorative flash drive with videos about World War II to celebrate the 70th anniversary of 'Victory Day'. The inert package will reenter in a few days or weeks. Erratum: the Cygnus OA-4 cargo ship is berthed at the nadir port on Unity, not Harmony. ASTRO-H ------- Congratulations to my ISAS colleagues on the successful launch of the ASTRO-H X-ray astronomy observatory on Feb 17. ASTRO-H rode H2A No. 30 from Japan's Tanegashima Space Center to a low Earth orbit. It carries an array of five X-ray telescopes. The SXT-1 soft-X-ray telescope operates in the 0.3-12 keV range and has the SXI (Soft X-ray Imager) camera at its focus; this uses a conventional (but improved) 6.5-megapixel X-ray CCD imager similar to those used on Suzaku, Chandra and XMM. SXT's angular resolution is about 100 arcseconds, compared to Chandra's fraction of an arcsecond, so the pictures will be relatively blurry, although SXT-1/SXI has better senstivity at higher energies than Chandra does. The SXT-2 soft X-ray telescope has similar optics but at its focus is the SXS (Soft X-ray Spectrometer), which failed on its previous mission aboard ASTRO-E-II/Suzaku. SXS is an X-ray calorimeter cooled to 50 milliKelvin to provide super-high spectral resolution, and it's a technology that X-ray astronomers have been trying to fly since the 1990s. HXT-1 and HXT-2, two hard X-ray telescopes operating from 5 to 80 keV, have a 12-metre focal length requiring their HXI cameras to be mounted on an extensible optical bench which deploys after launch. The HXIs use a new technology, with a layer of DSSD (double-sided silicon strip) and a layer of CdTe cross-strip detectors to pick up different energy ranges. Finally the SGD, or soft gamma-ray detector, picks up photons in the 40 to 600 keV energy range. It doesn't have a focussing telescope and will only be able to locate soft gamma ray emission to within half a degree or so. JAXA/ISAS has named the satellite 'Hitomi' (eye-pupil), despite the fact that another currently operating satellite from the nearby University of Tokyo already has that name. IRNSS ----- India launched its 5th navigation satellite on Jan 20. The PSLV-XL delivered it to a subsynchronous transfer orbit. By early February it was in an inclined synchronous orbit at 35697 x 35874 km x 28.1 deg. IRNSS-R1C is in an near-equatorial orbit at 83E; the remainder are in the 28 degree inclined orbits, with R1A and R1B over about 55E and R1D and R1E over about 112E. LISA Pathfinder --------------- LISA Pathfinder is now in the vicinity of Sun-Earth L1. The propulsion module was jettisoned at 1130 UTC Jan 22; it will probably end up in solar orbit. LPF uncaged its test masses on Feb 16. Intelsat 29e ------------ Arianespace placed the IS-29e communications satellite in a low-inclination geotransfer orbit on Jan 27. IS-29e carries C, Ku and Ka-band communications payload and is the first of Intelsat's new broadband high-throughput 'Epic-NG' series, built by Boeing using the BSS-702MP bus. Launch mass was 6552 kg. Eutelsat 9B ----------- International Launch Services and Khrunichev flew a Proton from Baykonur on Jan 29 placing the Eutelsat 9B satellite in geotransfer. The European communications operator Eutelsat will use the satellite's 66 Ku-band transponders to increase performance at the 9 degrees East location. The satellite also carries a European Space Agency laser communications package, EDRS-A, as part of the European Data Relay System. EDRS will relay data from low-orbiting satellites, converting an optical communications signal from the satellite to a Ka-band radio downlink. Glonass-M --------- Glonass-M No. 51 (Uragan-M 751, Kosmos-2514) was launched on Feb 7 from Plesetsk to supplement the Russian navigation constellation. KMS-4 ------ North Korea's National Aerospace Development Administration (NADA, Kukga uju gaebalkuk) carried out its second successful satellite launch on Feb 7 from the Sohae base. The satellite, Kwangmyongsong-4, entered a 500 km polar orbit like the KMS-3-2 satellite launched in 2012. It appears both satellite and launch vehicle are very similar to the 2012 mission. The launch vehicle this time carries the name 'Kwangmyongsong' but appears to be essentially identical to the Unha-3 launched in 2012. As of Feb 17, hobbyist observers have not picked up any radio signals from it (there was some early confusion due to signals from a European METOP satellite in a similar orbit.) NROL-45 ------- On Feb 10 ULA launched a Delta 4 with the USA 267 satellite for the US National Reconnaissance Office. The launch was designated NRO L-45. The USA 267 payload has been observed in a 1078 x 1085 km orbit with a retrograde 123 degree inclination, characteristic of the TOPAZ radar imaging satellites. Sentinel-3A ----------- A Eurockot/Krunichev Rokot (UR-100N missile with Briz-KM upper stage) was launched from Plesetsk on Feb 16. The Briz-KM entered a 153 x 785 km transfer orbit followed by an 802 x 806 km target orbit, deploying the Sentinel-3A satellite. It then lowered perigee to 411 x 744 km to reduce orbital lifetime. ESA's Sentinel-3A is part of the European Union's Copernicus remote sensing program, and carries an ocean color imaging payload and an ocean-topography radar altimeter payload. Erratum ------- In the last issue the China launch statistics should have read 17 CZ2/3/4 launches, not 16. Table of Recent Orbital Launches ---------------------------------- Date UT Name Launch Vehicle Site Mission INTL. Catalog Perigee Apogee Incl Notes km km deg Jan 15 1657 Belintersat-1 Chang Zheng 3B Xichang LC3 Comms 01A S41238 193 x 41730 x 26.4 Jan 17 1842 Jason-3 Falcon 9 v1.1 Vandenberg SLC4E Climate 02A S41240 1295 x 1320 x 66.0 Jan 20 0401 IRNSS-1E PSLV-XL Satish Dhawan SLP Nav 03A S41241 288 x 20547 x 19.2 Jan 27 2320 Intelsat IS-29e Ariane 5ECA Kourou ELA3 Comms 04A S41308 280 x 35525 x 0.6 Jan 29 1550 AggieSat-4 ISS, LEO Tech 98-067HP S41313 399 x 408 x 51.7 Jan 29 2220 Eutelsat 9B Proton-M/Briz-M Baykonur LC200/39 Comms 05A S41310 4374 x 35663 x 12.1 Feb 1 0729 Beidou DW21 Chang Zheng 3C/YZ1 Xichang Navigation 06A S41315 21512 x 21981 x 55.0 Feb 3 1322 Fleshka - ISS, LEO Commemorative 98-067HR?S41326? 395 x 406 x 51.6 Feb 5 1338 GPS SVN 70 Atlas V 401 Canaveral SLC41 Navigation 07A S41328 20438 x 20442 x 55.0 Feb 7 0021 Glonass-M No. 51 Soyuz-2-1B/Fregat Plesetsk LC43/4 Navigation 08A S41330 19132 x 19158 x 64.8 Feb 7 0030 Kwangmyongsong-4 Kwangmyongsong Sohae Imaging 09A S41332 465 x 501 x 97.5 0840LT SSO Feb 10 1140 TOPAZ 4? Delta 4M+(5,2) Vandenberg SLC6 Radar 10A S41334 1078 x 1085 x 123.0 Feb 16 1757 Sentinel-3A Rokot Plesetsk LC133 Imaging/Alt 11A S41335 802 x 806 x 98.6 1000LT SSO Feb 17 0845 Hitomi ) H2A 202 Tanegashima X-ray Astron 12A S41337 565 x 580 x 31.0 Kinshachi-2) Imaging 12B? S41338 559 x 579 x 31.0 Kinshachi-3) Space Sci 12C? S41339 558 x 578 x 31.0 Horyu-4 ) Tech 12D? S41340 557 x 578 x 31.0 Table of Recent Suborbital Launches ----------------------------------- Blue Origin reflew the second NS propulsion module to 101.7 km on Jan 22 and successfully landed it. The crew capsule separated near apogee and was recovered by parachute. It's not clear whether this was the same crew capsule as in earlier flights. Date UT Payload/Flt Name Launch Vehicle Site Mission Apogee/km Target Dec 15 Shaheen RV Shaheen IA Somniani?,Pakistan Test 100? Arabian Sea Dec 18 0652 FORTIS 3 Black Brant IX White Sands UV Astron 282 White Sands Dec 24 1755 Topol'-E RV? Topol' Kapustin Yar Reentry test 1000? Sary Shagan Jan 15 0300 S-310-44 S-310 Uchinoura Ionosphere 161 Pacific Ocean Jan 22 New Shepard CC New Shepard West Texas Test 101 West Texas Jan 23 0830 TEXUS 53 VSB-30 Kiruna Micrograv 252 ESRANGE Zone B Jan 28 2155? MBRV? eMBRM? C-17, Pacific Target 300? E Pacific Jan 28 2157 CE-II CTV-02+ GBI Vandenberg Interceptor 1000? E Pacific Feb 2 2109 SPIDER/LEEWAVES VS-30 Kiruna Auroral 138 ESRANGE Zone B .-------------------------------------------------------------------------. | 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 | '-------------------------------------------------------------------------'