Jonathan's Space Report No. 774 2020 Jan 31 Somerville, MA --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- International Space Station --------------------------- Expedition 61 continues. On Dec 23 the BCDU FRAM (the adapter for the recently used spare BCDU) was moved from the Dextre EOTP to the CRS-19 Dragon trunk, where it will be destroyed on reentry. On around Dec 27, the failed MSBU S/N C250636 (brought inside on Sep 5) and the failed BCDU S/N 011 (brought inside on Oct 18) were transferred to the CRS-19 Dragon's cabin for return to Earth. On Dec 27 at 0128 and 0436 UTC the Progress MS-13 cargo ship docked to the Pirs module fired its engines to raise the ISS orbit from 411 x 422 km to 415 x 422 km. On Jan 3 to 4 the Dextre arm was used to transfer the Space Debris Sensor (SDS) and SOLAR payloads from the Columbus external payload facility to external attachment points on the PCM module of the S.S. Alan Bean (Cygnus NG-12) cargo ship for reentry disposal. SDS was launched in 2017 on Dragon CRS-13, but failed in Jan 2018. SOLAR was launched on STS-122 in 2008. On Jan 6 a Resupply Stowage Platform (possibly RSP 1008/SE177, launched on STS-131) was moved from the PMM1D3 rack location to the Bean's pressurized module for disposal. On Jan 7 at about 0500 UTC the Canadarm-2 unberthed the Dragon CRS-19 ship from the Harmony module. Dragon was released back into orbit at 1005 UTC, and performed three separation burns between 1008 and 1020 UTC. The plume from one of those firings was reported to have made the Cygnus NG-12 solar arrays wobble, which is something one tries to avoid. Dragon fired its thrusters to deorbit at 1451 UTC until 1504 UTC, jettisoned the trunk section at 1508 UTC and entered the atmosphere at 1524 UTC with splashdown near 121.0W 31.2N at 1542 UTC. On Jan 15 astronauts Koch and Meir, in suits EMU 3004 and 3008, made spacewalk US EVA-62 to continue battery replacements from the EP8 pallet to the P6 truss 4B channel. The airlock was depressurized from 1130 to 1904 UTC. Transfers made were: NiH 0104 from P6 4B1 to EP8-Z Li-ion 21 from EP8-F to P6 4B1 NiH 0106 from P6-4B2 to EP8-F Adapter plate 0014 from EP8-F to P6 4B2 NiH 0101 from P6-4B3 to P6-4B2 on top of the adapter plate Li-ion 22 from EP8-E to P6-4B3 NiH 0103 from P6-4B4 tp EP8-Y On Jan 20 Meir and Koch completed the P6 4B battery work with US EVA-63. The airlock was depressurized from 1127 to 1833 UTC. Transfers made were: Adapter plate 0013 from EP8-E to P6-4B4 NiH 0098 from P6-4B6 to P6-4B4 on top of the adapter plate Li-ion 23 from EP8-C to P6-4B6 NiH 0102 from P6-4B5 to EP8-C Adapter plate 0011? from EP8-C to P6-4B5 On Jan 23 at 1415 and 1723 UTC Progress MS-13 fired its engines to raise the ISS orbit by about 1 km. On Jan 25 astronauts Morgan (EV1/EMU 3004) and Parmitano (EV2/EMU 3008) made US spacewalk EVA-64 to complete repairs to the AMS-02 experiment. The airlock was depressurized from 1158 to 1820 UTC. The crew performed leak checks on the new cooling system. Leaks were found in cooling line number 5, and after a couple of cycles of tightening the connector the leak was stopped. An insulation `tent' was placed over the system. After the AMS-02 work, camera lens covers on the CP8 and CP9 external cameras were removed. CZ-5 ---- China's largest rocket, the Chang Zheng 5, made a successful third flight on Dec 27, after a major engine rework following the failure of the second flight in July 2017. The CZ-5 second stage put the Shi Jian 20 communications satellite in supersync transfer orbit. SJ-20 was on station in GEO at 115E by Jan 6. Jilin-1 KF-1 ------------ On Jan 15 China's SAST launched a CZ-2D with Chuanguang's biggest satellite to date, the 1.5t Jilin-1 Kuanfu-1. The rocket also placed three smaller satellites in orbit, two Satellogic Nusat imagers (Sophie and Marie) and Guodian Gaokeji's Tianqi-5. Ariane 5 -------- On Jan 16 Arianespace launched another Ariane 5ECA, putting Eutelsat Konnect and GSAT-30 in geotransfer orbit. Eutelsat Konnect is a Ka-band payload for the European operator Eutelsat; GSAT-30 is a Ku/C band satellite for the Indian space agency ISRO. Starlink -------- The third launch of 60 Starlink satellites, V1.0 Batch 2, was orbited on Jan 7. As I have previously reported, the unexpected brightness of Starlink satellites has caused widespread concern among astronomers. Thousands of such satellites could dominate the visible view of the night sky in dark areas; the bright satellites crossing the field of view of astronomical detectors could cause bright streaks, electronic cross-talk and `ghost images' compromising deep exposures of faint objects. At a meeting of the American Astronomical Society in January, SpaceX representatives seemed confident they would be able to reduce the brightness of future satellites so that they would no longer be naked eye objects, and expressed committment to iterative improvements to address the concerns of professional astronomers. I welcome the willingness of SpaceX to address the issue (nevertheless, I do think some formal regulations on light pollution are needed, because other constellations will also be an issue). The latest launch includes a modified satellite, Starlink 1130, with a special dark coating on the bus to reduce its brightness. This satellite will be used to improve SpaceX's models of satellite light scattering, allowing engineers to evaluate design improvements for future versions of the satellite. It will be important to get visual magnitude estimates of Starlink 1130 once it reaches its operational orbit. As with V1.0 Batch 1, the 60 satellites were split into three groups, with orbit raising of two of the groups pausing at 350 km to precess to different orbital planes. Stage 2 of the Falcon 9 was deorbited south of Australia, reentering at approximately 0448 UTC Jan 7 after 1.6 orbits. The fourth launch, V1.0-L3, placed a further 60 satellites in 280 km orbit on Jan 29. TJS 5 ------ On Jan 7 China launched the Tongxing Jishu Shiyan 5 satellite to geotransfer orbit. The TJS series of `experimental communications satellites' is believed to be a cover for a range of military programs, and TJS 5 appears to be an SAST/Shanghai `Houyan' early warning satellite like 2017's TJS 2. Crew Dragon ----------- Crew Dragon C205 was launched from KSC LC39A at 1530 UTC Jan 19 on a Falcon 9 for the Inflight Abort Test. A preplanned shutdown of core stage B1046 at 90s into flight triggered an inflight abort and the Super Draco thrusters pushed Dragon to a 44 km apogee followed by a parachute-aided splashdown in the Atlantic. The Falcon 9 disintegrated in flight 7 seconds after separation. Spitzer ------- SIRTF, the Space Infrared Telescope Facility, was launched in Aug 2003. In Dec 2003 it was renamed the Spitzer Space Telescope, the 4th and last of the Great Observatories program. After 16 years of great science, Spitzer entered final safemode and fell silent at 2215:45 UTC Jan 30. IRAS/POPPY-5B ------------- On Jan 29 at 2339 UTC two defunct satellites had a very near miss - probably less than 100 metres apart. The IRAS astronomical satellite, which operated from 1983 to 1985, and the NRO/NRL POPPY 5B signals intelligence satellite (codenamed GGSE 4), which operated from 1967 to 1972, passed each other at a relative velocity of 14.7 km/s. Errata ------ Danna Barnett informs me that Tyvak-0092 is actually built for Israel's Elbit Systems and not for an Italian company. Elbit calls the satellite NANOVA; it has a UHF comm payload. The dual-engine Centaur on the Atlas V N22 uses the RL10-A4-2 engine, not RL10-A4-1. Table of Recent Orbital Launches ---------------------------------- Date UT Name Launch Vehicle Site Mission INTL. Catalog Perigee Apogee Incl Notes Dec 5 1729 Dragon CRS-19 Falcon 9 Canaveral SLC40 Cargo 83A S44821 203 x 378 x 51.7 Dec 6 0800? Kosmos-2543? Kosmos-2542, LEO Inspector 79D S44835 368 x 858 x 97.9 Dec 6 0818 ALE-2 ) Electron Mahia LC1 Tech 84A S44824 397 x 415 x 97.0 NOOR 1A ) Com 84D S44827 348 x 403 x 97.0 NOOR 1B ) Com 84E S44828 348 x 403 x 97.0 SMOG-P ) Sigint 84J S44832 348 x 403 x 97.0 TRSI-Sat ) Tech 84H S44831 348 x 403 x 97.0 FossaSat-1) Tech 84F S44829 348 x 403 x 97.0 ATL-1 ) Sigint/Tech 84G S44830 348 x 403 x 97.0 Dec 6 0934 Progress MS-13 Soyuz-2-1A Baykonur LC31 Cargo 85A S44833 186 x 219 x 51.6 Dec 7 0255 Jilin-1 Gaofen 02B Kuaizhou-1A Taiyuan Imaging 86B S44837 531 x 544 x 97.5 Dec 7 0852 HEDE-2A ) Kuaizhou-1A Taiyuan Comms 87 S44839 495 x 511 x 97.4 HEDE-2B ) Comms 87 495 x 511 x 97.4 Tianqi-4A ) Comms 87 495 x 511 x 97.4 Tianqi-4B ) Comms 87 495 x 511 x 97.4 Tianyi-16 ) Imaging 87 495 x 511 x 97.4 Tianyi-17 ) Imaging 87 495 x 511 x 97.4 Dec 11 0854 Kosmos-2544 Soyuz-2-1B/Fregat Plesetsk LC43/3 Nav 88A S44850 19125 x 19150 x 64.8 Dec 11 0955 RISAT-2BR1) PSLV-QL Satish Dhawan Radar 89F S44857 564 x 574 x 37.0 Izanagi ) Radar 89E S44856 568 x 579 x 37.0 1HOPSAT ) Imaging 89 568 x 579 x 37.0 Duchifat-3) Tech 89C S44854 568 x 579 x 37.0 Tyvak-0092) Comms 89A S44852 568 x 579 x 37.0 Tyval-0129) Tech 89 568 x 579 x 37.0 Lemur-2-HiMomAndDad) AIS/Met 89J S44860 568 x 579 x 37.0 Lemur-2-Pappy ) AIS/Met 89K S44861 568 x 579 x 37.0 Lemur-2-JPGSquared ) AIS/Met 89D S44855 568 x 579 x 37.0 Lemur-2-Theodosia ) AIS/Met 89M S44863 568 x 579 x 37.0 Dec 16 0722 Beidou DW 52 ) Chang Zheng 3B/YZ1 Xichang LC3 Nav 90A S44864 21528 x 22192 x 55.0 Beidou DW 53 ) Nav 90B S44865 21528 x 22192 x 55.0 Dec 17 0010 JCSAT-18/Kacific-1 Falcon 9 Canaveral SLC40 Comms 91A S44868 272 x 20319 x 26.9 Dec 18 0854 CSG 1 ) Soyuz ST-A/Fregat CSG ELS Radar 92A S44873 622 x 623 x 97.8 CHEOPS ) Astronomy 92B S44874 698 x 709 x 98.2 ANGELS ) Comms 92D S44876 508 x 527 x 97.4 EyeSat ) Astronomy 92E S44877 508 x 527 x 97.4 OPS-SAT ) Tech 92F S44878 508 x 527 x 97.4 Dec 20 0322 CBERS-4A ) Chang Zheng 4B Taiyuan Imaging 93A S44879 615 x 635 x 98.0 ETRSS-1 ) Imaging 93 Tianqin-1 ) Sci/Tech 93 BDSAGR-1 ) Imaging 93 Yuheng ) Comms 93 Shuntian ) Comms 93 Yizheng 1 ) Imaging 93 Xingshidai 8 ) Imaging 93 FloripaSat-1 ) Tech 93G S44485 614 x 635 x 98.0 Dec 20 1136 Starliner OFT Atlas V N22 Canaveral LC41 Spaceship 94A S44900 180 x 221 x 51.6 Dec 24 1203 Elektro-L No. 3 Proton-M/DM-03 Baykonur LC81/24 Weather 95A S44903 35372 x 35571 x 0.6 Dec 26 2312 Gonets-M No. 24 Rokot Plesetsk LC133/3 Comms 96A S44905 1500 x 1508 x 82.5 Gonets-M No. 25 Comms 96B S44906 1500 x 1508 x 82.5 Gonets-M No. 26 Comms 96C S44907 1500 x 1508 x 82.5 Dec 27 1245 Shi Jian 20 Chang Zheng 5 Wenchang Comms 97A S44910 180 x 67690 x 19.4 Jan 7 0219 Starlink 1066 ) Falcon 9 Canaveral SLC40 Comms 01AS S44954 301 x 305 x 53.0 Starlink 1069-1104 ) Comms ) Starlink 1106-1119 ) Comms ) Starlink 1121-1126 ) Comms ) Starlink 1128 ) Comms ) 01A-01BM Starlink 1130 ) Comms ) 44914- Starlink 1144 ) Comms ) 44973 Jan 7 1520 TJS 5 Chang Zheng 3B Xichang Comms 02A S44978 195 x 35804 x 27.5 Jan 15 0253 Jilin-1 Kuanfu 1 ) Chang Zheng 2D Taiyuan Imaging 03A S45016 477 x 492 x 97.3 Sophie ) Imaging 03B S45017 475 x 492 x 97.3 Marie ) Imaging 03C S45018 477 x 493 x 97.3 Tianqi-5 ) Comms 03D?S45019 475 x 492 x 97.3 Jan 16 0302 Yinhe 1 Kuaizhou 1A Jiuquan Comms 04A S45024 1200 x 1213 x 80.0? Jan 16 2105 Eutelsat Konnect ) Ariane 5ECA Kourou ELA3 Comms 05B S45027 499 x 36234 x 6.0 GSAT-30 ) Comms 05A S45026 35775 x 35799 x 0.1 Jan 29 1406 Starlink 1120 ) Falcon 9 Canaveral SLC40 Comms ) Starlink 1127 ) Comms ) Starlink 1129 ) Comms ) Starlink 1131-1137) Comms ) 06A-06BM 272 x 292 x 53.0 Starlink 1139-1142) Comms ) Starlink 1145-1153) Comms ) Starlink 1155-1186) Comms ) Starlink 1190 ) Comms ) Starlink 1193-1196) Comms ) Table of Recent Suborbital Launches ----------------------------------- On Jan 7 Iran launched a series of Zulfiqar and Qiam-1 missiles against US military targets in Iraq. The exact number and mix of missiles is unknown. Date UT Payload/Flt Name Launch Vehicle Site Mission Apogee/km Target Dec 10 0930 CHI Black Brant IX Svalbard Ionosphere 360 Arctic Dec 11 1753 New Shepard NS12 New Shepard West Texas Test 105 West Texas Dec 12 1630 IRBM Test Castor 4B? Vandenberg TP-01 Test 500? Pacific Jan 7 2245? HE Warhead Zulfiqar ?, Iran Weapon 100? Al Asad, Iraq Jan 7 2245? HE Warhead Zulfiqar ?, Iran Weapon 100? Erbil, Iraq Jan 7 2245? HE Warhead Zulfiqar ?, Iran Weapon 100? Al Asad, Iraq Jan 7 2245? HE Warhead Zulfiqar ?, Iran Weapon 100? Al Asad, Iraq Jan 7 2245? HE Warhead Qiam-1 ?, Iran Weapon 100? Al Asad, Iraq Jan 7 2245? HE Warhead Qiam-1 ?, Iran Weapon 100? Al Asad, Iraq Jan 7 2315? HE Warhead Zulfiqar ?, Iran Weapon 100? Al Asad, Iraq Jan 7 2315? HE Warhead Zulfiqar ?, Iran Weapon 100? Erbil, Iraq Jan 7 2315? HE Warhead Qiam-1 ?, Iran Weapon 100? Erbil, Iraq Jan 9 0800 S-310-45 S-310 Uchinoura Test 131 Pacific Jan 19 RV K-4 Visakhapatnam Test 500? Indian Ocean Jan 27 1340 Polar NOx 2 Black Brant 9 Poker Flat Aeronomy 260 Alaska .-------------------------------------------------------------------------. | 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 | '-------------------------------------------------------------------------'