Jonathan's Space Report
No. 806 Draft 2022 Apr 28 Somerville, MA
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International Space Station
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Expedition 67 continues.
Crew-3 (Chari, Marshburn, Maurer, Barron) undocked in Dragon Endurance
at 0520 UTC May 5. Dragon splashed down at 0443 UTC May 6 in the Tampa
recovery zone in the Gulf of Mexico at about 83.9W 28.1N.
With Marshburn's departure, Oleg Artem'ev assumed command of ISS.
Chinese Space Station
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On May 9 CALT launched the Tianzhou-4 cargo ship from Wenchang. It docked with the aft port
of the Tianhe module at 0047 UTC May 10.
Other CALT launches
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On Apr 29 CALT launched two high resolution imaging satellites, Siwei 1-01 and 1-02, from Jiuquan.
On Apr 30 China's CALT carried out the third sea launch of a CZ-11 from the Tai Rui barge in the Yellow Sea.
Five Jilin-1 imaging satellites were placed in orbit.
SAST launches
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China's SAST launched a CZ-2D on May 6 placing the Jilin-1 Kuanfu-01C satellite in orbit,
along with six smaller Jilin-1 Gaofen 03D sats.
Starlink
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Starlink Group 4-16, with 53 satellites, was launched on Apr 29. Group 4-17, also with
53 satellites, was orbited on May 6. Group 4-13 was launched from Vandenberg on May 13,
Group 4-15 was launched from Canaveral on May 14. Group 4-18 from KSC on May 18.
Angara-1.2
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The first Krunichev Angara-1.2 rocket was launched from Plesetsk on Apr 29 at 1955 UTC. It placed an EMKA-class
small imaging satellite, Kosmos-2555, into low sun-synchronous orbit.
The second stage fired from about 1957 to 2000 UTC and reached a marginal orbit of about -40 x 294 km,
flying over Vancouver at about 2017 UTC and impacting the Pacific near 132W 13N
at 2026 UTC. The low-thrust third stage, called the AM or Agregatniy Modul',
made the orbit insertion burn and separated into a 279 x 294 km x 96.5 deg orbit
at about 2018 UTC, again near Vancouver. It completed a further one-and-a-half
orbits before making a deorbit burn somewhere over W Africa circa 2245 UTC (or possibly
as late as circa 2258 UTC over France/UK) to lower perigee into the atmophere for reentry in the
North Pacific about 2321 UTC. Despite making multiple orbits, the AM was not cataloged.
Kosmos-2255 has a similar orbit to the Kosmos-2251 satellite (which
failed), and is in the same 11:30 local time orbital plane.
Electron 26
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Rocket Lab's Electron mission 26 'There and Back Again' was launched on
May 2 and placed a cluster of small satellites in orbit. The first
stage, descending on a parachute, was briefly captured in mid-air by a
helicopter but then released and splashed down to be recovered from the
ocean.
- The main passengers on this flight were three E-Space demo satellites. E-Space is planning
an extremely (excessively) large internet constellation. Based on the animation shown in the
launch webcast, I estimate that each satellite is a box about 0.15 x 0.6 x 0.6m (very roughly)
and probably with mass in the 30 to 60 kg range.
- 16 Swarm-US SpaceBEE and 8 Swarm-NZ Spacebee-NZ satellites for IoT data relay were deployed.
Each satellite is 0.25U in size and about 0.3 kg.
Other payloads:
- BRO-6 for Unseen Labs (France) and AuroraSat 1 for Aurora Propulsion Tech (Finland);
- Unicorn-2 for Alba (Scotland); TRSI-2/3 for TRSI (Germany); MyRadar-1 for ACME AtronOmatic (US).
- Copia, a payload attached to the Electron kick stage to test an inflatable solar array.
SQX-1
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Beijing Interstellar Glory Co (Xingji Rongyao Kongjian Keji YG) launched an Shuang Quxian 1 (Hyperbola-1)
rocket on its fourth orbital attempt on May 13. It failed to reach orbit; reports indicate the second
stage failed to ignite.
Table of Recent Orbital Launches
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Date UT Name Launch Vehicle Site Mission INTL. Catalog Perigee Apogee Incl Notes
Apr 2 1241 BlackSky Global 18 Electron Mahia LC1A Imaging 34B 430 x 441 x 53.0
BlackSky Global 20 Imaging 34C
Apr 6 2347 Gao Fen 3-03 Chang Zheng 4C Jiuquan Radar 35A 737 x 746 x 98.4
Apr 7 1120 Kosmos-2554 Soyuz-2-1b Plesetsk LC43/3 Sigint 36A 239 x 900 x 67.1
Apr 8 1517 Axiom-1 (Endeavour) Falcon 9 Kennedy LC39A Spaceship 37A 414 x 420 x 51.6
Apr 9 1422 PlantSat ION SVC005, LEO Sci 033AH
Apr 11 0713 KSF2-C ION SVC005, LEO Sci 033AJ
Apr 11 1816 KSF2-D ION SVC005, LEO Sci 033AK
Apr 13 0803 SUCHAI-3 ION SVC005, LEO Sci 033AL
Apr 14 0745 SUCHAI-2 ION SVC005, LEO Sci 033AM
Apr 15 1200 Zhongxing-6D Chang Zheng 3B Xichang Comms 38A 231 x 35765 x 28.5
Apr 15 1816 Daqi Huanjing Jiance Weixing Chang Zheng 4C Taiyuan Sci 39A 680 x 690 x 98.1
Apr 17 1313 USA 327 P/L 1 (INTRUDER) Falcon 9 Vandenberg SLC4E Sigint 40A 1008 x 1207 x 63.4
Apr 21 1751 Starlink (Group 4-14) Falcon 9 Canaveral SLC40 Comms 41A 304 x 318 x 53.2
Apr 27 0752 SpX Crew-4 (Freedom) Falcon 9 Kennedy LC39A Spaceship 42A 191 x 211 x 51.7
Apr 29 0411 Siwei Gaojing 1-01 Chang Zheng 2C Jiuquan Imaging 43A 486 x 503 x 97.5
Siwei Gaojing 1-02
Apr 29 1955 Kosmos-2555 Angara-1.2 Plesetsk LC35/1 Imaging 44A 278 x 293 x 96.5
Apr 29 2127 Starlink (Group 4-16) Falcon 9 Canaveral SLC40 Comms 45A 303 x 316 x 53.2
Apr 30 0330 Jilin-1 GF03D-04 Chang Zheng 11 CCOC, Huang Hai Imaging 46A 526 x 549 x 97.5
Jilin-1 GF03D-05 Imaging 46B
Jilin-1 GF03D-06 Imaging 46C
Jilin-1 GF03D-07 Imaging 46D
Jilin-1 GF04A Imaging 46E
May 2 2249 E-Space Demo 1 Electron Mahia LC1A Comms 47 522 x 532 x 97.5
E-Space Demo 2 Comms 47
E-Space Demo 3 Comms 47
SpaceBEE-140 to 155 Comms 47
SpaceBEE NZ-15 to NZ-22 Comms 47
BRO-6 Sigint 47
AuroraSat-1 Tech 47
Unicorn-2 Imaging 47
TRSI-2 Tech 47
TRSI-3 Tech 47
MyRadar-1 Weather 47
Copia Tech 47
May 5 0238 Jilin-1 KF-01C Chang Zheng 2D Taiyuan Imaging 48 528 x 545 x 97.7
Jilin-1 GF-03D-27 Imaging 48 528 x 545 x 97.7
Jilin-1 GF-03D-28 Imaging 48 528 x 545 x 97.7
Jilin-1 GF-03D-29 Imaging 48 528 x 545 x 97.7
Jilin-1 GF-03D-30 Imaging 48 528 x 545 x 97.7
Jilin-1 GF-03D-31 Imaging 48 528 x 545 x 97.7
Jilin-1 GF-03D-32 Imaging 48 528 x 545 x 97.7
Jilin-1 GF-03D-33 Imaging 48 528 x 545 x 97.7
May 6 0942 Starlink (Group 4-17) Falcon 9 Kennedy LC39A Comms 49 528 x 545 x 97.7
May 9 1549 KSF2-A ION SVC005, LEO Sigint 33AN 492 x 511 x 97.4
May 9 1756 Tianzhou-4 Chang Zheng 7 Wenchang LC201 Cargo 50A 376 x 392 x 41.5
May 9 1858 KSF2-B ION SVC005, LEO Sigint 33AP 492 x 512 x 97.4
May 13 0709 Jilin-1 MF-01A/R Shuang Quxian 1 Jiuquan Imaging F02 -6300 x 60? x 97.0
May 13 2207 Starlink (Group 4-13) Falcon 9 Vandenberg SLC4E Comms 51
May 14 2040 Starlink (Group 4-15) Falcon 9 Canaveral LC40 Comms 52
May 18 1059 Starlink (Group 4-18) Falcon 9 Kennedy LC39A Comms 53
Table of Recent Suborbital Launches
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Date UT Payload/Flt Name Launch Vehicle Site Mission Apogee/km Target
Mar 4 2348 Recon test? Hwasong-8 LV? Sunan Test 550 Sea of Japan
Mar 5 1127 LAMP Black Brant IX Poker Flat Auroral 429 Alaska
Mar 9 1825 HERSCHEL Black Brant IX White Sands Solar UV 302 White Sands
Mar 12 Target Black Dagger Ft Wingate Target 100? White Sands
Mar 21 2312 BOLT-2 Terrier Malemute Wallops I Hypersonic 281 Atlantic
Mar 29 FTT-21 Target Black Dagger Ft Wingate Target 100? White Sands
Mar 30 Dummy payload Hyunmoo TLV SIRIUS, Anhueng Test 150? E China Sea?
Mar 31 1358 NS-20 New Shepard West Texas Tourist flight 107 West Texas
Apr 7 1247 INCAA 1 Terrier Malemute Poker Flat Auroral 340 PF Range
Apr 7 1250 INCAA 2 Black Brant IX Poker Flat Auroral 208 PF Range
Apr 9 RV Shaheen 3 Somniani? Op Test 500? Arabian Sea
Apr 18 SLBM RV Hyunmoo 4-4 SS-083, Anhueng Test 150? E China Sea?
Apr 18 SLBM RV Hyunmoo 4-4 SS-083, Anhueng Test 150? E China Sea?
Apr 20 1212 RV Sarmat Plesetsk Test 1000? Kura
May 4 0304 RV? Hwasong-8 LV? Sunan? Test 780 Sea of Japan
May 11 0131 Endurance Oriole III Svalbard Atm. Sci 764 Arctic
May 12 0729 RV NK SRBM Sunan Training 90 Sea of Japan
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| Jonathan McDowell | |
| Somerville MA 02143 | inter : planet4589 at gmail |
| USA | twitter: @planet4589 |
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