Jonathan's Space Report

No 757 2018 Nov 25 Somerville, MA

International Space Station

Expedition 57 continues aboard the ISS with astronauts Gerst, Prokop'ev, and Aunon-Chancellor The next Soyuz crew is scheduled for launch on Dec 3

The Kounotori 7 cargo ship was unberthed from Harmony by the Canadarm-2 at about 1215 UTC Nov 7 and released into orbit at 1651 UTC For the first time, an HTV departed the station without its EP (Exposed Pallet) The HTV 7 EP remains on the MBS on the ISS truss, waiting for a spacewalk to install the new batteries it is carrying

Konoutori-7 made its deorbit burn at 2114 UTC on Nov 10 to an orbit of about -55 x 380 km, reentering over the Pacific at 2141 UTC At 2124 UTC the HSRC reentry capsule was ejected; it also reentered at 2138 UTC and came down on a parachute to a splashdown at 155E 21N at 2206 UTC This was the first HTV mission to carry an HSRC (HTV Small Return Capsule) to return intact experiment samples to Earth

The Progress MS-10 cargo ship was launched on Nov 16 and docked with the ISS Zvezda module at 1928 UTC Nov 18

The S S John Young cargo ship, Northrop Grumman's Cygnus NG-10 mission, was launched from MARS (the Mid Atlantic Regional Spaceport at Wallops Island, Virginia) on Nov 17 It arrived at ISS on the morning of Nov 19 Canadarm-2 grappled it at 1028 UTC and berthed it at the nadir port on the Unity module at 1233 UTC

On Oct 22, the Loop Heat Pipe Radiator (LHPR) experiment was taken outside the Kibo airlock with the JEM-RMS robot arm LHPR is a test of a thermal control system for JAXA's future ETS-9 technology satellite LHPR was operated while exposed to space on the end of the JEM-RMS until Nov 20, when it was brought back inside Kibo

MetOp-C

Arianespace launched a Soyuz/Fregat on Nov 7 from the Centre Spatial Guyanais, carrying the MetOp-C weather satellite for the European Meteorological Satellite Organization, EUMETSAT The Fregat stage, No 133-14, was deorbited after releasing the payload and reentered over the Indian Ocean at about 0318 UTC

Electron

RocketLab made its second successful orbital launch on Nov 11, placing several payloads in orbit

CICERO-10 (TYVAK-0086) is a 10 kg GPS-radio-occultation weather satellite built by Tyvak for GeoOptics (Pasadena)

Two Lemur-2 satellites from Spire Global carry GPS-RO, AIS and ADS-B payloads

The first two satellites from Fleet Space Technologies (Adelaide), which is developing a constellation to relay data from IoT devices

IRVINE01 is a 1U cubesat with a camera and an electric thruster, built by schoolchildren in Irvine and Tustin, California and owned by the Irvine Public Schools Foundation According to Dr Brent Freeze of the Irvine cubesat project, IRVINE01 and the soon-to-be-launched IRVINE02 are operated by Team Comms' via Woodbridge High School Team Prime' at University High School runs the science campaign

'Pride of Bavaria', from High Performance Space Structure Systems GmbH (Munich), is a NABEO (ADEO-N) drag sail experiment deployed from (and remaining attached to) the Curie kick stage NABEO stands for NAnosat Bremssegel Entfaltversuch im Orbit (Nanosat De-Orbit-sail Deployment-demonstration in Orbit)

GSLV3

India's ISRO carried out the second successful orbital launch of its flagship GSLV Mk III rocket The GSLV Mk III consists of a 4 0-metre-diameter L110 core stage using two N2O4/UDMH High Thrust Vikas Engines (HTVE), two S200 solid boosters and a C25 LOX/LH2 upper stage The C25 stage made a single long burn to a standard geotransfer orbit and deployed its 3423-kg payload, GSAT-29

GSAT-29 is a multibeam I3K-bus comms satellite to be located at 55E It will test new technologies and provide service to Jammu/Kashmir and NE India

Falcon 9

SpaceX launched a Falcon 9 from Kennedy Space Center on Nov 15 The second stage and the payload, Es'hailsat-2 (or simply Es'hail 2), were placed in geotransfer orbit Es'hailsat-2 is a Mitsubishi Electric model DS-2000, providing Ku and Ka band comms for Es'hailsat of Qatar It also carries the AMSAT P4A amateur radio payload The Falcon 9 first stage, B1047, was on its second flight and landed successfully on the droneship Of Course I Still Love You

As of Nov 25, no TLE orbital data have been released for Es'hailsat-2 since the first set of elements on Nov 15 However, reports from satellite radio observers indicate that the satellite has reached its planned GEO orbit at 25 5E

Beidou 42/43

China's CALT launched a CZ-3B/YZ-1 from Xichang on Nov 18, placing two CAST-built Beidou-3 satellites, M17 and M18 (Beidou Daohang Weixing 42 and 43) in medium circular orbit

Shiyan 6

China's SAST launched a CZ-2D from Jiuquan on Nov 19 carrying five satellites to low orbit The main payload was Shiyan 6, reported by China to be studying the space environment Jiading-1, for SPACEOK of Shanghai, is a test for the Xiangyun LEO comms constellation Tianzhi-1 is a satellite for the Institute of Software of the Chinese Academy of Sciences It carries a cloud computing system accessible to ground-based users Tianping-1A and 1B are ground system calibration test satellites, probably for the Guoxing Yuhang company of Chengdu

The CZ-2D second stage was deorbited

Vega VV13

Europe's small solid Vega launcher made its 13th flight from the Centre Spatial Guyanais on Nov 21, placing the second French-build Moroccan spy satellite, Mohammed VI-B, in orbit The AVUM upper stage was deorbited over the Indian ocean

Insight at Mars

The Mars Insight probe and the two MarCO cubesats entered Martian space at about 1640 UTC Nov 22 The hyperbolic orbits of the three probes were:

Insight 7 x -16494 km x 13 5 deg MarCO-A 1625 x -18113 km x 20 9 deg MarCO-B 1749 x -18238 km x 17 6 deg

Insight will enter the Martian atmosphere at 1938 UTC and reach the surface at about 1946 UTC The MarCO probes reach periares around the time of Insight's landing and will relay data during the descent

Meanwhile, the Hayabusa-2 probe remains 20 km from Ryugu Osiris-REX continues approaching Bennu, and reached a range of 78 km as of Nov 26

Note

The IAU has asked me to point out that the informal name "Ultima Thule" for 2014 MU69 is not an IAU-approved name for the object

There is still no eighth payload cataloged from the Oct 29 CZ-2C launch (Press reports said there were eight, but only identified seven by name) I am beginning to conclude someone in the Chinese space program just cannot count

It's also still unclear whether the SPP payload on the Oct 24 launch is one of the three cataloged debris objects from the launch, or another attached payload on the rocket stage

Table of Recent Orbital Launches

Date UT Name Launch Vehicle Site Mission INTL Catalog Perigee Apogee Incl Notes

Oct 20 0145 BepiColombo ) Ariane 5ECA Kourou ELA3 Probe 80A S43653 170 x-78605 x 5 5 Mio ) Probe 80A A09204 170 x-78605 x 5 5 Oct 24 2257 Hai Yang 2 02) Chang Zheng 4B Taiyuan Rem Sensing 81A S43655 950 x 965 x 99 4 0600LT SSO Tangguo Guan ) Comms 81B S43656 641 x 940 x 99 5 SPP ) Tech 81?
Oct 25 0015 Kosmos-2528 Soyuz-2-1B Plesetsk LC43/4 Sigint 82A S43657 900 x 910 x 67 1 Oct 27 0800 Weilai Zhuque-1 Jiuquan Tech F02 F01530 -3090?x 334 x 97 6 Oct 29 0043 Zhongfa Haiyang W ) Rem Sensing 83A S43662 510 x 523 x 97 5 0700LT SSO Xiaoxiang-1 02 TY1-02 ) Tech 83 510?x 520?x 97 5 Xinghe TY1-03 ) Imaging 83 510?x 520?x 97 5 Changsha gaoxin TY4-01 ) Chang Zheng 2C Jiuquan Tech/Com 83H S43669 510 x 523 x 97 5 Zhaojin-1 TY4-02 ) Astronomy 83 510?x 520?x 97 5 Tianqi-1 ) Comms 83 510?x 520?x 97 5 UNKNOWN ) Tech 83 510?x 520?x 97 5 CubeBel-1 ) Comms 83E S43666 505 x 524 x 97 5 Oct 29 0408 Ibuki 2 ) Climate 84B S43672 597 x 617 x 97 9 1300LT SSO KhalifaSat ) H2A 202 Tanegashima Imaging 84F S43676 592 x 612 x 97 8 Diwata 2 ) Imaging 84H S43678 587 x 599 x 97 8 Ten-Koh ) Tech 84A S43671 600 x 619 x 97 8 Aoi ) Astronomy 84K? S43681? 587 x 599 x 97 8 AUTCube-2 ) Tech 84J? S43679? 585 x 598 x 97 8 Oct 28 0615 DebrisSat-2 RemDeb, LEO Tech 9867PR S43680 399 x 404 x 51 6 Nov 1 1557 Beidou DW 41 Chang Zheng 3B Xichang Navigation 85A S43683 197 x 35815 x 28 5 Nov 3 2017 Kosmos-2529 Soyuz-2-1B/Fregat Plesetsk LC43/4 Navigation 86A S43687 19123 x 19163 x 64 8 Nov 7 0047 MetOp-C Soyuz-2-1B/Fregat CSG ELS Weather 87A S43689 806 x 807 x 98 7 0930LT SSO Nov 11 0350 IRVINE01 ) Tech 88D S43693 493 x 516 x 85 0 CICERO-10 ) Electron Mahia LC1 Weather 88A S43690 499 x 517 x 85 0 Lemur-2-Zupanski ) Weather/Com 88F S43695 495?x 515?x 85 0 Lemur-2-Chanusiak ) Weather/Com 88H S43697 495?x 515?x 85 0 Proxima I ) Com 88E S43694 495?x 515?x 85 0 Proxima II ) Com 88G S43696 495?x 515?x 85 0 Pride of Bavaria ) Tech 88C S43692 495?x 515?x 85 0 Nov 14 1138 GSAT-29 GSLV Mk III Satish Dhawan SLP Comms 89A S43698 181 x 35737 x 21 5 Nov 15 2046 Es'hailsat-2 Falcon 9 Kennedy LC39A Comms 90A S43700 201 x 37688 x 25 0 Nov 16 1814 Progress MS-10 Soyuz-FG Baykonur LC1 Cargo 91A S43702 186 x 226 x 51 6 Docked to ISS Nov 17 0901 S S John Young Antares 230 MARS LA0B Cargo 92A S43704 211 x 252 x 51 6 Nov 18 1807 Beidou DW42 ) Chang Zheng 3B/YZ1 Xichang Navigation 93A S43706 21523 x 22194 x 55 0 Beidou DW43 ) Navigation 93B S43707 21531 x 22194 x 55 0 Nov 19 2340 Shiyan 6 ) Unknown 94A S43710 488 x 504 x 97 4 0600LT SSO
Jiading-1 ) Chang Zheng 2D Jiuquan Comms 94B? S43711 489 x 504 x 97 4 0600LT SSO
Tianzhi 1 ) Tech 94C? S43712 488 x 504 x 97 4 0600LT SSO
Tianping-1A) Calib 94D? S43713 487 x 504 x 97 4 0600LT SSO
Tianping-1B) Calib 94E? S43714 489 x 504 x 97 4 0600LT SSO
Nov 21 0142 Mohammed VI-B Vega CSG ELV Imaging 95A S43717 601 x 606 x 98 0 1020LT SSO

Table of Recent Suborbital Launches

The suborbital launches table includes known flights above 80 km

Date UT Payload/Flt Name Launch Vehicle Site Mission Apogee/km Target

Oct 26 FTM-45 Target UNKNOWN Kauai Target 150? Pacific Oct 26 FTM-45 KV Aegis SM-3-IIA DDG-113, Kauai Interceptor 150? FTM-45 intercept Nov 7 0701 GT228GM Minuteman 3 Vandenberg Op Test 1300? Kwajalein?

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