Jonathan's Space Report

No 799 2021 Nov 14 Somerville, MA

Note: I have added a new set of lists on my website covering various aspects of human spaceflight See http://planet4589 org/space/astro/web/index html

International Space Station

Expedition 65 concluded on Oct 17 with the undocking of Soyuz MS-18 and the beginning of Expedtion 66

Soyuz MS-18 undocked fromm Nauka at 0114:00 UTC Oct 17 with Novitskiy, Shipenko and Peresild; the ship landed in Kazakhstan at 0435:44 UTC according to Roskosmos

The Progress MS-17 cargo ship undocked from Poisk at 2342 UTC Oct 20, retreated over 100 km, and performed a re-rendezvous to redock with Nauka at 0421 UTC Oct 22

Progress MS-18 was launched on Oct 28 It docked with the aft port on Zvezda at 0131:19 UTC Oct 30

On Nov 6 Anton Shkaplerov took command of ISS from Thomas Pesquet, prior to the latter's return to Earth on Crew-2

Dragon Crew-2 'Endeavour' undocked from IDA-3 at 1905 UTC Nov 8 with astronauts Kimbrough, McArthur, Hoshide and Pesquet It jettisoned its trunk at 0235 UTC Nov 9 into a 406 x 412 km orbit and performed a deorbit burn at 0239 UTC, landing off the coast of Pensacola, Florida at 0333 UTC Nov 9, at about 87 5W 29 8N

Dragon Crew-3 'Endurance' (capsule C210) was launched on Nov 11 carrying Raj Chari (Cdr), Tom Marshburn (Pilot), Matthais Maurer (Mission Specialist 1) and Kayla Barron (Mission Specialist 2) During the launch Maurer became the 600th person in space (as usual, I use 80 km as the defining boundary and assign numbers in the `crew rank' order as given in this paragraph) Endurance docked with the Station's IDA-2 port at 2332 UTC Nov 11

Chinese Space Station

Shenzhou 13 was launched on Oct 15, carrying Zhai Zhigang, Wang Yaping and Yu Guangfe It docked with the nadir docking port on Tianhe at 2248 UTC the same day, beginning the second expedition aboard the Chinese space station

On Nov 7 from about 1051 to about 1701 UTC astronauts Zhai and Wang made a spacewalk, testing out the robot arm and installing a grapple fixture on it

Chinese orbital weapon test

The Financial Times quotes unnamed US government sources as revealing that China launched a missile sometime in August that placed a reentry vehicle (RV) in Earth orbit The RV completed slightly less than one orbit and was deorbited for impact at an unspecified location (probably in China) This is a technique tested by the USSR in the 1960s and called `Fractional Orbital Bombardment System' (FOBS) by the US defense community

Space Force did not catalog any objects from the mission and it did not receive an international designation I am assigning it the `uncataloged' designation 2021-U01 in my system in GCAT (https://planet4589 org/space/gcat/)

A denial from China implied that the Chinese think what is being referred to is the spaceplane test on Jul 16 At the time we thought it was a short range test, but as Marco Langbroek points out it might have been an one-orbit test where the landing was geographically not far from the takeoff However, Chinese statements at the time described the test as suborbital, and a more recent FT statement specifies that the alleged FOBS launch was on Jul 27 (A second `hypersonic' test the new FT story mentions, on Aug 13, was not specified to be orbital )

The launch vehicle is suspected to have been a CZ-2C, and Chinese statements indicate that the Jul 19 and Aug 24 CZ-2C launches were the 76th and 78th of the kind respectively, implying a launch between those two dates, consistent with the Jul 27 date The earlier FT report also cites the US sources as saying the missile missed its target by 'two dozen miles', No upper stage was left in orbit, so the perigee was probably within the atmosphere or not much above it

Properties of the mission:
Launch date: 2021 Jul 27 Launch vehicle; CZ-2C? Launch site: Taiyuan? Impact site: Unknown Orbit: Unknown: possibly around 60-100 x 200 km? Inclination: Unknown - probably 97 deg?

Lucy

The Lucy asteroid probe was launched on Oct 16 Lucy is a NASA Discovery program mission built by Lockheed Martin/Denver and the mission is operated by NASA-Goddard with the science team headed by Hal Levison of SwRI The spacecraft has a mass of 1550 kg wet, 821 kg dry and its large circular solar panels give it a span of 15 8 metres It has a Nammo-Westcott (UK) Leros-1c bipropellant MON/hydrazine main engine with a 458N thruster Lucy carries the L'LORRI imager, the L'Ralph-LEISA imaging IR spectrometer, the L'Ralpha-MVIC high resolution camera and the L'TES thermal infrared spectrometer

Lucy left the Sun-Earth Hill sphere at 1250 UTC Oct 19 to enter a 0 84 x 1 16 AU x 0 2 deg solar orbit It will reach aphelion on Jan 26 and return to Earth for a 300 km flyby a year after launch, on 2022 Oct 16 This will put Lucy in a 0 85 x 2 24 AU x 0 0 deg solar orbit which sets it up for a second Earth flyby on 2024 Dec 13 That flyby will boost the probe to a 0 96 x 5 75 AU x 4 4 deg solar orbit with a 2027 aphelion at the Sun-Jupiter L4 (SJL4) Lagrange point, where Lucy will fly past several of the Jupiter L4 Trojan asteroids Returning to the vicinity of Earth at perihelion on 2030 Dec 27, a further Earth gravity assist will target it to a 0 95 x 5 63 AU x 10 7 deg orbit on track for Sun-Jupiter L5 and a 2033 visit to the region of the L5 Trojans

Lucy's planned asteroid flybys, mostly at a nominal distance of about 1000 km, are:

Date Target Category 2025 Apr 20 (52246) Donaldjohanson Main belt asteroid 2027 Aug 12 (3548) Eurybates L4 Trojan (3548) I Queta L4 Trojan moon 2027 Sep 15 (15094) Polymele L4 Trojan 2028 Apr 18 (11351) Leucus L4 Trojan 2028 Nov 11 (21900) Orus L4 Trojan 2033 Mar 3 (617) Patroclus/Menoetius L5 Trojan binary

Nuri

South Korea's KSLV-2 (Nuri) satellite launch vehicle made its first flight on Oct 21 from Naro Space Center Nuri is a three-stage LOX/kerosene rocket and for this flight carried a dummy satellite with a mass of 1500 kg, targeting a 700 km circular sun-synchronous orbit The third stage fired to depletion but had an underspeed of 800 m/s, and failed to reach orbit After passing through a roughly 740 km apogee the third stage and the successfully-separated payload fell back to reenter south of Australia about 30 minutes after launch The mission demonstrated successful operation of the first, second, and (to some extent) third stages as well as all separation systems (including fairing and payload), so although a failure this flight was a very good first attempt

South Korea's previous KSLV-1 launch vehicle used a Russian first stage, so Nuri is its first truly domestically produced orbital launch vehicle

Ariane 5

Arianespace launched an Ariane 5 on Oct 24 placing two communications satellites in geotransfer orbit SES-17 is a 6411 kg Thales Alenia Spacebus Neo200 for SES with Ka-band service to the Americas and the Atlantic Syracuse 4A is a 3852 kg Thales Alenia Spacebus Neo100 for DGA, the French defense agency, with X-band and Ka-band communications payloads Both satellites have electric (ion) propulsion systems; SES-17 with SPT-140 and Syracuse 4A with PPS-5000 thrusters

Shi Jian 21

A SAST/Shanghai satellite reported to be studying orbital debris remediation technology was launched on a CALT/Beijing CZ-3B rocket from Xichang on Oct 24 The satellite was given the code name Shi Jian 21 The satellite reached geosynchronous orbit and released a second object, which the US Space Force have labelled as an apogee kick motor and I call a subsatellite As of Nov 4, the two objects were drifting at 1 degree west per day over the Pacific On Nov 13 SJ-21 braked slightly, reducing drift rate from 1 05 to 1 01 degrees a day

Yaogan 32

The Group 2 (02 zu) Yaogan-32 satellites were launched on Nov 3 The pair of presumed signals intelligence satellites were placed in the 14:00 local time plane, joining the Group 1 satellites launched in Oct 2018 to the 09:00 plane

QZS-1R

QZS-1R, the fifth Quasi-Zenith Satellite (Michibiki) GPS regional augmentation satellite, was launched on Oct 26 by a Mitsubishi Heavy Industries H-IIA from Tanegashima The satellite, built by Mitsubishi Electric, is owned by the Japanese government and will be operated in inclined synchronous orbit The orbit was circularized on Oct 28 and as of Nov 13 the satellite was in a 32653 x 38947 km x 34 0 deg orbit

After launch the satellite was given the name `Michibiki Shogoki Kokei-Ki' (Michibiki Vehicle 1 Successor)

SDGSAT

On Nov 3 China launched a satellite it calls Guangmu Diqiu Kexue Weixing (Wide-Eye Earth Science Satellite) for the Chinese Academy of Sciences In English it refers to the satellite as SDGSAT-1 (Sustainable Development Goals Satellite) The satellite carries Earth remote sensing imagers

Yaogan 35

On Nov 6 China's SAST launched a CZ-2D with three Yaogan-35 satellites to a 500 km, 35 degree inclination orbit Yaogan 35 A and B are built by DFH Satellite (Beijing) and 35C was built by SAST (Shanghai) Mission of the satellites is not yet clear; it is possible that A and B are imaging satellites and C is a radar satellite

Starlink

53 more Starlinks were launched on Nov 13 as Group 4-1 The Group 4 satellites are targeted to a 540 km, 53 2 deg operational orbit

Shiyan 10

Reports of the Shiyan-10 satellite's death appear to have been premature A series of small orbit raising burns occurred between Oct 15 and Oct 18 The satellite is now in a 1090 x 40107 km x 51 1 deg orbit

Table of Recent Orbital Launches

Date UT Name Launch Vehicle Site Mission INTL Catalog Perigee Apogee Incl Notes Jul 27? Chinese Orbital RV Chang Zheng 2C? Taiyuan? Test U01 A09890 100?x200?x 97? Oct 5 0855 Soyuz MS-19 Soyuz-2-1a Baykonur LC31 Spaceship 89A S49269 195 x 227 x 51 6 Oct 6 0920 Binar-1 ) ISS, LEO Tech 98067SR S49272 413 x 421 x 51 6 Maya-3 ) Tech 98067SS S49273 413 x 421 x 51 6 Maya-4 ) Tech 98067ST S49274 413 x 421 x 51 6 Oct 6 1055 CUAVA-1 ISS, LEO Tech 98067SU S49275 413 x 421 x 51 6 Oct 12 1100 CAPSat ISS, LEO Tech 98067SV S49276? Oct 12 1230 SPACE HAUC) ISS, LEO Tech 98067SW S49277? PR-CuNaR2 ) Tech 98067SX S49278? Oct 14 0940 OneWeb SL0332 Soyuz-2-1b/Fregat Vostochniy PU1S Comms 90A-AM S49279 413 x 421 x 87 4 OneWeb SL0347 OneWeb SL0349 OneWeb SL0353 OneWeb SL0356 OneWeb SL0358-SL0388 Oct 14 1051 Xihe (CHASE) ) Chang Zheng 2D Taiyuan Solar 91A S49315? 503 x 522 x 97 5 QX-1 ) Meteo 91B? Tianshu-1 ) Tech? 91C? JTSY ) Comms 91D? HEAD-IIE ) Comms 91E? Guidao Daqi Midu TSW) Sci 91F? SSS-1 ) Tech 91G? HEAD-IIF ) Comms 91H? Tianyuan-1 ) Tech? 91J? Zijinjing-2 ) Imaging? 91K? SSS-2A ) Tech 91L? Oct 15 1623 Shenzhou 13 Chang Zheng 2F Jiuquan Spaceship 92A S49326 381 x 390 x 41 5 Oct 16 0934 Lucy Atlas V 401 Canaveral LC41 Probe 93A S49328 158 x -40741 x 30,6 Oct 21 0800 Nuri Test Payload Nuri Naro LC2 Tech F09 F01612 -1650 x 750 x 97 Oct 24 0127 Shi Jian 21 Chang Zheng 3B Xichang Tech 94A S49330 216 x 35813 x 28 5 Oct 24 0210 SES-17 ) Ariane 5 ECA+ Kourou ELA3 Comms 95A? S49332 248 x 35288 x 6 0 Syracuse 4A) Comms 95B? S49333 258 x 35288 x 5 9 Oct 25 0219 QZS-1R H-IIA 202 Tanegashima Nav 96A S49336 242 x 35101 x 32 0 Oct 27 0619 Jilin-1 Gaofen 02D Kuaizhou-1A Jiuquan Imaging 97A S49338 533 x 547 x 97 5 Oct 28 0000 Progress MS-18 Soyuz-2-1a Baykonur LC31 Cargo 98A S49379 207 x 252 x 51 6 Nov 3 0743 Yaogan 32 hao 02 zu 01 xing ) Chang Zheng 2C/YZ1S Jiuquan Sigint 99A S49383 689 x 703 x 98 3 Yaogan 32 hao 02 zu 02 xing ) Sigint 99B S49384 689 x 703 x 98 3 Nov 5 0219 SDGSAT-1 (Guangmu) Chang Zheng 6 Taiyuan Imaging 100A S49388 502 x 514 x 97 5 Nov 6 0300 Yaogan 35A ) Chang Zheng 2D Xichang Tech? 101A S49390 493 x 499 x 35 0 Yaogan 35B ) Tech? 101B S49391 493 x 499 x 35 0 Yaogan 35C ) Tech? 101C S49392 493 x 499 x 35 0 Nov 9 0055 RAISE-2 ) Epsilon Uchinoura Tech 102A S49395 561 x 573 x 97 6 Oruri ) Tech 102B? S49396 543 x 572 x 97 6 Asutarisuku ) Sci 102C? S49397 543 x 572 x 97 6 Z-SAT ) Imaging 102E? S49399 543 x 572 x 97 6 DRUMS ) Tech 102D? S49398 543 x 572 x 97 6 Hibari ) Tech 102F? S49400 543 x 572 x 97 6 KOSEN-1 ) Astron 102H? S49402 543 x 572 x 97 6 ARICA ) Astron 102J? S49403 543 x 572 x 97 6 NanoDragon ) Com 102G? S49401 543 x 572 x 97 6 Nov 11 0203 Endurance (Crew-3) Falcon 9 Kennedy LC39A Spaceship 103A S49407 190 x 212 x 51 6 Nov 13 1219 Starlink 3044 Falcon 9 Canaveral LC40 Comms 104A-BE 212 x 333 x 53 2 Starlink 3049 S49408-S49460 Starlink 3075 Starlink 3097-3099 Starlink 3105 Starlink 3108 Starlink 3110-3112 Starlink 3114-3115 Starlink 3117 Starlink 3120-3141 Starlink 3144-3147 Starlink 3149-3151 Starlink 3153-3162

Table of Recent Suborbital Launches

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

Oct 3 T-MINUS Test Dart Andoya Atmosphere 80? Norw Sea Oct 3? PMWE Imp Malemute Andoya Atmosphere 100? Norw Sea Oct 3? PMWE Imp Malemute Andoya Atmosphere 100? Norw Sea Oct 3? PMWE Imp Malemute Andoya Atmosphere 100? Norw Sea Oct 8 1740 CLASP 2 1 Black Brant IX White Sands Solar UV 272 White Sands Oct 13 1449 NS-18 New Shepard West Texas Tourism 107 West Texas Oct 20 H4H 1 Terrier Malemute? Wallops I Tech 200? Atlantic Oct 20 H4H 2 Terrier Malemute? Wallops I Tech 200? Atlantic Oct 20 H4H 3 Terrier Malemute? Wallops I Tech 200? Atlantic Oct 27 1420 Agni RV Agni V Kalam Island Test 800? Indian Ocean Nov 4 0209 SS-520-3 SS-520 Svalbard Ionosphere 956 Arctic Nov 8 0925 SISTINE 2 Black Brant IX White Sands UV Astron 257 White Sands

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