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Jonathan's Space Report

No 827 2023 Dec 15 Somerville, MA

International Space Station

Expedition 70 continues

The Dextre robot arm installed the AWE payload on Express Logistics Carrier 1 (ELC-1) Site 3 on Nov 18 Meanwhile, the STP-H5 payload was relocated from ELC-1 to ELC-3 on Nov 17

The Progress MS-23 cargo ship undocked from the Poisk module at 0755 UTC Nov 29, fired its engines for the deorbit burn at 1102 UTC, and reentered east of New Zealand around 1145 UTC

Progress MS-25 was launched on Dec 1 It docked with the Poisk module at 1118:31 UTC Dec 3

Kosmos-2570/2571

The Lotos subsatellite Kosmos-2571 seems to have ejected an additional object around 1400 UTC Nov 23, as first reported by LeoLabs The object may be an adapter rather than a third payload

Kosmos-2572

Russia launched a military satellite, probably Kosmos-2572, on Nov 25 into a 299 x 320 km x 96 6 deg sun-synch orbit with 12:30 local time orbital plane It is suspected to be the first Razdan spy satellite and likely has a mass around 7000 kg

Manligyeong 1-3

North Korea's third Cheonlima-1 (Chollima-1 in a more common transliteration scheme) successfully reached orbit on Nov 21 The rocket's third stage is in a 467 x 511 km x 97 4 deg orbit and the payload, the Manligyeong-1 spy satellite, is in a 492 x 512 km x 97 4 deg orbit in a 22:00 local time orbital plane North Korea reports the satellite has already returned images of locations in US and South Korea

SAST launches

On Nov 23 China's SAST launched a CZ-2D with a YZ-3 upper stage The YZ-3 made two burns to a 1092 x 1108 km x 50 0 deg orbit, released three internet communications satellite test payloads, and made a third burn to deorbit itself

The launch announcement described the payloads as Weixing Hulianwang Jishu Shiyan Weixing (Satellite-internet technology test satellite) like the sats on the July 9 launch Other source reported in nasaspaceflight com that the satellites are actually named Xingwang Qinxie Guidao 02 zu A/B/C xing (StarNet Inclined Orbit Group 02 Sats A,B,C) and as Chuangxing-20 01,02,03 xing The satellites are built by the Shanghai Engineering Center for Microsatellites

On Dec 10 SAST launched a CZ-2D with the fifth triplet of Yaogan 39 satellites

CALT launches

On Dec 14 CALT launched a CZ-2F with the third flight of the Chinese robotic spaceplane

On Dec 15 CALT launched CZ-5 no Y6 from Wenchang, carrying a large military imaging satellite (Yaogan 41) to geotransfer orbit The satellite may have a mass of 6000 kg or more once it reaches GEO It likely has an apogee stage of similar mass attached to it to perform the circularization burn

Starlink launches

Starlink Group 7-7 (22 sats) launched from Vandenberg on Nov 20 Starlink Group 6-29 (23 sats) launched from Canaveral on Nov 22 Starlink Group 6-30 (23 sats) launched from Canaveral on Nov 28 Starlink Group 6-31 (23 sats) launched from Canaveral on Dec 3 Starlink Group 6-33 (23 sats) launched from Canaveral on Dec 7 Starlink Group 7-8 (22 sats) launched from Vandenberg on Dec 8

Korea 425

South Korea's Project 425 EO/IR Sat 1 spy satellite was launched by SpaceX on Dec 1 A set of 24 secondary payloads were carried, but a full list is not available It seems possible that at least 4 of these are actually just hosted payloads on ION, and not separate satellites

The list of known payloads includes: D-Orbit (Italy) ION SCV 'Daring Diego' (probably SCV012) tug PlanetIQ (US) GNOMES-4 IoT comms sat SITAEL(Italy) mu-HETsat, 70 kg satellite to test Hall-effect electric thruster Bane, from York Space Systems, carrying hosted technology payloads Kanazawa U (Japan) KOYOH satellite, 43 kg EIRSAT-1 2U cubesat from University College Dublin, testing a gamma ray detector BazoomQ Research Lab (Yerevan, Armenia) Hayasat-1 1U cubesat CS Univ Montpellier (France) ENSO 1U cubesat to measure solar radiation Melbourne/Rome 6U SpIRIT cubesat with wide field X-ray astronomy detector Three Alba Orbital (Scotland/Germany) Unicorn-2 3P satellites, probably with imaging payloads TU Berlin (Germany) NanoFF-1 and 2, 2U cubesats for formation flying tests Inst Astrofisica Canarias (Spain) ALISIO 6U Earth imaging satellite Lilium-1 (Taiwan), 3U technology cubesat Innova (Argentina) 2P MDQSAT comms satellite (Innova is a subsidary of Miota Aerospace SAS , which is being credited with the satellite in the D-Orbit brochure Possibly it is the same satellite as Unicorn-2P)

South Korean solid launch vehicle

On Dec 4 South Korea's defense agency ADD launched a three-stage launch vehicle from a barge off the coast of Jeju Island, placing a 100-kg-class Hanwha Systems experimental radar satellite in orbit The name of the rocket has not been released; it is referred to as Goche Yeollyo Uju Balsache (Solid fuel space launcher) Siheom bihaengche 2 (Test Vehicle 2) The first two stages are solid fuelled and the third stage has a liquid propellant engine I will label the rocket ADD TV2 for now

The reported NOTAM impact area of stage 2 corresponds to about a -1550 x 650 km trajectory with impact around 0530 UTC, implying that the Stage 3 burn was around 730 m/s

The operational rocket will have an additional solid stage between TV2's first and second stages

MisrSat-2

CALT launched the joint Egyptian-Chinese MisrSat-2 (Egyptsat-2) imaging satellite on a CZ-2C from Jiuquan on Dec 4 China calls the satellite Aiji-2 (a Pinyin phonetic rendering of 'Egypt') The 350 kg satellite was assembled at a Chinese-built factory in New Cairo This satellite is not to be confused with an earlier Russian-built Egyptsat-2 launched in 2014

The launch also placed two small Xingchi-1 Group 02 satellites in orbit for Toyuan Shikong ('Ellipical Space') The Xingchi constellation is marketed in English as `Starpool'

Gushenxing-1

Xinghe Dongli (Galactic Energy) launched Gushenxing-1 Y9 on Dec 4 Payloads were the Xingchi-1A imaging sat for Touyuan Shikong, and the Jiheng-1 microwave radiometer sat for Gengyu muxing (Beijing) Kongjian Keji YG The upper stage was left in orbit without a perigee lowering burn

Jielong-3

China Long March Rocket Co launched the second Jielong-3 on Dec 5 at 1924 UTC, placing another broadband internet test satellite in orbit Launch was from the ship Bo Run Jiu Zhou (MMS 413536970) at 112 0E 21 3N off the coast of Guangdong

The satellite has been cataloged in a 904 x 922 km x 86 5 deg orbit; the 4th stage in a 360 x 921 km orbit Comparison with the NOTAM warning zones suggest that the 3rd stage was in a -3580 x 916 km x 88 8 deg orbit with the 4th stage making a small dogleg to decrease inclination

Zhuque-2

The third Zhuque-2 launch placed three satellites in a 432 x 461 km sun-sync orbit (LTDN 06:00) on Dec 8 for Tianyi Research and Shanghai Lanjian Hongqing Keji YG Honghu-1 carries tests of Ar, Kr, and Xe electric propulsion systems The Honghu satellites are technology tests for a future LEO comm satellite constellation

The previous ZQ-2 launch carried a dummy payload, so this is the first time a methalox rocket has orbited active satellites

Electron

Electron launch 42, on Dec 15, placed the QPS-SAR-5 (Tsukoyomi-I) radar satellite in orbit for the Japanese company iQPS

Chandrayaan-3 PM

On Oct 8 India's Chandrayaan-3 Propulsion Module changed its lunar orbit from 140 x 180 km x 89 5 deg to 150 x 5125 km x 89 7 deg A further burn on Oct 13 increased the orbit to 155 x 53767 km x 91 1 deg This orbit passed close enough to the Earth-Moon Hill sphere boundary to be strongly perturbed, and without further manuevers the C3PM left the Moon's gravitational sphere at 0802 UTC Nov 10, entering a 230000 x 316000 km x 27 deg Earth orbit in a test of future lunar sample return navigation techniques

Table of Recent Orbital Launches

Date UT Name Launch Vehicle Site Mission INTL Catalog Perigee Apogee Incl Notes Nov 3 1454 TJS-10 Chang Zheng 7A Wenchang LC201 Unk 169A 181 x 35844 x 17 0 Nov 4 0037 Starlink Group 6-26 Falcon 9 Canaveral LC40 Comms 170 283 x 292 x 43 0 Nov 8 0505 Starlink Group 6-27 Falcon 9 Canaveral LC40 Comms 171 283 x 292 x 43 0 Nov 9 1123 Zhongxing-6E Chang Zheng 3B Xichang Comms 172A 215 x 35754 x 28 4 Nov 10 0128 Dragon CRS-29 Falcon 9 Kennedy LC39A Cargo 173A 209 x 360 x 51 7 Nov 11 1849 Transporter-9 Falcon 9 Vandenberg SLC4E Tug 174 523 x 544 x 97 5 Nov 12 2108 O3b MPOWER 5 Falcon 9 Canaveral LC40 Comms 175 2599 x 7005 x 9 0 O3b MPOWER 6 Comms 175 2596 x 7005 x 9 0 Nov 16 0355 Haiyang 3-01 Chang Zheng 2C/YZ-1S Jiuquan Imaging 176A 786 x 788 x 98 7 Nov 18 0505 Starlink Group 6-28 Falcon 9 Canaveral LC40 Comms 177 283 x 292 x 43 0 Nov 18 1303 Starship OFT-2 Starship Starbase OLP1 Test F11 -1750 x 149 x 26 5 Nov 20 1030 Starlink Group 7-7 Falcon 9 Vandenberg SLC4E Comms 178 284 x 291 x 53 1 Nov 21 1342 Manligyeong-1 F3 Cheonlima-1 Sohae Imaging 179A 492 x 512 x 97 4 Nov 22 0747 Starlink Group 6-29 Falcon 9 Canaveral LC40 Comms 180 283 x 292 x 43 0 Nov 23 1000 XQG-02A Chang Zheng 2D/YZ3 Xichang Comms 181 1091 x 1111 x 50 0 XQG-02B Comms 181 1092 x 1108 x 50 0 Chuangxin-20 Comms 181 1091 x 1107 x 50 0 Nov 25 2058 Kosmos-2572? Soyuz-2-1B Plesetsk LC43/4 Imaging 182A 299 x 320 x 96 6 Nov 28 0420 Starlink Group 6-30 Falcon 9 Canaveral LC40 Comms 183 284 x 292 x 43 0 Dec 1 0925 Progress M-25 Soyuz-2-1A Baykonur LC31 Cargo 184A 264 x 282 x 51 6 Dec 1 1819 Korea Project 425 EO/IR Falcon 9 Vandenberg SLC4E Imaging 185A 554 x 570 x 97 6 ION SCV012? Tug Bane Unknown GNOMES-4 Comms ENSO Tech Spirit Astron 185 508 x 525 x 97 5 EIRSAT-1 Tech Hayasat-1 Tech Koyoh Tech Lilium-1 Tech Unicorn-2L, 2M, 2N Imaging ALISIO Imaging MDQubeSAT-1 Comms NanoFF-1, 2 Tech uHETSAT Tech LOGSATS Comms Dec 3 0400 Starlink Group 6-31 Falcon 9 Canaveral LC40 Comms 186 285 x 292 x 43 0 Dec 4 0410 MisrSat-2 Chang Zheng 2C Jiuquan Imaging 187A 626 x 642 x 98 0 Xingchi-1 02A Img/Comms 187B Xingchi-1 02B Img/Comms 187C Dec 4 0500 S-STEP ADD TV2 Jeju Radar 188A 636 x 653 x 47 0 Dec 4 2333 Xingchi-1A Gushenxing-1 Jiuquan Imaging 189 494 x 511 x 97 5 Jiheng-1 Rem sens 189 494 x 511 x 97 5 Dec 5 1924 Chuangxin-19 Jielong-3 BRJZ, S China Sea Comms 190A 904 x 921 x 86 5 Dec 7 0507 Starlink Group 6-33 Falcon 9 Canaveral LC40 Comms 191 285 x 292 x 43 0 Dec 8 0803 Starlink Group 7-8 Falcon 9 Vandenberg SLC4E Comms 192 285 x 295 x 53 1 Dec 8 2339 Honghu-1 Zhuque-2 Jiuquan Tech 193 432 x 461 x 97 3 Honghu-2 Tech 193 Tianyi-33 Tech 193 Dec 10 0158 Yaogan 39 hao 05 zu 01 xing Chang Zheng 2D Xichang Sigint 194A 490 x 501 x 35 0 Yaogan 39 hao 05 zu 02 xing Sigint 194 490 x 501 x 35 0 Yaogan 39 hao 05 zu 03 xing Sigint 194 490 x 501 x 35 0 Dec 14 1412? CSSHQ 3 Chang Zheng 2F Jiuquan Spaceplane 195A 333 x 347 x 50 0 Dec 15 0405 QPS-SAR-5 Electron Mahia 1B Radar 196A 574 x 583 x 42 0
Dec 15 1341 Yaogan 41 Chang Zheng 5 Wenchang Imaging 197A 176 x 35812 x 19 5

Table of Recent Suborbital Launches

Nov 1 0701? GT248 Minuteman 3 Vandenberg Test 100? Pacific (RSO destruct) Nov 2 1544 Galactic 05 Spaceship Two Sp America EBR3 Tourist 87 Sp America Nov 4? RV x6? Bulava K-554, White Sea Test 1000? Kura Nov 8 0941 DISSIPATION Terrier Oriole Poker Flat Auroral 150? PFRR Nov 9 1014 Beam-PIE Black Brant XII Poker Flat Auroral 450? PFRR Nov 15 H4H-4? T T Imp Mal Wallops I Hypersonic 100? Atlantic Nov 15 H4H-5? T T Imp Mal Wallops I Hypersonic 100? Atlantic Nov 18 1819 M51 RV M51 3 Biscarosse Test 1000? Atlantic Dec 2 0700 S-520-33 S-520 Uchinoura Tech 304 Pacific Dec 2 0730 MAIUS-2 VSB-30 Kiruna Micrograv 230? ESRANGE Dec 6 Bio Capsule Salman Semnan Life Sci 130 Iran Dec 11 1425? FTG-12 Target IRBM-T1? C-17, Pacific Target 500? Pacific Dec 11 1430? FTG-12 EKV GBI Vandenberg Interceptor 300? Pacific (intercept)

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