Jonathan's Space Report

No 635 2010 Dec 2; en route Somerville to Tokyo

Shuttle and Station

Astronauts Yurchikin, Wheelock and Walker left the Station aboard Soyuz TMA-19 on Nov 26 They undocked from Rassvet at 0123 UTC concluding Expedition 25 after 62 0 days The Soyuz deorbit burn was at 0355 UTC and landing in Kazakhstan at 0446 UTC There were some problems with the pressure in the descent module, but the crew landed safely

Expedition 26 is now underway with crew commander Scott Kelly, flight engineer-2 Aleksandr Kaleri and flight engineer-3 Oleg Skripochka remaining on the Station Soyuz TMA-01M is docked at Poisk, Progress M-07M at Zvezda, and Progress M-08M at Pirs

STP S26

As part of the USAF Space Test Program, STP mission S26 was launched from Kodiak, Alaska on Nov 20 carrying a set of small payloads into orbit

STPSat-2 is a 135 kg Ball/AeroAstro SIV satellite with technology experiments

Falconsat 5 is a 161 kg US Air Force Academy satellite carrying experiments to study plasma and the ionosphere

FASTRAC 1 and 2 are 30 kg satellites developed by the University of Texas at Austin with USAF fuding for formation flying experiments

Fastsat-HSV was developed by NASA-Marshall and companies in Huntsville, Alabama and carries ionospheric and atmospheric experiments, a USAF experiment, and the Nanosail-D2 which will be ejected in about a week to deploy a 3-meter-size solar sail

The Radio Aurora Explorer is the National Science Foundation's first satellite, a 3kg 3U cubesat built by the University of Michigan to study the aurora by picking up ground-based radar signals

O/OREOS is a 5 kg 3U cubesat for NASA's Ames Research Center carrying life sciences experiments to study microbes in free fall and the effects of ultraviolet light on organic materials

The Minotaur's GCA (Guidance Control Assembly) fourth stage achieved a 637 x 661 km x 72 deg orbit using its Orion 38 solid motor A HAPS (Hydrazine auxiliary propulsion system) fifth stage was mounted on it, with the primary payloads attached to a Multi Payload Adapter mounting plate on top of that After deployment of the payloads, the HAPS separated from the GCA, made two rocket burns, and then released two ballast masses in a higher (circa 1200 km) orbit, demonstrating the capability of the Minotaur IV to deliver payloads to multiple orbits in a single mission

NROL-32

The National Reconnaissance Office NROL-32 mission was launched from Cape Canaveral on Nov 22 It placed a secret satellite in orbit; I concur with the majority of analysts that it is probably a geostationary signals intelligence satellite

ZX-20A

China launched the Zhongxing-20A military communications satellite on Nov 24 Meanwhile, the Beidou DW6 navigation satellite launched on Oct 31 is now in a 35774 x 35797 km x 1 8 deg geostationary orbit at 160 0E, and the SJ-12 satellite has begun a rendezvous with the SJ-6/4A (SSN 37180) satellite, following its inspection of SJ-6/3B in Aug-Sep

Arianespace

Ariane vehicle L556, mission V198, placed two communications satellites in orbit The Intelsat IS-17 is a Loral LS-1300-Omega with a launch mass of 5540 kg and a dry mass of 2393 kg, carrying Ku and C band payloads It will be stationed over the Indian Ocean at 66E Hylas 1, for the UK company Avanti Communications, is an Indian ISRO I2K satellite with an advanced Astrium-UK communications payload Hylas, much smaller than IS-17, has a mass of 2570 kg full, 1125 kg dry and has a Ka-band payload for European broadband service Its stubby solar panels probably only have a span of 9 meters rather than the 36 m incorrectly reported by the EADS and Ariane press kits

Table of Recent (orbital) Launches

Date UT Name Launch Vehicle Site Mission INTL
DES Oct 1 1100 Chang'e 2 Chang Zheng 3C Xichang Lunar probe 50A Oct 6 0049 SJ-6/4A ) Chang Zheng 4B Taiyuan ? 51A SJ-6/4B ) ? 51B Oct 7 2310 Soyuz TMA-01M Soyuz-FG Baykonur LC1 Spaceship 52A Oct 14 1853 Sirius XM-5 Proton-M/Briz-M Baykonur LC81/24 Radio 53A Oct 19 1710 Globalstar-2 M073 ) Soyuz-2-1a/Fregat Baykonur LC31 Comms 54F Globalstar-2 M074 ) Comms 54B Globalstar-2 M075 ) Comms 54E Globalstar-2 M076 ) Comms 54C Globalstar-2 M077 ) Comms 54D Globalstar-2 M079 ) Comms 54A Oct 27 1511 Progress M-08M Soyuz-U Baykonur LC1 Cargo 55A Oct 28 2151 Eutelsat W3B ) Ariane 5ECA Kourou ELA3 Comms 56A BSAT-3B ) Comms 56B Oct 31 1626 Beidou DW6 Chang Zheng 3C Xichang Nav 57A Nov 2 0059 Meridan Soyuz-2-1a/Fregat Plesetsk LC43/3 Comms 58A Nov 5 1837 Fengyun 3 (01)B Chang Zheng 4C Taiyuan Weather 59A Nov 6 0220 COSMO-SkyMed 4 Delta 7420-10 Vandenberg SLC2W Radar 60A Nov 14 1729 SkyTerra 1 Proton-M/Briz-M Baykonur Comms 61A Nov 20 0125 STPSat-2 ) Minotaur IV Kodiak Tech 62A Falconsat-5 ) Tech 62E Fastsat-HSV ) Tech 62D Fastrac 1 ) Tech 62F Fastrac 2 ) Tech 62 O/OREOS ) Science 62C RAX ) Science 62B Nanosail-D ) Tech 62 S26 Ballast A) Dummy 62J S26 Ballast B) Dummy 62K Nov 21 2258 USA 223 Delta IVH Canaveral SLC37B Sigint? 63A Nov 24 1609 Zhongxing 20A Chang Zheng 3A Xichang Comms 64A Nov 26 1839 Intelsat IS-17 ) Ariane 5ECA Kourou ELA3 Comms 65A Hylas 1 ) Comms 65B

Table of Recent (suborbital) Launches

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

Oct 7 0310 RV x 3? Bulava TK-208, White Sea R&D 1000? Oct 21 1700 NASA 36 230DR Black Brant IX San Nicolas Target 100? Oct 27 1015 Mapheus-2 Nike Orion Kiruna Micrograv 153 Oct 28 0959 RV Topol Plesetsk Op Test 1000? Oct 28 1030 RV x 4? Sineva K-117, Barents Sea Op Test 1000? Oct 28 RV x 4? Volna K-433, Okhotsk Op Test 1000? Oct 29 0210? RV x 3? Bulava TK-208, White Sea R&D 1000? Oct 30 0306 MRT-9 Castor 4B Kauai Target 150? Oct 30 0309 Aegis KV SM-3 DDG-174, Pacific Interceptor 150?

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