Jonathan's Space Report

No 701 2014 Sep 6 Somerville, MA

International Space Station

Expedition 40 is continuing with ISS in a 410 x 419 km x 51 7 deg orbit ISS Commander is Steve Swanson (NASA); flight engineers are FE-1 Aleksandr Skvortsov (Roskosmos), FE-2 Oleg Artemev (Roskosmos), FE-4 Max Suraev (Roskosmos), FE-5 Reid Wiseman (NASA), FE-6 Alexander Gerst (ESA)

The SS Janice Voss cargo freighter was unberthed from the Harmony nadir port at 0914 UTC Aug 15 and released by Canadarm-2 at 1040 UTC It was deorbited around 1233 UTC Aug 17 and reentered at 1315 UTC over the S Pacific

On Aug 18 astronauts Skvortsov and Artemev made spacewalk VKD-39 from the Pirs module The airlock was depressurized at 1340 UTC and the hatch opened at 1402 UTC At 1423 UTC Artemev hand-launched the 1U cubesat Chasqui-1, a joint Peruvian-Russian project Chasqui-1 was built by the Universidad Nacional de Ingenieria in Lima and the Yugo-Zapadniy gosudarstvenniy universitet (Southwest State University) in Kursk

The crew also worked with materials exposure experiments; they installed the EXPOSE-R2 experient on Zvezda's URM-D-II boom, and on Poisk they retrieved Panel 2 of the Vinoslivost experiment and swapped out the SKK-1-M2 cassette for the new SKK-2-M2; they also installed the new BKDO experiment to study the effects of rocket thruster plumes impinging on the station Finally a Biorisk exposure canister was retrieved from Pirs, and the astronauts went back inside to close the Pirs hatch at 1913 UTC and repressurize the airlock at about 1916 UTC

On Aug 19 the JEM RMS arm picked up the Nanoracks cubesat packages from the Kibo airlock and began deploying the PlanetLabs Flock-1b cubesats (Thanks to Henry Hallam for providing deploy times) Electrical problems with the deployer meant that deploys were suspended after Aug 21 Two pairs of cubesats were accidentally deployed on Aug 23 and Sep 5 without being commanded; PlanetLabs was able to contact and command them without problems

WorldView-3

DigitalGlobe's WorldView-3 high resolution imaging satellite was launched Aug 13 into a 612 x 614 km x 98 0 deg, 1015LTDN sun-synchronous orbit by an Atlas V 401 rocket, serial AV-047 The Centaur stage restarted to use up its extra propellant by accelerating to an escape trajectory to solar orbit WV-3 has an imager with 0 3m ground resolution in addition to multispectral and 3 7-micron IR cameras Digital Globe was formerly EarthWatch Inc, and merged with the former Space Imaging Inc (GeoEye) in 2012, which itself absorbed EOSAT in 1996 and OrbImage in 2006, completing the consolidation of the first generation of US commercial imaging companies

     Digital Globe satellites
     ------------------------

                        Operated                             Resolution

EOSAT Landsat 5 1984 Mar - 2001 Jul (to USGS) 30m EOSAT Landsat 4 1985 Sep - 2001 Jun (from NOAA) 30m EOSAT Landsat 6 1993 Oct (launch failure) 15m

OrbImage OrbView-1 1995 Apr - 2000 Apr 10 km (lightning sensor) OrbImage OrbView-2 1997 Aug - 2010 Dec 1 km SeaWIFS OrbImage OrbView-3 2003 Jun - 2011 Mar 1m OrbImage OrbView-4 2001 Sep (launch failure) 1m GeoEye GeoEye-1 2008 Sep - present 0 4m

EarthWatch EarlyBird 1997 Dec (failed on orbit) 3 m EarthWatch QuickBird 1 2000 Nov (launch failure) 1 m EarthWatch QuickBird 2 2001 Oct - present 0 6m

SpaceImaging Ikonos 1 1999 Apr (launch failure) 1 m SpaceImaging Ikonos 2 1999 Sep - present 1 m

DigitalGlobe WorldView-1 2007 Sep - present 0 5m DigitalGlobe WorldView-2 2009 Oct - present 0 5m DigitalGlobe WorldView-3 2014 Aug - present 0 3m

Gaofen

China's Gaofen-2 high resolution imaging satellite was launched on Aug 19 into a 608 x 631 km x 98 0 deg, 1020 LTDN sun-synchronous orbit aboard a CZ-4B rocket from Taiyuan (Gaofen-1 was launched using a CZ-2D from Jiuquan) Poland's BRITE-P2 'Heweliusz' (Hewelius) astronomy nanosatellite was carried as a secondary payload It is named after astronomer Jan Heweliusz (aka Jan Howelcke) (1611-1687) This sixth and final member of the initially planned BRITE constellation carries an R-band photometer

GF-2 and WV-3 are in very similar orbits; GF-2 is currently following about an hour behind, although as the periods are slightly different they will eventually lap each other GF-2 has 0 80m resolution with 48 km swath

Galileo

The first two Galileo FOC (Full Operational Capability) satellites, FM01 and FM02, were launched from the Centre Spatial Guyanais on Aug 22 Soyuz put the payload stack on a suborbital trajectory The Fregat stage made a first burn to put the stack in elliptical transfer orbit, and then began the coast to apogee At apogee at 1605 UTC the Fregat made a second burn intended to circularize the orbit at 23500 x 23500 km x 55 0 deg The satellites separated from the Fregat-MT No 1039 upper stage at 1615 UTC Unfortunately the orbit actually reached was 13700 x 25900 km x 49 7 deg, more elliptical than planned and with the wrong orbital inclination, presumably due to a problem with the second Fregat burn The burn appears to have had the correct 1400 m/s magnitude but with an attitude error of 145 degrees (with an uncertainty of at least 10 deg since my guess at the pre-burn orbit parameters is speculative) Reports on the Novosti Kosmonavitiki forum and on russianspaceweb com indicate that attitude control thrusters may have failed during the coast, leaving Fregat pointing the wrong way at second main engine ignition For some reason its onboard computers did not sense the incorrect attitude

The FOC satellites have a mass of 733 kg full 660 kg dry and are built by OHB (Bremen) with navigation payloads by SSTL (Guildford) and a propulsion system from Moog ISP (Niagara Falls) with eight 1N MONARC-1 hydrazine thrusters (Moog ISP is the former Bell Aerospace, which built the Agena engine) The earlier IOV test satellites were partly owned by ESA, but the FOC satellites are owned by the European Union's GSA (Global Navigation Satellite Systems Agency), based in Prague The FOC satellites carry two rubidium and two hydrogen maser atomic clocks and broadcast on L-band; they also carry the MEOSAR search and rescue transponder payload

Satellite FM01 is also called GalileoSat-5, GSAT-0201, and Doresa; it was to be in plane C2 Satellite FM02 is also called GalileoSat-6, GSAT-0202, and Milena; it was to be in plane C7

I estimate that the satellites have around 240 m/s delta-V capacity each, compared to perhaps 600 to 1000 m/s needed to fully correct the orbits By the rules laid out in previous JSRs, I am scoring this Soyuz launch with a success weight of 40 percent for statistical purposes (reached orbit but not the right one)

OCO-2

The OCO-2 satellite raised its orbit from 690 km to its operational height of 700 km by Aug 3

Foton-M

Foton-M No 4 landed in the Orenburg district on Sep 1 at 0918 UTC The geckos carried as part of the payload, however, were found to have died

Kobalt'-M

Russia's Kobal't-M No 564 spy satellite, possibly codenamed Kosmos-2493 or Kosmos-2495 depending on which Russian statements you believe, landed at around 1828 UTC on Sep 2 after 119 days in space

CX1-04

A Chinese launch on Sep 4 put two small communications satellites in a 778 x 809 km x 98 5 deg, 0630 LTDN sun-synchronous orbit The satellites are Chuangxin-1 satellite 04 from the Chinese Academy of Sciences, for message data relay, and Ling Qiao Tongxin Shiyan Weixing (Smart Communications Test Satellite), a joint venture of Tsinghua University and Xinwei Telecom for tests of multimedia data transmission The CX-1 satellite is around 90 kg and the Ling Qiao is 135 kg The CZ-2D second stage lowered its orbit to 254 x 835 km after deploying the satellites

LVDB

The launch vehicle database at http://planet4589 org/space/lvdb/index html has been updated

Table of Recent (orbital) Launches

Date UT Name Launch Vehicle Site Mission INTL

Jul 2 0956 OCO-2 Delta 7320 Vandenberg SLC2W Science 35A Jul 3 1243 Gonets-M No 18 ) Rokot Plesetsk LC133/4 Comms 36A
Gonets-M No 19 ) Comms 36B Gonets-M No 20 ) Comms 36C Jul 8 1558 Meteor-M No 2 ) Soyuz-2-1B/Fregat Baykonur LC31 Weather 37A Relek ) Space sci 37B TDS-1 ) Tech 37H SkySat-2 ) Imaging 37D DX-1 ) Tech 37C AISSAT-2 ) Comms AIS 37G UKube-1 ) Tech 37F Jul 10 1855 O3b No 3 ) Soyuz ST-B/Fregat CSG ELS Comms 38D O3b No 6 ) Comms 38C O3b No 7 ) Comms 38B O3b No 8 ) Comms 38A Jul 13 1652 SS Janice Voss Antares 120 Wallops MARS LA0 Cargo 39A Jul 14 1515 Orbcomm OG2-3 ) Falcon 9 v1 1 Canaveral SLC40 Comms 40F Orbcomm OG2-4 ) Comms 40E Orbcomm OG2-6 ) Comms 40C Orbcomm OG2-7 ) Comms 40B Orbcomm OG2-9 ) Comms 40A Orbcomm OG2-11 ) Comms 40D Jul 18 2050 Foton-M No 4 Soyuz-2-1A Baykonur LC31 Micrograv 41A Jul 23 2144 Progress M-24M Soyuz-U Baykonur LC1 Cargo 42A Jul 28 2328 GSSAP-1 ) Delta 4M+(4,2) Canaveral SLC37B Tracking 43A GSSAP-2 ) Tracking 43B ANGELS ) Tracking 43C Jul 29 2347 Georges Lemaitre Ariane 5ES Kourou ELA3 Cargo 44A Aug 2 0323 GPS 68 Atlas V 401 Canaveral SLC41 Navigation 45A Aug 5 0800 Asiasat 8 Falcon 9 v1 1 Canaveral SLC40 Comms 46A Aug 9 0545 Yaogan 20 Sat 1 ) Chang Zheng 4C Jiuquan Sigint 47A Yaogan 20 Sat 2 ) Sigint 47B Yaogan 20 Sat 3 ) Sigint 47C Aug 13 1830 WorldView-3 ) Atlas V 401 Vandenberg SLC3E Imaging 48A Centaur AV-047 ) Rocket stage 48B Aug 18 1423 Chasqui-1 ISS, LEO Tech 98-67ET Aug 19 0315 GaoFen 2 ) Chang Zheng 4B Taiyuan Imaging 49A Heweliusz ) Astronomy 49B Aug 19 1825 Flock 1b-24 ) ISS, LEO Imaging 98-67EU Flock 1b-23 ) Imaging 98-67EV Aug 20 0226 Flock 1b-26 ) ISS, LEO Imaging 98-67EW Flock 1b-25 ) Imaging 98-67EX Aug 20 0950 Flock 1b-15 ) ISS, LEO Imaging 98-67EY Flock 1b-16 ) Imaging 98-67EZ Aug 21 1337 Flock 1b-1 ) ISS, LEO Imaging 98-67FA Flock 1b-2 ) Imaging 98-67FB Aug 22 1227 Galileo FOC FM01 ) Soyuz ST-B CSG ELS Navigation 50A Galileo FOC FM02 ) Navigation 50B Aug 23 1944 Flock 1b-7 ) ISS, LEO Imaging 98-67FC Flock 1b-8 ) Imaging 98-67FD Sep 4 0015 Chuangxin 1-04 ) Jiuquan Comms 51A? Ling Qiao ) Comms 51B? Sep 5 0929 Flock 1b-17 ) ISS, LEO Imaging 98-67FF Flock 1b-18 ) Imaging 98-67FE

Suborbital missions

Japan's JAXA agency launched an S-520 rocket on Aug 17 to study the sporadic E layer in the ionosphere Jeffrey Lewis draws my attention to a launch from Taiyuan, China on Aug 7 claimed to be of a hypersonic glide reentry vehicle Based on images from the impact site of one of the stages, the launch appears to have used a large liquid fuelled booster, possibly a modified CZ-2C The launch may have been endoatmospheric (by the definition I use, apogee less than 80 km), so it is not included in my table for now

Another military hypersonic glide test failed on Aug 25, this time a US Army mission on a converted Polaris missile launched from Kodiak, Alaska The missile went off course and was destroyed shortly after launch

On Sep 1 Brazil tested its first liquid propulsion system, the 5 kN LOX/ethanol EPL L5, as a second stage on a VS-30 sounding rocket

Table of Recent (suborbital) Launches

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

Jul 9 1200 Dummy satellite Angara-1 2PP Plesetsk LC35/1 Test 188 Jul 12 1620 Hwasong 6 RV? Hwasong 6? Chiha? Test 100? Jul 12 1620 Hwasong 6 RV? Hwasong 6? Chiha? Test 100? Jul 22 1910 NASA 36 289US Black Brant IX White Sands Solar EUV 320 Jul 23 Target Unknown Jiuquan? Test? 100? Jul 23 Interceptor Unknown Korla? Test? 100? Aug 4 1400 S-310-43 S-310 Uchinoura Technology 117 Aug 17 1010 S-520-29 S-520 Uchinoura Ionosphere 243 Aug 23 1313 Shark? Terrier Lynx Wallops Target 150? Aug 25 0825? AHW FT2 STARS IV Kodiak Hypersonic 1? Aug 28 0900 NASA 36 308GT Black Brant IX Wallops I Test/Aeron 350? Sep 1 EPL-ME VS-30/EPL Alcantara Test 130?

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