Jonathan's Space Report

No 812 2022 Nov 18 Somerville, MA

Artemis I

The first launch of the SLS (Space Launch System) carried the Artemis I mission into space on Nov 16

The RSRMV solid rocket boosters were jettisoned 48 km in altitude and fell in the Atlantic, followed soon after by the SAJ side panels on the Orion service module and the launch adapter system The SLS core stage, with four RS-25 engines that had previously flown on Shuttle, reached a 30 x 1800 km x 30 5 deg orbit at 0655 UTC The core stage (CS-1), together with its attached conical LVSA (Launch Vehicle Stage Adapter), then separated from the ICPS-1 (Interim Cryogenic Propulsion Stage) and attached Orion spaceship Orion/ICPS-1 reached apogee around 0740 UTC and made a 22-second perigee riase burn, putting it in a 180 x 1800 km orbit to avoid reentry At around 0815 the IPCS-1 reignited for the translunar injection burn The CS-1 reentered over the eastern Pacific at around 0833 UTC, possibly near 129W 15N Far above it the ICPS completed its TLI burn, reaching a 516 x 377200 km x 30 52 deg translunar coast orbit

At 0845 UTC, ten minutes after the TLI cutoff, Artemis I Orion - composed of the Orion CM002 command module and the ESM-001 European Service Module - separated from the ICPS-1 and its attached OSA (Orion Stage Adapter) and SAC (Spacecraft Adapter Cone) The ESM made a small thruster burn to increase separation from the ICPS; at 1009 UTC ICPS made a disposal burn to divert it from the Moon; after a lunar flyby, ICPS will enter solar orbit Over the next few hours ten cubesats were ejected from the OSA

Artemis I will enter the lunar gravitational sphere of influence a 1910 UTC Nov 21

International Space Station

In late October Expedition 68 continued with commander Sergey Prokop'ev, and flight engineers Dmitriy Petelin, Frank Rubio, Nicole Mann, Josh Cassada, Koichi Wakata, and Anna Kikina

On Nov 7 the Cygnus NG-18 cargo ship S S Sally Ride was launched from the Mid-Atlantic Regional Spaceport on Wallops Island NG-18 was captured by Canadarm-2 at 1020 UTC NOv 9 and berthed at Unity nadir at 1303 UTC

On Nov 15 astronauts Cassada and Rubio carried out spacewalk ISS US EVA 81 in spacesuits EMU 3013 and 3004, to install the 1B ROSA Mod Kit on the 1B solar array mast on the S6 truss The Quest airlock was depressurized at 1406 UTC, hatch open at 1410, suits on battery power at 1414, EV1 and EV2 egress at 1429 and 1438 UTC, carrying the 1B strut bag The spacewalkers translated along the truss, and installed the upper triangle of the mod kit by 1800 UTC The 1B ROSA solar array will be attached here in a later spacewalk The astronauts re-entered the airlock at 2050 and 2107 UTC, and the hatch was closed at 2120 UTC Repressurization started at 2125 UTC

On Nov 18 astronauts Prokop'ev and Petelin carried out spacewalk ISS VKD-55 from the Poisk module using spacesuits Orlan MKS-5 and MKS-4 They drained N2 from the Rassvet radiator and installed the SSKO payload attachment system on the Nauka module The Poisk airlock was depressurized from 1411 to 2217 UTC and the hatch was open from 1441 to 2107 UTC

Chinese Space Station

China launched the 4th Chang Zheng 5B on Oct 31, carrying the Mengtian lab module into orbit Mengtian docked with the Tianhe forward port at 2027 UTC Oct 31 It was relocated to a side docking port on Nov 3

The MT (Mengtian) module is the second side module of the Chinese space station The 23 tonne module has a pressurized section and an unpressurized payloads section, a cargo airlock and a robot arm To some extent MT acts as the Chinese equivalent of the Kibo module, with the ability to deploy small satellites from the airlock and handle external payloads

The core stage from the CZ-5B reentered over the Pacific on Nov 4, on a track towards Oaxaca, Mexico

The Tianzhou-4 cargo ship undocked from the Tianhe aft port at 0655 UTC Nov 9 On Nov 13 at 2202 UTC it deployed the Zhixing-3A cubesat for Beijing company Zhixing Kongjian Tianzhou-4 was deorbited around 2321 UC Nov 14

On Nov 12 the Tianzhou-5 cargo ship was launched from Wenchang It docked with Tianhe's aft port at 0410 UTC, 2h 7min after launch

On Nov 17 astronauts Chen and Cai made a spacewalk from the Wentian module and installed two inter-module connectors The hatch was open from 0316 UTC to about 0850 UTC

USSF-44

SpaceX launched a Falcon Heavy from Kennedy Space Center on the US Space Force USSF-44 mission It placed the LDPE-2 ESPA-ring satellite in drift orbit above GEO, together with a secret satellite called USA 339 Orbit is probably around 36100 km circular

CALT launches

CALT launched a CZ-3B from Xichang on Nov 5 to put the ZX-19 communications satellite in geotransfer orbit

SAST launches

SAST launched a CZ-2D from Jiuquan on Oct 29 with the Shiyan 20C satellite, built by CAS Microsat The satellite was placed in a 60 degree inclination orbit

SAST launched a CZ-6A from Taiyuan on Nov 11 with the Yunhai-3 atmospheric study satellite, also built by SAST

SAST launched a CZ-4C from Jiuquan on Nov 15 with the Yaogan 34-03 satellite

Hot Bird 13G

Eutelsat's Hot Bird 13G, the twin of 13F launched in October, flew on a Falcon 9 on Nov 3

Galaxy 31/32

Intelsat's C-band Galaxy 31 and 32 communications satellites, based on the Maxar 1300 bus, were launched to geotransfer orbit on a Falcon9 on Nov 12

Kosmos-2563

Russia launched the sixth EKS/Kupol infrared missile early warning satellite to Molniya orbit on Nov 2 It was given the cover name Kosmos-2563

MATS

Electron mission 32 launched Sweden's MATS atmospheric research satellite to a 0550 LTDN sunsynch orbit on Nov 4

JPSS-2/LOFTID

On Nov 10 United Launch Alliance launched Atlas flight AV-098 from Space Launch Complex 3-East at Vandenberg Space Force Base Main payload was the JPSS-2 weather satellite, which will be renamed NOAA-21 once in operation A single Centaur burn shutting down at 1006 UTC placed JPSS-2 in a 801 x 819 km sun-synch orbit AV-098 then restarted with burns at 1034 and 1053 UTC to lower the orbit to 532 x 879 km and then -11 x 657 km NASA-Langley's LOFTID experiment then inflated its 6 metre diameter heat shield and separated from the Centaur with atmosphere entry at 1136 UTC The Centaur was destroyed on reentry while the LOFTID experiment splashed down in the Pacific at 1202 UTC near 149 0W 19 5N

Gushenxing-1

The 4th Gushenxing-1 (Ceres-1) was launched from Jiuquan on Nov 16, placing five commercial Jilin-1 imaging satellites in orbit

Skif-D

The Skif-D satellite and associated Fregat stage, reported by Russian to have been sent to an 8000 km polar orbit on Oct 22, have still not been cataloged by Space Force

North Korean ICBM

North Korea test-launched an ICBM on Nov 18 It flew a highly lofted trajectory with an apogee of 6000 km Since the energy of this trajectory is comparable to an orbital satellite, I have assigned it a designation in my 'U' series which lists flights that are either marginally orbital or of comparable energy See https://planet4589 org/space/gcat/web/intro/u html for details

The missile's reentry vehicle landed in the Sea of Japan between Primorskiy Krai, Russia and Hokkaido, Japan

Chinese Spaceplane

An object, cataloged as 54218/2022-93J, seems to have separated from the Chinese spaceplane 53357/2022-93A on Oct 31 The spaceplane appears to be stationkeeping with the object (subsatellite?), remaining within 10 km of it as of Nov 5

Table of Recent Orbital Launches

Date UT Name Launch Vehicle Site Mission INTL Catalog Perigee Apogee Incl Notes Oct 15 0522 Hot Bird 13F Falcon 9 Canaveral LC40 Comms 134A 376 x 55950 x 27 1 Oct 15 1955 Kosmos-2560 Angara-1 2 Plesetsk LC35/1 Imaging? 135A 329 x 344 x 96 5 Oct 20 1450 Starlink Group 4-36 Falcon 9 Canaveral LC40 Comms 136A 232 x 333 x 53 2 Oct 21 1920 Kosmos-2561 Soyuz-2-1V/Volga Plesetsk LC43/4 Tech? 137A 407 x 419 x 97 1 Kosmos-2562 Tech? 137B 407 x 419 x 97 1 Oct 22 1837 OneWeb L14 LVM3 Satish Dhawah SLP Comms 138 588 x 606 x 87 4 Oct 22 1957 Gonets-M No 33 Soyuz-2-1B/Fregat Vostochniy Comms 139A 1480 x 1501 x 82 5 Gonets-M No 34 Comms 139B 1480 x 1501 x 82 5 Gonets-M No 35 Comms 139C 1480 x 1501 x 82 5 Skif-D Comms 139D 8000 x 8000 x90? Oct 26 0020 Progress MS-21 Soyuz-2-1A Baykonur LC31 Cargo 140A 257 x 282 x 51 6 Oct 27? FossaSat 2E-9? Vigoride-3, LEO Imaging 57BB 511 x 531 x 97 5 Oct 28 0114 Starlink Group 4-31 Falcon 9 Vandenberg SLC4E Comms 141 230 x 336 x 53 2 Oct 29 0101 Shiyan 20C Chang Zheng 2D Jiuquan Unknown 142A 750 x 796 x 60 0 Oct 31 0737 Mengtian Chang Zheng 5B Wenchang LC101 Module 143A 178 x 329 x 41 5 Oct 31 1200? CSSHQ subsatellite? CSSHQ 2, LEO Tech 93J 597 x 608 x 50 0 Nov 1 1341 LDPE 2 Falcon Heavy Kennedy LC39A Tech 144A 36000 x 36000 x 2? USA 339 Unknown 144B 36000 x 36000 x 2? Nov 2 0647 Kosmos-2563 Soyuz-2-1B/Fregat Plesetsk EarlyWarn 145A 1622 x 38538 x 63 8 Nov 3 0522 Hot Bird 13G Falcon 9 Canaveral LC40 Comms 146A 410 x 57503 x 27 7 Nov 4 1727 MATS Electron Mahia 1B Sci 147A 581 x 597 x 97 7 Nov 5 1150 Zhongxing-19 Chang Zheng 3B Xichang LC2 Comms 148A 220 x 35787 x 28 4 Nov 7 1032 S S Sally Ride Antares 230+ Wallops LA0A Cargo 149A 227 x 332 x 51 7 Nov 10 0949 JPSS-2 (NOAA-21) Atlas V 401 Vandenberg SLC3E Weather 150A 801 x 819 x 98 7 LOFTID Tech 150 17 x 658 x 97 6 Nov 11 2252 Yunhai-3 Chang Zheng 6A Taiyuan Weather? 151A 840 x 856 x 98 8 Nov 12 0203 Tianzhou-5 Chang Zheng 7 Wenchang LC201 Cargo 152A 200 x 421 x 41 8 Nov 12 1606 Galaxy 31 Falcon 9 Canaveral LC40 Comms 153A 283 x 58433 x 24 2 Galaxy 32 Comms 153B 306 x 58459 x 22 3 Nov 13 2202 Zhixing-3A Tianzhou-4, LEO Tech? 50E 375 x 396 x 41 48 Nov 15 0138 Yaogan 34-03 Chang Zheng 4C Jiuquan Imaging? 154A 1092 x 1097 x 63 4 Nov 16 0620 Jilin-1 GF03D-08 Gushenxing-1 Jiuquan Imaging 155A Jilin-1 GF03D-51 Imaging 155 Jilin-1 GF03D-52 Imaging 155 Jilin-1 GF03D-53 Imaging 155 Jilin-1 GF03D-54 Imaging 155 Nov 16 0647 Artemis I SLS Block 1 Kennedy LC39B Spaceship 156A 517 x 376794 x 30 5 Nov 16 1027? Lunar IceCube OSA/ICPS-1, deep orbit Science 156 532 x 377388 x 30 3 OMOTENASHI Science 156 532 x 377388 x 30 3 EQUULEUS Science 156 532 x 377388 x 30 3 BioSentinel 1 Science 156 532 x 377388 x 30 3 ArgoMoon Science 156 532 x 377388 x 30 3 Nov 16 1157? NEA Scout OSA/ICPS-1, deep orbit Science 156 532 x 377388 x 30 3 Nov 16 1220? Luna HMap OSA/ICPS-1, deep orbit Science 156 532 x 377388 x 30 3 Nov 16 1250? LunIR OSA/ICPS-1, deep orbit Science 156 532 x 377388 x 30 3 Nov 16 1350? Miles OSA/ICPS-1, deep orbit Science 156 532 x 377388 x 30 3 Nov 16 1450? CuSP OSA/ICPS-1, deep orbit Science 156 532 x 377388 x 30 3 Nov 18 0114 Hwasong-17 RV Hwasong-17? Sunan ICBM test U03 -6260 x 6000 x 41?

Table of Recent Suborbital Launches

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

Oct 18 0400? RV Tayfun Rize-Artvin Test 100? Black Sea Oct 19? Test Kingfisher South Uist? Test 185 Atlantic Oct 19? Test Kingfisher South Uist? Test 185 Atlantic Oct 21 0415 Agni RV Agni P Kalam I Test 500? Bay of Bengal Oct 21 0725 MAPHEUS 12 IM/IM Kiruna Micrograv 260 ESRANGE Oct 23 1720 PSM-MQ VSB-30 Alcantara Micrograv 227 Atlantic Oct 26 RV Sineva K-114, Barents Sea Test 1000? Kura Oct 26 RV Yars Plesetsk Test 1000? Kura Oct 26 1830 Hypersonic Test Terrier Imp Mal? Wallops I Reentry test 200? Atlantic Oct 27 Hypersonic Test Terrier Imp Mal? Wallops I Reentry test 200? Atlantic Nov 2 AAD AD-1 AAD AD-1 Kalam I Test 150? Bay of Bengal Nov 2 2340 RV Hwasong-12? Sunan Test 1920 Sea of Japan Nov 3 RV x 4? Bulava G Suvorov, White Sea Test 1000? Kura Nov 3 1235 RV Hwasong-6? Koksan Test 150 Sea of Japan Nov 3 1239 RV Hwasong-6? Koksan Test 150 Sea of Japan Nov 3 1242 RV Hwasong-6? Koksan Test 150 Sea of Japan Nov 5 Dummy payload Qaem-100 Shahroud Test 200? Arabian Sea? Nov 18 0600 Prarambh Vikram-S Satish Dhawan Test 89 Bay of Bengal

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