From: mailto: Jonathan's Space Report

No 823 2023 Aug 24 Somerville, MA

International Space Station

Expedition 69 continues

The Cygnus NG-19 cargo ship, S S Laurel Clark, was launched from Wallops Island on Aug 2 The ISS SSRMS grappled it at 0852 UTC Aug 4 and berthed it at the Unity nadir location at 1228 UTC

On Aug 9 astronauts Prokop'ev and Petelin made spacewalk VKD-60 They attached debris shields to the Rassvet module and relocated the PRM portable workstation from Rassvet to Nauka They jettisoned an equipment bundle (RSPI-M launch shrouds from VKD-59, and launch restraint booms from the PRM) at 2043:50 UTC, and jettisoned a bundle of decontamination towels at 2055:53 UTC The Poisk airlock was depressurized from 1426 to 2123 UTC, with the hatch open from 1444 to 2119 UTC

The Progress MS-22 cargo ship undocked from the ISS Zvezda module at 2350:30 UTC Aug 20 It had been docked with ISS since Feb 11 and made 8 ISS orbit adjust burns The ship made a deorbit burn at 0258 UTC and reentered over the S Pacifc around 0335 UTC

On Aug 23 at 0108 UTC Progress MS-24 was launched from Baykonur

PSLV-C56

India's ISRO launched the PSLV-C56 mission from Sriharikota on Jul 30 with a set of satellites for Singapore The main payload was the DS-SAR radar satellite for the Singapore government agency DSTA, carrying an Israeli-built radar system Small payloads include VELOX-AM, ARCADE and SCOOB-II for Nanyang Technological University, Galassia-2 for the National Univ of Singapore, the NuLion IoT relay satellite for NuSpace of Singapore, and ORB-12 STRIDER The latter satellite is a 12U cubesat for a consortium led by Aliena of Singapore and built by the UK firm Orbital Astronautics

CALT launches

On Aug 9 CALT launched a CZ-2C from Taiyuan carrying the Huanjing Jianzai 2-06 satellite, with an S-band SAR radar for disaster assessment and environmental monitoring The satellite is in sun-sync orbit with 1000 LTDN orbital plane

On Aug 12 CALT launched a CZ-3B from Xichang carrying Ludi Tance 4A to geotransfer orbit The satellite has an L-band radar and is planned to be the first radar imaging satellite at synchronous altitude On Aug 13 the satellite was in a 1417 x 35817 km x 23 8 deg orbit, and by Aug 23 it was in a synchronous 35772 x 35803 km x 16 1 deg orbit over 89 deg East

SAST launches

Fengyun 3F (FY3-06), a polar orbit weather sat, was launched from Jiuquan on Aug 3 to 1000 LTDN sun-sync orbit

Gao Fen 12-04, a radar imaging remote-sensing satellite, was launched from Jiuquan to 0900 LTDN sun-sync orbit on Aug 20

CASIC/EXPACE launches

Five Jiaotong satellites for HEAD Aerospace were launched on Aug 14 on a KZ-1A from Xichang They carry IoT/VDES communications payloads

Gushenxing-1

The Xinghe Dongli (Galactic Energy) launch company flew its 7th Gushenxing-1 rocket from Jiuquan at 0403 UTC Aug 10, placing seven imaging payloads in orbit Xiguang-1 01 is an imaging sat for Zhongke Xiguang (aka Xiopm Space) of Xi'an; Xingchi-1B is an imaging sat for Tuoyuan Shikong (Elliptic SpaceTime) of Beijing; Xi'an Hangtou 88, 96, 104 and 112 are imaging sats for Xi'an Hangtou (Xi'an Aerospace Investment Co ) The remaining sat is known as Diwei Zhineng Yingji 1 or Henan Ligong 1 It is a joint venture of Deweier Kongjian Jishu (Star Vision) of Hangzhou, Henan Polytechnic of Jiaozuo, and Tianxun Kongjian Jishu (Skyscanner Space Tech) of Suzhou The 7 sats were placed in a 525 x 540 km x 97 5 deg orbit with 10:22 local time orbital plane The GSX-1 fourth stage has not been cataloged and may have been deorbited; only 2 of 6 GSX-1 4th stages from previous launches have been left in orbit

Galaxy 37

The Galaxy 37/Horizons-4 satellite is owned by the Horizons joint venture between Intelsat and Japan's JSAT The Maxar-built satellite carries Intelsat's Galaxy 37 C-band payload and the Horizons-4 Ku-band payload It was launched by Falcon 9 on Aug 3 By Aug 18 the satellite was in a 35778 x 35861 km x 0 1 deg orbit drifting west over the Pacific

Starlink launches

Starlink Group 6-8 (22 sats) was launched from Canaveral on Aug 7 Starlink Group 6-20 (15 sats) was launched from Vandenberg on Aug 8 Starlink Group 6-9 (22 sats) was launched from Canaveral on Aug 11 Starlink Group 6-10 (22 sats) was launched from Canaveral on Aug 17 Starlink Group 7-1 (21 sats) was launched from Vandenberg on Aug 22

Glonass

The Glonass-K2 No 13L navigation sat was launched from Plesetsk on Aug 7; it was given the code name Kosmos-2569

Luna-25

Russia's Luna-25 moon lander was launched from Vostochniy on Aug 10 The probe and the Fregat stage have been cataloged as 57600 and 57601 (2023-118A and 118B), with the bonus that we have a TLE for 118B in a 267 x 280 km x 51 7 deg parking orbit The Blok-I stage was marginally suborbital and probably reentered over the S Atlantic

The Luna-25 probe carried a laser mass spectrometer, an IR spectrometer, a sample arm, an active neutron spectrometer, an ion spectrometer, a dust monitor device, 4 wide angle and 2 narrow angle cameras, and 2 descent imagers Following the withdrawal of international collaborators, all the experiments were from IKI (the Space Research Institute in Moscow) Luna-25 entered a low lunar polar orbit at 0903 UTC Aug 16 It was expected to land near 43 5E 69 5S, but on Aug 19 at 1110 UTC an orbit lowering burn erroneously lowered the orbital perilune below the surface and at about 1157 UTC Luna-25 was destroyed when it crashed into the Moon near the crater Pontecoulant G at 60 1E 57 2S

Chandrayaan-3

India's Chandrayaan-3 entered a 164 x 18074 km x 88 5 deg lunar orbit on Aug 5 On Aug 6 the orbit was adjusted to 170 x 4313 km x 90 0 deg By Aug 17 the orbit was lowered to 153 x 163 km x 89 6 deg and the propulsion module separated from the lander at 0745 UTC

On Aug 23 the lander began powered descent at 1213:50 UTC and landed successfully on the lunar surface at about 1232:50 UTC near 32 3E 69 4S Deployment of the Pragyan rover was underway by 1630 UTC

Manligyeong-1 F2

North Korea launched the second Cheonlima-1 on Aug 23, in an attempt to place a spy satellite in orbit North Korea states that the launch failed during third stage flight, so it probably reached an apogee of around 500 km The NK news report implies the destruct system activated accidentally

Capella

Capella launched the first of its new generation Acadia radar satellites on Aug 23 aboard an Electron from New Zealand

Aeolus

ESA's Aeolus satellite was deorbited over Antarctica at about 1840 UTC Jul 28 after 4 9 years in space

Table of Recent Orbital Launches

Date UT Name Launch Vehicle Site Mission INTL Catalog Perigee Apogee Incl Notes Jul 1 1212? Euclid Falcon 9 Canaveral LC40 Astron 92A 200? x 1500000? x 36? Jul 5 2200 Heinrich-Hertz-Satellit Ariane 5ECA Kourou ELA3 Comms 93 261 x 35672 x 3 0 Syracuse 4B Comms 93 Jul 6 0955 SC-ODIN ISS, LEO Sci 98067 Jul 6 1005 Moonlighter ISS, LEO Tech 98067 Jul 6 1130 RADSAT-SK ISS, LEO Sci 98067 Ukpik-1 Tech 98067 Jul 6 1140 Iris ISS, LEO Tech 98067 ESSENCE Tech 98067 Jul 7 1929 Starlink Group 5-13 Falcon 9 Vandenberg SLC4E Comms 94 Jul 9 1100 WHJSW Chang Zheng 2C/YZ-1S Jiuquan Comms 95A 1095 x 1116 x 86 5 Jul 10 0358 Starlink Group 6-5 Falcon 9 Canaveral LC40 Comms 96 297 x 338 x 43 0 Jul 12 0059 Hwasong-18 RV Hwasong-18 Chongdong Test U03 -6258? x 6648 x 42 Jul 12 0100 Dummy payload Zhuque-2 Jiuquan Tech 97A 431 X 461 X 97 3 Jul 14 0905 Chandrayaan-3 LVM3 Satish Dhawan Lunar 98A 139 x 36307 x 21 3 Jul 16 0350 Starlink Group 5-15 Falcon 9 Canaveral LC40 Comms 99A 297 x 337 x 43 0 Jul 18 0127 LEO-3 Electron Mahia LC1B Comms 100G 995 x 1019 x 99 4 Starling-1 Tech 100A? 566 x 585 x 99 5 Starling-2 Tech 100B? 566 x 585 x 99 5 Starling-3 Tech 100C? 566 x 585 x 99 5 Starling-4 Tech 100D? 566 x 585 x 99 5 Lemur AIS/GRO 100E? 566 x 585 x 99 5 Lemur AIS/GRO 100F? 566 x 585 x 99 5 Jul 19 0700 Maya-5 ISS, LEO Comms 98067VW 412 x 416 x 51 6 Maya-6 Comms 98067VX 412 x 416 x 51 6 Jul 20 0320 Tianmu 1-07 Kuaizhou-1A Jiuquan Met 101A 516 x 529 x 97 4 Tianmu 1-08 Met 101B Tianmu 1-09 Met 101C Tianmu 1-10 Met 101D Jul 20 0409 Starlink Group 6-15 Falcon 9 Vandenberg SLC4E Comms 102A 284 x 312 x 43 0 Jul 22 0507 Qiankun-1 Gushenxing-1 Jiuquan Imaging 103A 485 x 502 x 96 6 Xingshidai-16 Imaging 103B 485 x 502 x 96 6 Jul 23 0250 Sixiang-1 Chang Zheng 2D Taiyuan Radar 104 488 x 504 x 97 4 Sixiang-2 Imaging 104 Sixiang-3 Imaging 104 Lingxi-03 Comms 104 Jul 24 0050 Starlink Group 6-6 Falcon 9 Canaveral LC40 Comms 105 293 x 302 x 43 0 Jul 26 2002 Yaogan 36-05-01 Chang Zheng 2D Xichang Sigint 106A 488 x 501 x 35 0 Yaogan 36-05-02 Sigint 106B 488 x 501 x 35 0 Yaogan 36-05-03 Sigint 106C 488 x 501 x 35 0 Jul 28 0401 Starlink Group 6-7 Falcon 9 Canaveral LC40 Comms 107 304 x 321 x 43 0 Jul 29 0304 Jupiter 3 Falcon Heavy Kennedy LC39A Comms 108A 8001 x 35504 x 10 4 Jul 30 0101 DS-SAR PSLV-CA Satish Dhawan FLP Radar 109 520 x 538 x 5 0 NuLion Comms 109 Galassia 2 Tech 109 ORB-12 Tech 109 SCOOB-II Tech 109 ARCADE Tech 109 VELOX-AM Tech 109 Aug 2 0031 S S Laurel Clark Antares 230+ MARS LA0A Cargo 110A 177 x 304 x 51 6 Aug 3 0347 Fengyun 3-06 Chang Zheng 4C Jiuquan Weather 111A 801 x 809 x 98 8 Aug 3 0500 Galaxy 37 Falcon 9 Canaveral LC40 Comms 112A 143 x 56147 x 24 6 Aug 7 0241 Starlink Group 6-8 Falcon 9 Canaveral LC40 Comms 113 283 x 292 x 43 0 Aug 7 1319 Glonass-K2 No 13L Soyuz-2-1B/Fregat Plesetsk Nav 114A 19133 x 19156 x 64 8 Aug 8 0357 Starlink Group 6-20 Falcon 9 Vandenberg SLC4E Comms 115 281 x 292 x 43 0 Aug 8 2253 Huanjing Jianzai 2-06 Chang Zheng 2C Taiyuan Imaging 116A 487 x 502 x 97 4 Aug 10 0403 Xiguang 1-01 Gushenxing-1 Jiuquan LC43/95A Imaging 117 Xingchi-1B Imaging 117 Henan Ligong 1 Imaging 117 Xi'an Hangtou 88 Imaging 117 Xi'an Hangtou 96 Imaging 117 Xi'an Hangtou 104 Imaging 117 Xi'an Hangtou 112 Imaging 117 Aug 10 2310 Luna-25 Soyuz-2-1B/Fregat Vostochniy PU1S Lunar 118A 340?x400000?x49? Aug 11 0517 Starlink Group 6-9 Falcon 9 Canaveral LC40 Comms 119 283 x 292 x 43 0 Aug 12 1726 Ludi Tance 4A Chang Zheng 3B Xichang Radar 120A 184 x 35818 x 28 6 Aug 14 0532 Jiaotong 6 Kuaizhou-1A Xichang Comms 121A 693 x 704 x 45 0 Jiaotong 7 Comms 121B Jiaotong 8 Comms 121C Jiaotong 9 Comms 121D Jiaotong 10 Comms 121E Aug 14 1500? Kelpie-2? ION 11, SSO Comms 84BY 599 x 698 x 98 0 Aug 17 0336 Starlink Group 6-10 Falcon 9 Canaveral LC40 Comms 122 283 x 292 x 43 0 Aug 20 1745 Gao Fen 12-04 Chang Zheng 4C Jiuquan Radar 123A 596 x 601 x 97 9 Aug 22 0937 Starlink Group 7-1 Falcon 9 Vandenberg SLC4E Comms 124 283 x 294 x 53 1 Aug 23 0108 Progress MS-24 Soyuz-2-1a Baykonur LC31 Cargo 125A 188 x 224 x 51 7 Aug 23 1850? Manligyeong-1 F2 Cheonlima-1 Sohae Imaging F07 -5000? x 500 x 97? Aug 23 2345 Capella 11 Electron Mahia LC1B Radar 126A

Table of Recent Suborbital Launches

Virgin Galactic's first flight with a paying tourist flew successfully on Aug 10 VSS Unity flew the Galactic 02 mission to an apogee of 88 5 km with Virgin Galactic's C J Sturckow, Kelly Latimer, and Beth Moses, and passengers Jon Goodwin, Keisha Schahaff and Anastatia Mayers First time space flyers Latimer, Goodwin, Schahaff and Mayers get space traveller numbers 657 to 660 in my list

The White Knight 2 carrier plane took off from Spaceport America, New Mexico at 1429 UTC and released Spaceship Two "Unity" at 1517:10 UTC over the usual Elephant Butte drop point at 107 0W 33 3N After a 60 second burn of the rocket engine, Unity flew to apogee and then glided down to a touchdown at Spaceport America at 1532:48 UTC for a free flight time of 15m 38s

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

Jul 24 1454 KN-? KN-? N Korea Test 100 Sea of Japan Jul 24 1459 KN-? KN-? N Korea Test 100 Sea of Japan Aug 10 1517 Galactic 02 Spaceship Two Sp America EBR3 Tourist 88 Sp America Aug 16 1021 ROCKSAT-X Terrier Imp Mal Wallops I LA2 Education Unk Atlantic Aug 17 1000 RockOn Terrier Imp Orion Wallops I LA2 Education 117 Atlantic

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