From: mailto: Jonathan's Space Report

No 824 2023 Sep 25 Somerville, MA

International Space Station

Expedition 69 continues

On Aug 24 at 1500 UTC, the ISS made a space debris avoidance maneuver using the Zvezda engines

Progress MS-24 docked at the aft Zvezda port at 0345:23 UTC Aug 25

Dragon C210 (Endurance) was launched on its third mission, Crew-7, on Aug 26 Crew are Jasmin Mogbheli (NASA, commander), Andreas Mogensen (ESA, pilot), Satoshi Furukawa (JAXA, MS1), Konstantin Borisov (Roskosmos, MS2) Endurance docked at IDA-3/PMA-3 at 1316 UTC Aug 27

Dragon C206 (Endeavour) undocked from IDA-2/PMA-2 at 1105 UTC Sep 3 with the Crew-6 team of Stephen Bowen, Warren Hoburg, Sultan Al Neyadi and Andrey Fedyaev Endeavour splashed down in the Jacksonville recovery area near 80 3W 30 9N at 0417:23 UTC The Dragon trunk was left in a 401 x 409 km orbit

The Soyuz MS-24 spaceship, factory no 11F732 No 755, callsign Antares, ISS mission 70S, was launched at 1544:35 UTC from Baykonur Area 31 on a Soyuz-2-1a rocket, and separated from the third stage in orbit at 1553:24 UTC Crew are Oleg Kononenko (Roskosmos, KDR), Nikolai Chub (Roskosmos, BI1) and Loral O'Hara (NASA, BI2) Soyuz MS-24 docked with the ISS at 1853:32 UTC on Sep 15

Chinese Space Station

The Tianzhou-5 cargo ship undocked from the Tianhe forward port at 0846 UTC Sep 11 and was deorbited the next day, reentering over the Pacific near 175E 14S at 0113 UTC Sep 12

Gushenxing-1

The 8th flight of Xinghe Dongli Hangtian's Gushenxing-1 rocket continued the vehicle's 100% success rate It placed in orbit Changguang's wide field imaging satellite Jilin-1 Kuanfu 02A The KF02 series is lighter than KF01, with a mass of only 230 kg but a resolution of 0 5m over a swath of 150 km The satellite was co-sponsored by Hong Kong U of Science and Technology and also called Xianggang keda-Xiongbin yi hao (HKUST - Xiongbin-1)

The rocket's 9th flight was the first of the 'Gushenxing-1 Haishexing' variant (Ceres-1 Sea Launcher, or Ceres-1S), launched from the DEFU15002 barge just offshore the city of Haiyang on Sep 5 with four IoT satellites in the Tianqi series for Guodian Gaokeji

The 10th flight, serial Y11, was launched on Sep 21 from Jiuquan but ended in failure The payload was the Jilin-1 GaoFen 04B satellite for Changguang

Starlink

Starlink Group 6-11 (22 sats) was launched from Canaveral on Aug 27 Starlink Group 6-13 (22 sats) was launched from Canaveral on Sep 1 Starlink Group 6-12 (21 sats) was launched from Kennedy Space Center on Sep 4 Starlink Group 6-14 (22 sats) was launched from Canaveral on Sep 9 Starlink Group 7-2 (21 sats) was launched from Vandenberg on Sep 12 Starlink Group 6-16 (22 sats) was launched from Canaveral on Sep 16 Starlink Group 6-17 (22 sats) was launched from Canaveral on Sep 20 Starlink Group 6-18 (22 sats) was launched from Canaveral on Sep 24 Starlink Group 7-3 (21 sats) was launched from Vandenberg on Sep 25

Chandrayaan-3

My own estimate of the Chandrayaan-3 landing site, based on comparing the LROC maps at ASU with the landing site images released by ISRO, is 32 3189E 69 3733S +/- 0 0020 deg This is in close agreement with estimates by Indian social media users and with the slightly less precise value of 32 319E 69 373S reported by ISRO

Note that this is NOT the lunar south pole' Indeed, since the ecliptic axial tilt of the Moon is only 1 5 deg compared to Earth's 23 4 deg, it's not even thelunar antarctic' which would only be, by analogy with terrestrial definition, the region south of 88 5S However, it is by far the most extreme latitude of any lunar soft landing to date

The rover was deployed the day after landing and operated until Sep 2 when it was put in hibernation for the cold lunar night As of Sep 25, it had not reawakened

On Sep 2 at 2121 UTC the Vikram lander fired its engines for a 'hop' experiment, reaching 0 4 metres apolune and 0 4 metres range This recalls a similar experiment done by NASA's Surveyor 6 on 1967 Nov 17

SAST launches

The first triplet of Yaogan 39 satellites was launched on Aug 31 to the same 500 km, 35 deg orbit used by the Yaogan 35 and 36 triplets A second triplet went up on Sep 17

The Yaogan 33-03 radar satellite was launched on Sep 6 to 0030 LTDN SSO

Three Yaogan 40 satellites were launched on Sep 10 aboard a Chang Zheng 6A with a stretched fairing

Aditya-L1

India's Aditya-L1 solar physics spacecraft was launched on Sep 2 to an elliptical Earth orbit It will use its own propulsion to reach the Sun-Earth L1 point towards the end of 2023 On Sep 18 the orbit was boosted to over 1 1 million km apogee to begin the coast to L1

SDA-0B

The US Space Development Agency's Tranche 0 launch 2 mission flew from Vandenberg on Sep 2 Ten Lockheed Martin/Tyvak Wildfire (T0TL) data relay sats and one York Space Systems Checkmate data relay sat were aboard as part of the Transport Layer, and two SpaceX/Leidos BB missile tracking satellites flew as part of the Tracking Layer The Falcon 9 second stage was deorbited south of South Africa around 1658 UTC

XRISM and SLIM

JAXA launched H-IIA flight F47 on Sep 6 The second stage reached a 550 km orbit and deployed the XRISM X-ray astronomy observatory; it then restarted and delivered the SLIM lunar lander to a 500 x 98000 km orbit

XRISM is a replacement for the failed Hitomi, and carries an X-ray microcalorimeter cooled to a temperature of 0 05 K This camera will proved high spectral resolution data on cosmic X-ray sources The observatory is confirmed to have deployed its solar panels and is communicating with the ground

SLIM is a JAXA test of precision-location lunar landing The spacecraft will use its own propulsion to raise its orbit, perform a lunar flyby and then coast to a high apogee before returning to a weak lunar capture, a low lunar orbit and finally a soft-landing attempt

SILENT BARKER

ULA launched Atlas V 551, serial AV-102, from Cape Canaveral pad 41 on Sep 10, carrying a joint NRO/Space Force mission, SILENT BARKER, with three sats to monitor other sats in GEO The three-burn Centaur mission placed the payloads directly in near-GEO

VICTUS NOX

Firefly Aerospace launched its third Alpha rocket on Sep 15, carrying the VICTUS NOX payload for the Space Force The payload was placed in a 476 x 531 km sun-sync orbit with 18:04 local time descending node; the second stage then was deorbited over the northern Pacific

Electron

On Sep 19 Rocket Lab's 41st Electron launch ended in failure It appears stage 2 did not ignite The Capella Space radar sat payload was lost

OSIRIS-REX

The OSIRIS-REX asteroid sampler, returning from Bennu, entered the Earth's gravitational sphere at 2200 UTC Sep 21 on a 22 x -33339 km x 43 3 deg hyperbolic orbit The sample return capsule separated at 1042 UTC Sep 24 and entered the Earth's atmosphere at 1442 UTC at a velocity of 12 71 km/s After deploying a parachute the capsule landed in the Utah Test and Training Range at 113 240W 40 372N MMeanwhile at 1102 UTC the main spacecraft's divert burn changed its hyperbola to 773 x -34105 km x 44 4 deg The spacecraft, renamed OSIRIS-APEX, will return to a 0 50 x 1 03 AU solar orbit en route to asteroid Apophis

Table of Recent Orbital Launches

Date UT Name Launch Vehicle Site Mission INTL Catalog Perigee Apogee Incl Notes 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 638 x 653 x 53 0 Aug 25 0459 Jilin-1 Kuanfu 02A Gushenxing-1 Jiuquan Imaging 127A 529 x 546 x 97 6 Aug 26 0727 Dragon Crew-7 Falcon 9 Kennedy LC39A Spaceship 128A 210 x 248 x 51 6 Aug 27 0105 Starlink Group 6-11 Falcon 9 Canaveral LC40 Comms 129 283 x 291 x 43 0 Aug 31 0736 Yaogan 39 hao 01 zu 01 xing Chang Zheng 2D Xichang Sigint? 130A 490 x 503 x 35 0 Yaogan 39 hao 01 zu 02 xing Sigint? 130 Yaogan 39 hao 01 zu 03 xing Sigint? 130 Sep 1 0221 Starlink Group 6-13 Falcon 9 Canaveral LC40 Comms 131 283 x 292 x 43 0 Sep 2 0620 Aditya-L1 PSLV-XL Satish Dhawan FLP Solar 132 242 x 19450 x 19 2 Sep 2 1425 Wildfire-01 Falcon 9 Vandenberg SLC4E Comms 133 942 x 948 x 8l 0 Wildfire-02 Comms 133 942 x 948 x 8l 0 Wildfire-03 Comms 133 942 x 948 x 8l 0 Wildfire-04 Comms 133 942 x 948 x 8l 0 Wildfire-05 Comms 133 942 x 948 x 8l 0 Wildfire-06 Comms 133 942 x 948 x 8l 0 Wildfire-07 Comms 133 942 x 948 x 8l 0 Wildfire-08 Comms 133 942 x 948 x 8l 0 Wildfire-09 Comms 133 942 x 948 x 8l 0 Wildfire-10 Comms 133 942 x 948 x 8l 0 Checkmate 10 Comms 133 942 x 948 x 8l 0 BB 3 Early Warn 133 942 x 948 x 8l 0 BB 4 Early Warn 133 942 x 948 x 8l 0 Sep 4 0247 Starlink Group 6-12 Falcon 9 Kennedy LC39A Comms 134 283 x 292 x 43 0 Sep 5 0934 Tianqi-21 Gushenxing-1HSX DEFU 15002, Haiyang Comms 135A 786 x 803 x 50 0 Tianqi-22 Comms 135B 786 x 803 x 50 0 Tianqi-23 Comms 135C 786 x 803 x 50 0 Tianqi-24 Comms 135D 786 x 803 x 50 0 Sep 6 1814 Yaogan 33-03 Chang Zheng 4C Jiuquan Radar 136A 680 x 688 x 98 2 Sep 6 2342 XRISM H-IIA Tanegashima Astronomy 137A 567 x 581 x 31 0 SLIM Lunar probe 137D 560 x 97819 x 31 1 Sep 9 0312 Starlink Group 6-14 Falcon 9 Canaveral LC40 Comms 138 283 x 292 x 43 0 Sep 10 0430 Yaogan 40-01 Chang Zheng 6A Taiyuan Sigint? 139A 797 x 812 x 86 0 Yaogan 40-02 Sigint? 139C Yaogan 40-03 Sigint? 139E Sep 10 1247 USA 346 Atlas V 551 Canaveral LC41 Surveill 140A 35800? x 36100? x 0
USA 347 Surveill 140B USA 348 Surveill 140C Sep 12 0657 Starlink Group 7-2 Falcon 9 Vandenberg SLC4E Comms 141 284 x 295 x 53 1 Sep 15 0228 VICTUS NOX Alpha Vandenberg SLC2W Tech 142A 476 x 531 x 97 3 Sep 15 1544 Soyuz MS-24 Soyuz-2-1a Baykonur LC31 Spaceship 143A 197 x 228 x 51 6 Sep 16 0338 Starlink Group 6-16 Falcon 9 Canaveral LC40 Comms 144 283 x 292 x 43 0 Sep 17 0413 Yaogan 39-01 Chang Zheng 2D Xichang LC3 Sigint 145A 487 x 500 x 35 0 Yaogan 39-02 Sigint 145C? Yaogan 39-03 Sigint 145E? Sep 19 0655 Capella 12 Electron Mahia 1B Radar F08 -6120 x 132 x 51 1 Sep 20 0338 Starlink Group 6-17 Falcon 9 Canaveral LC40 Comms 146 283 x 292 x 43 0 Sep 21 0459 Jilin-1 GF04B Gushenxing-1 Jiuquan Imaging F09 -6200 x 100? x 97 Sep 24 0338 Starlink Group 6-18 Falcon 9 Canaveral LC40 Comms 147 283 x 292 x 43 0 Sep 25 0848 Starlink Group 7-2 Falcon 9 Vandenberg SLC4E Comms 148 284 x 295 x 53 1

Table of Recent Suborbital Launches

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

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 Sep 6 0826 GT247 Minuteman 3 Vandenberg LF10 Test 1300? Kwajalein Sep 8 1522 Galactic 03 Spaceship Two Sp America EBR3 Tourist 88 Sp America

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