Jonathan's Space Report No. 769 2019 Sep 22 Somerville, MA --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- International Space Station --------------------------- Expedition 60 continues. Soyuz MS-14, flying without a crew, completed a rendezvous with the ISS at 0513 UTC on Aug 24. However, at 0532 UTC after a flyaround at a distance of 400 metres, it failed to lock on to the Kurs system on the Poisk module. It was later determined that Poisk's system was not working correctly. The crew sent the abort signal at 0536 UTC and the Soyuz was ordered to retreat to a safe distance. On Aug 26 astronauts Skvortsov, Parmitano and Morgan undocked from the Zvezda module in Soyuz MS-13 at 0335 UTC and redocked with the Poisk module at 0359 UTC. This left the Zvezda module, with its working Kurs system, free for a second docking attempt for Soyuz MS-14. On Aug 27 at 0308 UTC Soyuz MS-14 indeed succeeded in docking with the Zvezda aft port, delivering cargo and the Fyodor robot. On Aug 27 the Canadarm-2 unberthed Dragon CRS-18 from the Harmony nadir port and released it into orbit at 1459 UTC. Dragon fired its Draco thrusters for a 12m53s deorbit burn at 1922 UTC and splashed down at about 123.6W 32.5N at 2021 UTC. The Fyodor robot was loaded back into Soyuz MS-14 along with some return cargo and Soyuz MS-14 undocked from Zvezda at 1814 UTC Sep 6, landing in Kazakhstan at 2132 UTC to complete its test flight. Robotic operations were carried on Sep 3 to Sep 5 on two Main Bus Switching Units (MBSUs). MSBU 3 (S/N X700385) was brought inside Kibo from ELC-2 for repairs and then returned outside to ESP-2. MBSU 1 (S/N C250636) was brought inside Kibo from ESP-2 and will be returned to Earth on the next Dragon flight. Cygnus NG-11 ------------ On Aug 29 the Aerocube-10a satellite, released from Cygnus NG-11, itself released its first atmospheric probe, labelled Venturini in the US satellite catalog. On Sep 16 Cygnus NG-11 released the Seeker cubesat, which was designed to perform proximity operations with Cygnus. Geo-IK ------- On Aug 30 Russia launched the Geo-IK-2 No. 13L (Nusson-2 No. 13L, codename Kosmos-2540) geodetic satellite. KX-09 ----- KX-09 is a Chinese Academy of Sciences microgravity research satellite, launched on the small Kuaizhou-1A launcher. A 6U cubesat from Tianyi Research, Xiaoxiang-1 07 xing, was also aboard. ZY-1 ---- The 1840 kg Ziyuan-1 02D xing imaging satellite was launched on Sep 12 by CZ-4B. The launch also carried two small satellites: Jingshi 1 is a 16 kg imaging satellite from Beijing Normal University; Jinniuzuo naxing is a 3U cubesat from Shanghai ASES Spaceflight Technology Co Ltd which is testing a drag sail. Zhuhai-1 Group 3 ---------------- The Zhuhai yiaho 03 zu (Zhuhai-1 Group 3) cluster was launched by CZ-11 on Sep 19. The cluster consists of one video satellite and four hyperspectral imaging satellites for the Zhuhai Orbital company. Each satellite has a name to commemorate a sponsor: Sat Name Sponsor OVS-3 Chunlei Jihua Zhixing Zhuhai Orbit Co, China Children and Teens Foundation OHS-3A Xiahaian 1 West Coast New District Govt, Qindao, Shandong Prov. OHS-3B Feitian Maotai Guizhou Maotai Distillery Co. OHS-3C Gaomi-1 Gaomi City Govt, Shandong Prov. OHS-3D GuoyuanV9 Jiangsu Jinshiyuan Wine Co Ltd. Chandrayaan-2 ------------- The Vikram lander separated from the Chandrayaan-2 Orbiter at 0745 UTC Sep 2. It carried out a landing attempt on Sep 6, but lost attitude and contact at an altitude of 2.3 km. It appears that Vikram impacted the surface at about 2023 UTC not far from the planned landing iste at 70.9S 22.7E. Hayabusa-2 ---------- On Sep 16 Hayabusa-2 released two 10-cm-diameter target markers (TM-E at 1617 UTC and TM-C at 1624 UTC) about 1 km above the surface of Ryugu. The spacecraft is observing the target markers as they descend slowly in Ryugu's weak gravitational field. The TMs are expected to impact the surface by Sep 23. Table of Recent Orbital Launches ---------------------------------- Date UT Name Launch Vehicle Site Mission INTL. Catalog Perigee Apogee Incl Notes Aug 5 2156 Kosmos-2539 Proton/Briz-M Baykonur LC81/24 Comms 48A S44457 35673 x 35851 x 0.0 Aug 6 1930 EDRS C ) Ariane 5 ECA Kourou ELA3 Comms 49A S44475? 217 x 35528 x 4.5 Intelsat IS-39 ) Comms 49B S44476? 231 x 35801 x 4.5 Aug 6 2323 AMOS 17 Falcon 9 Canaveral SLC40 Comms 50A S44479 215 x 35733 x 26.0 Aug 6 or 7? RTFSat ) Chaffee, LEO Tech 22G S44417 470 x 485 x 51.6 Quantum Radar 3 ) Tech 22F S44416 470 x 485 x 51.6 NARSScube-2 ) Tech 22H S44418 470 x 485 x 51.6 ORCA ) Tech 22E S44415 470 x 485 x 51.6 Aug 7 1300 Aerocube-10a ) Chaffee, LEO Tech 22D S44485 471 x 485 x 51.7 Aerocube-10b ) Tech 22C S44484 469 x 481 x 51.7 Aug 8 1013 AEHF 5 ) Atlas V 551 Canaveral SLC41 Comms 51A S44481 14366 x 35286 x 10.0 TDO ) Sp.Surv. 51B S44482 207 x 35259 x 26.4 Aug 17 0411 Qiancheng-1 01 ) Jielong-1 Jiuquan Imaging 52A S44486 532 x 559 x 97.6 Xingshidai-5 ) Tech 52 S44487? 529 x 559 x 97.6 Tianqi-2 ) Comms 52 S44488? 529 x 560 x 97.6 Aug 19 1203 Zhongxing-18 Chang Zheng 3B Xichang Comms 53A S44493 228 x 35879 x 28.4 Aug 19 1212 BlackSky Global 4) Electron Mahia Imaging 54 S44496? 531 x 558 x 45.0 Pearl White 1 ) Tech 54 S44497? 531 x 558 x 45.0 Pearl White 2 ) Tech 54 S44498? 531 x 558 x 45.0 BRO-ONE ) Sigint 54 S44499? 531 x 558 x 45.0 Aug 22 0338 Soyuz MS-14 Soyuz-2-1a Baykonur LC31 Spaceship 55A S44504 194 x 226 x 51.6 Aug 22 1306 GPS III SV02 Delta 4M+(4,2) Canaveral SLC37B Navigation 56A S44506 1199 x 20177 x 55.0 Aug 29? AC-10 Probe 1 AC-10a, LEO Atmosphere 22J S44516 471 x 484 x 51.6 Aug 30 1400 Geo-IK-2 No. 13 Rokot Plesetsk LC133 Geodesy 57A S44517 945 x 958 x 99.3 Aug 30 2341 KX-09 ) Kuaizhou-1A Jiuquan Micrograv 58B S44520 592 x 609 x 97.8 XX-1 07 ) Imaging 58A S44519 592 x 607 x 97.8 Sep 12 0326 Zi Yuan 1 02D ) Chang Zheng 4B Taiyuan Imaging 59A S44528? 748 x 758 x 98.6 Jingshi 1 ) Imaging 59B S44529? 732 x 750 x 98.6 Jinniuzuo naxing) Tech 59C S44530? 731 x 750 x 98.6 Sep 16 Seeker Chaffee, LEO Tech 22K S44533 466 x 484 x 51.6 Sep 19 0642 OVS-3 ) Chang Zheng 11 Jiuquan Imaging 60A S44534? 494 x 512 x 97.4 OHS-3A ) Imaging 60C S44536? 494 x 511 x 97.4 OHS-3B ) Imaging 60D S44537? 494 x 511 x 97.4 OHS-3C ) Imaging 60E S44538? 494 x 511 x 97.4 OHS-3D ) Imaging 60F S44539? 494 x 511 x 97.4 Table of Recent Suborbital Launches ----------------------------------- Date UT Payload/Flt Name Launch Vehicle Site Mission Apogee/km Target Aug 1? Warhead Burkan-3 Yemen Weapon 300? Dammam, S. Arabia Aug 7 1500? RV DF-31/41? Taiyuan Test 3000? Xinjiang Aug 11 0607 SISTINE Black Brant IX White Sands UV Astronomy 259 White Sands Aug 12 0944 RockSat-X 9 Terrier Imp.Mal. Wallops Island Education 154 Atlantic Aug 23 2145 RV DPRK-MLRS Sondok, N Korea Test 97 Sea of Japan Aug 23 2202 RV DPRK-MLRS Sondok, N Korea Test 97 Sea of Japan Aug 24 RV x 4? Sineva K-114, N Pole region Test 1000? Chizha Aug 24 RV x 6? Bulava K-535, Barents Sea Test 1000? Kura Aug 30 MBRV eMBRM? C-17, off Kauai? Target 300? Pacific Aug 30 THAAD FTT-23 THAAD Kwajalein Intercept 100? MBRV intercept Sep 4 USN Mk 4 RV x 4? Trident D-5 SSBN 739, WTR Test 1000? Pacific/Guam Sep 4 USN Mk 4 RV x 4? Trident D-5 SSBN 739, WTR Test 1000? Pacific/Guam Sep 6 USN Mk 4 RV x 4? Trident D-5 SSBN 739, WTR Test 1000? Pacific/Guam Sep 6 USN Mk 4 RV x 4? Trident D-5 SSBN 739, WTR Test 1000? Pacific/Guam .-------------------------------------------------------------------------. | Jonathan McDowell | | | Somerville MA 02143 | inter : planet4589 at gmail | | USA | twitter: @planet4589 | | | | JSR: http://www.planet4589.org/jsr.html | | Back issues: http://www.planet4589.org/space/jsr/back | | Subscribe/unsub: http://www.planet4589.org/mailman/listinfo/jsr | '-------------------------------------------------------------------------'