This is the draft of the NEXT issue of JSR. WARNING: Information on this page is up to date but not well checked, and may include wild rumours and downright nonsense. For the CURRENT issue of JSR, click here
Jonathan's Space Report
No. 759 draft 2018 Dec 9 Somerville, MA
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
JSR 758 is now permalinked at http://planet4589.org/space/jsr/back/news.758.txt
Spaceship Two
--------------
Virgin Galactic completed its first suborbital spaceflight on Dec 13.
The White Knight Two carrier aircraft, VMS Eve, took off from runway
30/12 at Mojave Air and Space Port, California, at 1511 UTC, on its
flight WK2-261. After looping around to the east and north, VMS Eve
headed back south towards Mojave and at 1600 UTC, over approximately
118.36W 35.63N near Lake Isabella, dropped the Spaceship Two vehicle VSS
Unity on its flight SS2-15/VP-03. After a 60 second burn of the hybrid motor,
the spacecraft, carrying astronauts Mark 'Forger' Stucky and Frederick
'C.J.' Sturckow, flew to an apogee of 82.682 km and descended safely to
a landing on the same runway at Mojave at 1614 UTC.
International Space Station
---------------------------
Expedition 57 continues aboard the ISS.
On Dec 11 astronauts Kononenko and Prokop'ev made spacewalk VKD-45a from the
Pirs airlock, using suits Orlan MKS-5 and MKS-4 respectively.
The airlock was depressurized at 1539 UTC and the hatch was opened at 1559 UTC;
hatch was closed at 2344 UTC and the airlock was repressurizaed at 2348 UTC.
The spacewalkers used the GStM-1 and GStM-2 booms to traverse from the Pirs module
to the orbital module (bitovoy otsek, BO) of the Soyuz MS-09 ferry ship to inspect
the mysterious hole drilled in its pressure hull that caused a leak detected on Aug 29.
They worked in the Soyuz MS-09 area from 1920 to 2230 UTC.
Kononenko and Prokop'ev cut into the fabric thermal insulation of the
Soyuz MS-09 BO and then used a knife and shears to cut away a section of
the metal MMOD (micrometeorite and orbital debris) shield layer that
covers the pressure hull. They took samples from the epoxy in the hole
and a part of the MMOD shield for return and analysis.
The first cut in the BO covering was made at 1953 UTC; by 2010 UTC
small mm-scale debris from the insulation was visible on video coverage
floating away from the worksite. This was soon to be followed by much
larger pieces. Between 2037-2053 UTC, 2103-2117 UTC and to a lesser extent
from 2121 to 2210 UTC at least 30 cm-scale and probably
20 5-cm to 10-cm scale pieces of insulation floated away. The largest amount of
debris generation happened from 2047 to 2050 UTC with many small pieces.
Probably the largest piece, possibly about 15 x 5 cm or larger, was
ejected at 2051 UTC and may be the one cataloged as object 43847. The
hole was located at 2118 UTC; the MMOD shield sample was cut at 2121
UTC.
Chang'e-4
----------
Chang'e-4 completed its lunar orbit insertion burn at 0845 UTC Dec 12; China
reports the vehicle is in a 100 x 400 km orbit, presumably polar.
Electron
--------
Rocket Lab launched its 4th Electron vehicle, "This One's For Pickering", on Dec 16, carrying 13
cubesats as follows:
Space technology - Albus (NASA-Glenn, testing advanced electrical bus);
CHOMPTT (U. Florida; laser transfer of time calibration)
CubeSail (U. Illinois/Catholic U.; 260-m tether)
RSat-P (US Naval Academy; robot arm tests)
Shields (NASA-Langley, radiation shielding)
Aerocube-11A/11B (Aerospace Corp, tests of new imagers)
Space weather and radiation - ISX-CP11 (Cal Poly), NMTSat (New Mexico Tech),
CeReS (GSFC), STF (GSFC/West Virginia U)
Astronomy - SHFT-1 (DARPA/JPL) for HF radio astronomy
Student test satellite - DaVinci (North Idaho STEM Charter Academy
Errata
------
The PSLV launch carried Centauri-2 and Hiber 1;
the SSO-A launch carried Centauri-1 and Hiber 2. I got this the wrong way
round in the last JSR.
Table of Recent Orbital Launches
----------------------------------
Date UT Name Launch Vehicle Site Mission INTL. Catalog Perigee Apogee Incl Notes
Nov 15 2046 Es'hailsat-2 Falcon 9 Kennedy LC39A Comms 90A S43700 201 x 37688 x 25.0
Nov 16 1814 Progress MS-10 Soyuz-FG Baykonur LC1 Cargo 91A S43702 186 x 226 x 51.6 Docked to ISS
Nov 17 0901 S.S. John Young Antares 230 MARS LA0B Cargo 92A S43704 211 x 252 x 51.6
Nov 18 1807 Beidou DW42 ) Chang Zheng 3B/YZ1 Xichang Navigation 93A S43706 21523 x 22194 x 55.0
Beidou DW43 ) Navigation 93B S43707 21531 x 22194 x 55.0
Nov 19 2340 Shiyan 6 ) Unknown 94A S43710 488 x 504 x 97.4 0600LT SSO
Jiading-1 ) Chang Zheng 2D Jiuquan Comms 94B? S43711 489 x 504 x 97.4 0600LT SSO
Tianzhi 1 ) Tech 94C? S43712 488 x 504 x 97.4 0600LT SSO
Tianping-1A) Calib 94D? S43713 487 x 504 x 97.4 0600LT SSO
Tianping-1B) Calib 94E? S43714 489 x 504 x 97.4 0600LT SSO
Nov 21 0142 Mohammed VI-B Vega CSG ELV Imaging 95A S43717 601 x 606 x 98.0 1020LT SSO
Nov 29 0427 HySIS ) PSLV-CA Satish Dhawan Imaging 96A S43719 647 x 648 x 98.0 1000LT SSO
Global-1 ) Imaging 96B? S43720? 484 x 500 x 97.5 1000LT SSO
CICERO-8 ) Weather 96 476 x 500 x 97.5
Hiber 1 ) Comms IoT 96 476 x 500 x 97.5
HSAT-1 ) Tech 96 476 x 500 x 97.5
Centauri 2 ) Comms IoT 96 476 x 500 x 97.5
CASE ) Comms IoT 96 476 x 500 x 97.5
FACSAT ) Imaging 96D S43722 476 x 500 x 97.5
Reaktor Hello World) Comms 96K S43728 476 x 500 x 97.5
InnoSAT-2 ) Tech 96V S43738 476 x 500 x 97.5
Lemur-2-Orzulak ) Weather/AIS 96 476 x 500 x 97.5
Lemur-2-Vladimir ) Weather/AIS 96 476 x 500 x 97.5
Lemur-2-Kobyszcze ) Weather/AIS 96 476 x 500 x 97.5
Lemur-2-Duly ) Weather/AIS 96 476 x 500 x 97.5
Flock 3r-1 ) Imaging 96AE S43747 476 x 500 x 97.5
Flock 3r-2 ) Imaging 96AF S43748 476 x 500 x 97.5
Flock 3r-3 ) Imaging 96R S43734 476 x 500 x 97.5
Flock 3r-4 ) Imaging 96Q S43733 476 x 500 x 97.5
Flock 3r-5 ) Imaging 96H S43726 476 x 500 x 97.5
Flock 3r-6 ) Imaging 96Y S43741 476 x 500 x 97.5
Flock 3r-7 ) Imaging 96Z S43742 476 x 500 x 97.5
Flock 3r-8 ) Imaging 96J S43727 476 x 500 x 97.5
Flock 3r-9 ) Imaging 96 476 x 500 x 97.5
Flock 3r-10 ) Imaging 96E S43723 476 x 500 x 97.5
Flock 3r-11 ) Imaging 96G S43725 476 x 500 x 97.5
Flock 3r-12 ) Imaging 96F S43724 476 x 500 x 97.5
Flock 3r-13 ) Imaging 96AH S43750 476 x 500 x 97.5
Flock 3r-14 ) Imaging 96AG S43749 476 x 500 x 97.5
Flock 3r-15 ) Imaging 96T S43736 476 x 500 x 97.5
Flock 3r-16 ) Imaging 96S S43735 476 x 500 x 97.5
Nov 30 0227 Kosmos-2530 ) Rokot Plesetsk LC133/3 Comms 97A S43751 1485 x 1508 x 82.5
Kosmos-2531 ) Comms 97B S43752 1485 x 1508 x 82.5
Kosmos-2532 ) Comms 97C S43753 1485 x 1508 x 82.5
Dec 3 1131 Soyuz MS-11 R-7 Baykonur LC1 Spaceship 98A S43756 200 x 239 x 51.6
Dec 3 1834 SSO-A UFF ) Falcon 9 Vandenberg SLC4E Tech 99 S43758 574 x 590 x 97.8 1017LT SSO
SSO-A LFF ) Tech 99 S43759? 574 x 590 x 97.8 1017LT SSO
Eu:CROPIS ) Rem.Sensing 99 574 x 590 x 97.8 1017LT SSO
SkySat C12 ) Imaging 99 574 x 590 x 97.8 1017LT SSO
SkySat C13 ) Imaging 99 574 x 590 x 97.8 1017LT SSO
STPSat 5 ) Tech 99 574 x 590 x 97.8 1017LT SSO
KazSTSat ) Imaging 99 574 x 590 x 97.8 1017LT SSO
NEXTSat-1 ) IR Astron 99 574 x 590 x 97.8 1017LT SSO
eXCITe ) Tech 99 574 x 590 x 97.8 1017LT SSO
ICEYE-X2 ) Radar 99 574 x 590 x 97.8 1017LT SSO
Global-2 ) Imaging 99 574 x 590 x 97.8 1017LT SSO
FalconSat-6 ) Tech 99 574 x 590 x 97.8 1017LT SSO
ESEO ) Tech 99 574 x 590 x 97.8 1017LT SSO
Hawk A ) Elint 99 574 x 590 x 97.8 1017LT SSO
Hawk B ) Elint 99 574 x 590 x 97.8 1017LT SSO
Hawk C ) Elint 99 574 x 590 x 97.8 1017LT SSO
Flock 3s-1 ) Imaging 99 574 x 590 x 97.8 1017LT SSO
Flock 3s-2 ) Imaging 99 574 x 590 x 97.8 1017LT SSO
Flock 3s-3 ) Imaging 99 574 x 590 x 97.8 1017LT SSO
AISTechSat-2 ) Imaging/Com 99 574 x 590 x 97.8 1017LT SSO
Hiber-2 ) Comms 99 574 x 590 x 97.8 1017LT SSO
Landmapper-BC4) Imaging 99 574 x 590 x 97.8 1017LT SSO
VESTA ) Comms 99 574 x 590 x 97.8 1017LT SSO
ORS-7A ) Comms 99 574 x 590 x 97.8 1017LT SSO
ORS-7B ) Comms 99 574 x 590 x 97.8 1017LT SSO
SIRION PF 2 ) Comms 99 574 x 590 x 97.8 1017LT SSO
ITASAT-1 ) Tech 99 574 x 590 x 97.8 1017LT SSO
Audacy Zero ) Comms 99 574 x 590 x 97.8 1017LT SSO
BRIO ) Tech 99 574 x 590 x 97.8 1017LT SSO
Astrocast-0.1 ) Comms 99 574 x 590 x 97.8 1017LT SSO
Centauri 1 ) Comms 99 574 x 590 x 97.8 1017LT SSO
Eaglet 1 ) Imaging 99 574 x 590 x 97.8 1017LT SSO
Denali ) Radar 99 574 x 590 x 97.8 1017LT SSO
ICE-Cap ) Comms 99 574 x 590 x 97.8 1017LT SSO
K2SAT ) Imaging/Com 99 574 x 590 x 97.8 1017LT SSO
KazSciSat ) Tech 99 574 x 590 x 97.8 1017LT SSO
MinXSS 2 ) Solar X 99 574 x 590 x 97.8 1017LT SSO
Orbital Reflector) Art 99 574 x 590 x 97.8 1017LT SSO
RAAF M1 ) Comms 99 574 x 590 x 97.8 1017LT SSO
SeaHawk ) Imaging 99 574 x 590 x 97.8 1017LT SSO
SNUSAT 2 ) Imaging 99 574 x 590 x 97.8 1017LT SSO
THEA ) Sigint 99 574 x 590 x 97.8 1017LT SSO
Blackhawk ) Comms 99 574 x 590 x 97.8 1017LT SSO
ENOCH ) Art 99 574 x 590 x 97.8 1017LT SSO
SNUGLITE ) Tech/Comms 99 574 x 590 x 97.8 1017LT SSO
PW-Sat 2 ) Tech 99 574 x 590 x 97.8 1017LT SSO
VisionCube ) Atmos Sci 99 574 x 590 x 97.8 1017LT SSO
RANGE A ) Tech 99 574 x 590 x 97.8 1017LT SSO
RANGE B ) Tech 99 574 x 590 x 97.8 1017LT SSO
MOVE 2 ) Tech 99 574 x 590 x 97.8 1017LT SSO
Suomi-100 ) Tech 99 574 x 590 x 97.8 1017LT SSO
Elysium Star 2) Burial 99 574 x 590 x 97.8 1017LT SSO
Exseedsat-1 ) Comms 99 574 x 590 x 97.8 1017LT SSO
Fox-1Cliff ) Comms 99 574 x 590 x 97.8 1017LT SSO
JY1SAT ) Comms 99 574 x 590 x 97.8 1017LT SSO
KNACKSAT ) Tech 99 574 x 590 x 97.8 1017LT SSO
SpaceBEE 5 ) Comms 99 574 x 590 x 97.8 1017LT SSO
SpaceBEE 6 ) Comms 99 574 x 590 x 97.8 1017LT SSO
SpaceBEE 7 ) Comms 99 574 x 590 x 97.8 1017LT SSO
DoD Cube 1A ) Comms? 99 574 x 590 x 97.8 1017LT SSO
DoD Cube 1B ) Comms? 99 574 x 590 x 97.8 1017LT SSO
DoD Cube 2A ) Comms? 99 574 x 590 x 97.8 1017LT SSO
DoD Cube 2B ) Comms? 99 574 x 590 x 97.8 1017LT SSO
DoD Cube 2C ) Comms? 99 574 x 590 x 97.8 1017LT SSO
WeissSat 1 ) Tech 99 574 x 590 x 97.8 1017LT SSO
IRVINE02 ) Tech 99 574 x 590 x 97.8 1017LT SSO
SeeMe ) Imaging 99 574 x 590 x 97.8 1017LT SSO
Dec 4 2037 GSAT-11 ) Ariane 5ECA Kourou ELA3 Comms 100A? S43823 245 x 35741 x 3.5
Geo-Kompsat 2A ) Comms 100B? S43824 250 x 35742 x 3.5
Dec 5 1816 Dragon CRS-16 Falcon 9 Canaveral SLC40 Cargo 101A S43827 204 x 358 x 51.6
Dec 7 0412 SaudiSat-5A ) Chang Zheng 2D Jiuquan Tech 102A S43831 535 x 551 x 97.6 1030LT SSO
SaudiSat-5B ) Tech 102B S43832 535 x 551 x 97.6 1030LT SSO
Tianyi X1 ) Imaging? 102C? S43833? 535 x 551 x 97.6 1030LT SSO
Tianyi X2 ) Imaging? 102D? S43834? 535 x 551 x 97.6 1030LT SSO
Tianyi X3 ) Imaging? 102E? S43835? 535 x 551 x 97.6 1030LT SSO
Piao chong 1 ) Comms 102F? S43836? 535 x 551 x 97.6 1030LT SSO
Piao chong 2 ) Comms 102G? S43837? 535 x 551 x 97.6 1030LT SSO
Piao chong 3 ) Comms 102H? S43838? 535 x 551 x 97.6 1030LT SSO
Piao chong 4 ) Comms 102J? S43839? 535 x 551 x 97.6 1030LT SSO
Piao chong 5 ) Comms 102K? S43840? 535 x 551 x 97.6 1030LT SSO
Piao chong 6 ) Comms 102L? S43841? 535 x 551 x 97.6 1030LT SSO
Weina-1 03 ) Imaging 102M? S43842? 535 x 551 x 97.6 1030LT SSO
Dec 7 1823 Chang'e 4 ) Chang Zheng 3B Xichang Lunar probe 103A 200 x 420000x 29.4
Lunar rover ) Lunar rover 103
Dec 16 0633 Albus ) Tech 104
CeReS ) Science 104
CHOMPTT ) Electron Mahia Tech 104
Cubesail ) Tech 104
DaVinci ) Education 104
ISX-CP11 ) Science 104
NMTSat ) Science 104
RSat-P ) Tech 104
Shields ) Tech 104
STF-1 ) Science 104
SHFT-1 ) Rad Astron 104
AC11-Eagle Scout ) Imaging 104
AC11-R3 ) Imaging 104
Table of Recent Suborbital Launches
-----------------------------------
Date UT Payload/Flt Name Launch Vehicle Site Mission Apogee/km Target
Nov 7 0701 GT228GM Minuteman 3 Vandenberg Op. Test 1300? Kwajalein?
Nov 28 0700 TLV KSLV-II TLV Naro R&D 209 near Jeju
Nov 30 RVs? Khorramshahr? Semnan? Test 500? Iranian desert?
Dec 7 1106 VISIONS-2 1 Black Brant X Svalbard Auroral 805 Svalbard
Dec 7 1108 VISIONS-2 2 Black Brant X Svalbard Auroral 600 Svalbard
Dec 8 0826 TRICE-2 High Black Brant XIIA Andoya Plasma 1042 Norwegian Sea
Dec 8 0828 TRICE-2 Low Black Brant XIIA Andoya Plasma 756 Norwegian Sea
Dec 9 1543 PSR-01 VS-30 Alcantara Tech 120? Atlantic
Dec 10 FTI-03 Target IRBM-T1 C-17, Pacific Target 300? Pacific
Dec 10 FTI-03 KV SM-3-IIA Kauai AAMDTC Interceptor 300? FTI-03
Dec 10 0800 Agni KV Agni V Kalam Island Test 800? Indian Ocean
Dec 13 1600 VSS Unity PF2-15 Spaceship Two Lake Isabella Test 82.7 Mojave
.-------------------------------------------------------------------------.
| 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 |
'-------------------------------------------------------------------------'