Jonathan's Space Report No. 750 2018 Jun 18 Somerville, MA --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- International Space Station --------------------------- During May Expedition 55 continued with Anton Shkaplerov in command, Scott Tingle, Norishige Kanai, Oleg Artemev, Ricky Arnold and Drew Feustel as flight engineers. On Jun 1 Feustel took command as Soyuz MS-07 prepared to undock. Soyuz MS-07 undocked at 0916 UTC Jun 3 with Shkaplerov, Tingle and Kanai. Feustel, Artemev and Arnold remained aboard ISS as Expedition 56. Soyuz MS-07 made its deorbit burn at 1147 UTC; the modules separated at 1214 UTC, the descent module began reentry at 1217 UTC and landed in Kazakhstan at 1239 UTC. Soyuz MS-09 was launched on Jun 6, carrying Sergey Prokop'ev (Roskosmos), Serena Aunon-Chancellor (NASA), and Alex Gerst (ESA). It docked with the Rassvet module at 1301 UTC Jun 8. Astronauts Arnold and Feustel made spacewalk US EVA-51 on Jun 14. They installed cameras and wireless comm equipment next to the PMA-2/IDA-2 docking port on the Harmony module that will be used by approaching Crew Dragon and Starliner vehicles; replaced a camera on the CP3 truss position, and closed the telescope cover on the failed CATS atmosphere observatory experiment. As a final task Feustel secured a a loose component on the solar array blanket box on the S4 truss (the box that one of the big solar panels unfurled from). In the process he dropped a large `wire tie' that floated off and is now cataloged as 43498, 1998-067NS. GF-6 ---- A SAST/Shanghai Chang Zheng 2D launched a DFH CAST-2000 high resolution imaging satellite, Gao Fen 6, on Jun 2. Gao Fen 6 has a 2 metre resolution imager and a hyperspectral imager. A secondary 6U cubesat payload for Wuhan University was deployed; Luojia-1 kexue shiyan weixing 01 xing (Luojia-1 science experiment satellite S/C 01) carries a low light level imager for studies of illumination on the Earth's night side. GF-6 is the 12th Gao Fen (`high resolution') satellite to be launched. All are in sun-synchronous orbit (SSO) except for the geostationary GF-4. Gao Fen satellites ------------------ Launch Orbit (km x km x deg) Gao Fen 1-01 2013 Apr 26 628 x 653 x 97.9 SSO 1100 LT Gao Fen 2 2014 Aug 19 621 x 634 x 97.9 SSO 1100 LT Gao Fen 8 2015 Jun 26 483 x 490 x 97.4 SSO 1330 LT Gao Fen 9 2015 Sep 14 618 x 663 x 97.9 SSO 1100 LT Gao Fen 4 2015 Dec 28 35766 x 35808 x 0.0 GEO 105.8E Gao Fen 3 2016 Aug 9 750 x 752 x 98.4 SSO 0600 LT Gao Fen 10 2016 Aug 31 Failed to orbit (SSO 0200 LT) Gao Fen 1-02 2018 Mar 31 637 x 644 x 98.0 SSO 1030 LT Gao Fen 1-03 2018 Mar 31 636 x 645 x 98.0 SSO 1030 LT Gao Fen 1-04 2018 Mar 31 637 x 644 x 98.0 SSO 1030 LT Gao Fen 5 2018 May 8 699 x 702 x 98.1 SSO 0130 LT Gao Fen 6 2018 Jun 2 632 x 647 x 98.1 SSO 1030 LT SES-12 ------ SpaceX launched a Falcon 9 on Jun 4 with a 5384 kg Ku/Ka-band television broadcast satellite, SES-12. SES-12 is an Airbus Eurostar 3000e with electric propulsion. It was launched to a 210 x 58276 km x 25.9 deg supersynchronous transfer orbit. By Jun 14 four perigee raising burns had changed the orbit to 1032 x 59868 km x 23.8 deg. FY-2-09 ------- Fengyun erhao 09 xing, also called Fengyun erhao H xing (FY-2H), was launched on Jun 5. It is the last in the FY-2 series of Chinese spin-stabilized geostationary meteorological satellites. On around Jun 7 the apogee motor was fired to circularize the orbit and was then ejected. As of Jun 16 the satellite was on station at 94.0E in a 35775 x 35796 km x 2.3 deg orbit. The apogee motor was in a 35482 x 36212 km x 2.4 deg orbit, crossing the geostationary region - which is an undesirable place to leave space junk. IGS R-6 ------- Japan's Information Gathering Satellite Radar-6 (Joho shushu eisei Reda 6-goki) was launched from Tanegashima on Jun 12 into sun-synchronous orbit with descending node local time of 13:15. The IGS series is operated by Japan's Cabinet Satellite Intelligence Center (Naikaku Eisei Joho Senta) and includes both optical and radar satellites. IGS satellites ------------------ Launch Orbit (km x km x deg) IGS Optical-1 2003 Mar 28 Reentered 2014 Jul SSO 1020LT IGS Optical-2 2003 Nov 29 Failed to orbit SSO 1330LT IGS Optical-2 2006 Sep 11 Reentered 2016 Oct SSO 1330LT IGS Optical-3 Test 2007 Feb 24 Reentered 2013 Nov SSO 1330LT IGS Optical-3 2009 Nov 28 584 x 590 x 97.7 SSO 1030LT IGS Optical-4 2011 Sep 23 587 x 588 x 97.7 SSO 1315LT IGS Optical Demo 2013 Jan 27 425 x 429 x 97.2 SSO 1330LT IGS Optical-5 2015 Mar 26 510 x 516 x 97.5 SSO 1030LT IGS Optical-6 2018 Feb 27 485 x 499 x 97.2 SSO 2345LT IGS Radar-1 2003 Mar 28 Reentered 2012 Jul SSO 1020LT IGS Radar-2 2003 Nov 29 Failed to orbit SSO 1330LT IGS Radar-2 2007 Feb 24 Reentered 2014 Apr SSO 1330LT IGS Radar-3 2011 Dec 12 510 x 515 x 97.5 SSO 1030LT IGS Radar-4 2013 Jan 27 511 x 515 x 97.5 SSO 1330LT IGS Radar Spare 2015 Feb 1 481 x 484 x 97,4 SSO 1015LT IGS Radar-5 2017 Mar 17 486 x 489 x 97.4 SSO 1015LT IGS Radar-6 2018 Jun 12 500 x 502 x 97.4 SSO 1315LT Glonass M-56 ------------ Russia lanched another Glonass navigation satellite on Jun 16; it was given the cover name Kosmos-2527. Hayabusa-2 ---------- On Jun 18 Hayabusa-2 was under 180 km from asteroid Ryugu; it is making trajectory correction burns about every 2 days. It is expected to be stationkeeping 20 km from Ryugu by the end of the month. TESS ---- On May 30 at 0130 UTC TESS made its final orbit insertion burn, changing the orbit from 99036 x 435600 km x 36.6 deg to 99037 x 366905 km x 36.6 deg, a P/2 lunar resonant orbit. Instrument commissioning is underway and TESS should begin its search for extrasolar planets soon. LEO Vantage 1 ------------- Telesat's LEO Vantage 1 satellite was launched in January on PSLV-C40 into a 496 x 508 km orbit. While I wasn't paying attention, it raised orbit slowly between Jan 21 and Apr 5 and is now in a 996 x 1004 km SSO. Table of Recent Orbital Launches ---------------------------------- Date UT Name Launch Vehicle Site Mission INTL. Catalog Perigee Apogee Incl Notes May 3 1606 Apstar 6C Chang Zheng 3B Xichang Comms 41A S43450 239 x 41827 x 27.2 May 5 1105 Mars Insight) Atlas V 401 Vandenberg SLC3E Mars probe 42A S43457 115 x-110126x 63.4 MarCO-A ) Mars probe 42B S43458 115 x-110126x 63.4 MarCO-B ) Mars probe 42C S43459 115 x-110126x 63.4 May 8 1828 GaoFen 5 Chang Zheng 4C Taiyuan Imaging 43A S43461 682 x 688 x 98.1 May 11 1030 1KUNS-PF ) ISS, LEO Tech 98-67NQ S43467 400 x 402 x 51.6 Batsu-CS1 ) Tech 98-67NR S43468 400 x 402 x 51.6 May 11 1040 UBAKUSAT ISS, LEO Tech 98-67NP S43466 400 x 402 x 51.6 May 11 2014 Bangabandhu 1 Falcon 9 FT5 Kennedy SLC39A Comms 44A S43463 296 x 35515 x 19.3 May 12? USA 287 EAGLE, high orbit Tech 36G S43465 35290?x 35290?x 0.1 May 20 2128 Queqiao ) Chang Zheng 4C Xichang Comms 45A S43470 159 x376347 x 29.0 Longjiang 1) Radio Astron 45B S43471 184 x400603 x 28.5 Longjiang 2) Radio Astron 45C S43472 184 x400603 x 28.5 May 21 0844 SS J.R Thompson Antares 230 MARS LA0B Cargo 46A S43474 228 x 319 x 51.6 May 22 1948 GRACE-FO 1 ) Falcon 9 Vandenberg SLC4E Science 47A S43476 485 x 504 x 89.0 GRACE-FO 2 ) Science 47B S43477 485 x 504 x 89.0 Iridium 110 ) Comms 47F S43481 488 x 718 x 86.7 Iridium 147 ) Comms 47E S43480 489 x 714 x 86.7 Iridium 152 ) Comms 47D S43479 493 x 710 x 86.7 Iridium 161 ) Comms 47C S43478 489 x 714 x 86.7 Iridium 162 ) Comms 47G S43482 491 x 715 x 86.7 Jun 2 0413 Gao Fen 6 ) Chang Zheng 2D Jiuquan Imaging 48A S43484 635 x 646 x 98.0 Luojia-1 KSW 01 ) Imaging 48B S43485 635 x 647 x 98.0 Jun 4 0445 SES-12 Falcon 9 FT Canaveral SLC40 Comms 49A S43488 210 x 58276 x 25.9 Jun 5 1307 Fengyun 2 09 Chang Zheng 3A Xichang LC2 Weather 50A S43491 219 x 35906 x 24.6 Jun 6 1112 Soyuz MS-09 Soyuz-FG Baykonur LC1 Spaceship 51A S43493 190 x 247 x 51.6 Jun 12 0420 IGS R-6 H-IIA Tanegashima Radar 52A S43495 500 x 502 x 97.4 Jun 16 2146 Kosmos-2527 Soyuz-2-1B/Fregat Plesetsk Navigation 53A S43508 19116 x 19155 x 64.8 Table of Recent Suborbital Launches ----------------------------------- The suborbital launches table includes known flights above 80 km. The new Boosted Zombie rocket tested on Jun 7 has a Terrier Mk 70 first stage and a Zombie (ATACMS derived) second stage; it is unclear how high it flew. On Jun 18 the University of Colorado's EVE payload was launched to calibrate the Solar Dynamics Observatory EVE instrument; this is the 7th launch in the series. Date UT Payload/Flt Name Launch Vehicle Site Mission Apogee/km Target May 8 Burkan RV Burkan 2H Yemen Weapon 100? Riyadh May 8 Burkan RV Burkan 2H Yemen Weapon 100? Riyadh May 13 0830 TEXUS 54 VSB-30 Esrange Microgravity 261 Esrange B zone May 14 0823 Mk 12 or 21 RV? Minuteman 3 Vandenberg LF04 Test 1300? Kwajalein? May 22 RV x ? Bulava K-535, White Sea Test 1000? Kura May 22 RV x ? Bulava K-535, White Sea Test 1000? Kura May 22 RV x ? Bulava K-535, White Sea Test 1000? Kura May 22 RV x ? Bulava K-535, White Sea Test 1000? Kura May 29 1854 Hi-C 2.1 Black Brant 9 White Sands Solar EUV 290 White Sands May 31 0400 TEXUS 55 VSB-30 Esrange Microgravity 255 Esrange B zone Jun 3 0418 Agni RV Agni V Kalam Island Test 800 Indian O. Jun 7 NASA 12.081BZ-DR Boosted Zombie White Sands Test 100? White Sands Jun 18 1900 EVE 7 Black Brant 9 White Sands Solar EUV 250? White Sands .-------------------------------------------------------------------------. | 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 | '-------------------------------------------------------------------------'