Jonathan's Space Report
No. 573 2006 Nov 18, Somerville, MA
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Shuttle and Station
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Progress M-58 was launched on Oct 23 carrying supplies for the Station.
It soft-docked with the Zvezda module at 1429 UTC on Oct 26. However
there were indications that the Kurs rendezvous orientation antenna
mounted on the docking ring at the forward end of the Progress did not
retract correctly. The Station remained in free drift for several hours;
eventually it was decided that the antenna was fine, the latches between
Progress and Zvezda were driven closed at around 1806 UTC, and the
Station resumed active attitude control.
STEREO
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NASA's STEREO mission was launched on Oct 26 at 0052 UTC. The Delta
entered a 165 x 171 km parking orbit at 0102 UTC; the second burn raised
it to 166 x 3179 km x 28.49 deg at 0109 UTC. Stage 2 separated and the
spinning stage 3 fired to place itself in a translunar orbit, planned
prelaunch to be 182 x 403810 km x 28.5 deg. At 0117 UTC two despin
weights were jettisoned and the STEREO A/B pair separated from the Star
48B stage. At 0119 UTC STEREO A and B were scheduled to separate from
one another. They will remain in the translunar orbit several months and
then use lunar gravity assists to enter solar orbit. The third stage was
expected to reenter early on Nov 6; it was not cataloged.
On Dec 15 at 1350 UTC STEREO B will
pass 10745 km above the lunar surface and be thrown into a 130000 x
870000 km x 27.9 deg phasing orbit. Five minutes later, STEREO A will
fly 5937 km above the Moon and enter a 180000 x 1750000 km x 33.6 deg
orbit; ignoring the Sun's gravity, the instantaneous Keplerian orbit is
formally bound (below escape velocity) but in fact STEREO A will escape
the Earth-Moon system around Dec 24. On Jan 21 at 1552 UTC, STEREO B
will re-encounter the Moon with a 16029 km altitude flyby and also end
up on a departure orbit. STEREO A will end up in a 0.95 x 0.97 AU x 0.12
deg, 344 day orbit around the Sun, leading the Earth. STEREO B will end
up in a 0.99 x 1.09 AU x 0.03 deg, 389 day orbit trailing the Earth.
The two spacecraft will observe the Sun, allowing coordinated observations
of solar activity from vantage points inaccessible for Earth-orbiting
spacecraft. Optical and UV imagers, radio burst monitors and particle
detectors will provide space weather information and allow study
of Earthbound coronal mass ejections from the side.
Messenger
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The Messenger probe, launched in 2004, made its first Venus flyby
on Oct 24. It passed 2990 km from the surface of Venus at 0834 UTC
on a hyperbolic trajectory with an inclination of 116 deg
to the Venus equator and an eccentricity of 3.27.
Before the flyby Messenger's orbit around the Sun was 0.60 x 1.05 AU
inclined 2.6 deg to the ecliptic. Now it is 0.55 x 0.90 AU
with an increased inclination of 8.1 deg.
MESSENGER
Date Flyby Closest Approach
2004 Aug 3 0616 Launch
2005 Aug 2 1913 Earth-1 2336 km
2006 Oct 24 0834 Venus-1 2990 km
2007 Jun 6 Venus-2 300 km
2008 Jan 14 Mercury-1 200 km
2008 Oct 6 Mercury-2 200 km
2009 Sep 30 Mercury-3 200 km
2011 Mar 18 Mercury-4 200 km, orbit insertion
Sinosat-2
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Xinnuo-2 (Sinosat-2) was launched on Oct 28 by a Chang Zheng 3B
rocket into geostationary transfer orbit. It is the first of a
new heavy Chinese communication satellite series, DFH-4,
with a communications payload by Alcatel Alenia.
Xinnuo-2 and the CZ-3B third stage were placed in a 186 x 35797 km x
28.7 deg geostationary transfer orbit. After the first burn of
Sinosat-2's apogee motor its orbit was 3372 x 35827 km x 18.1 deg. It
reached geosynchronous orbit at 92E on Nov 5.
XM Radio-4
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Boeing Sea Launch orbited another Zenit-3SL on Oct 30 (reaching initial
parking orbit early on Oct 31). The rocket put a Boeing 702 class
satellite for XM Satellite Radio into geostationary transfer orbit. XM
Radio-4, or XM Blues, joins the company's existing fleet of three
satellites (XM Rock, Roll and Rhythm). By Nov 13 Blues was in
geosynchronous drift orbit over 111 deg W.
DMSP
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A Boeing Delta 4M launched a US Air Force weather satellite on Nov 4.
The Defense Meteorological Satellite Program (DMSP) Block 5D-3
spacecraft S-17, which became F-17 (Flight 17) when assigned to a
launch, reached an 846 x 850 km x 98.8 deg sun-synchronous orbit after a
single burn of the Delta 4 second stage, and separated at 1411 UTC. The
Delta 4M could have launched a much heavier satellite and the stage had
a lot of fuel left over. This was meant to be used to nosedive the used
rocket stage into the Pacific with impact at around 1550 UTC, leaving
only the DMSP in orbit together with two instrument covers from the main
OLS (Operational Linescan System) imager. Justin Ray of
spaceflightnow.com confirms to me that the stage was indeed tracked to
reentry. However, SpaceTrack has now cataloged a large number of debris
objects in orbit; this debris appears to have been generated around the
time of the Delta deorbit, suggesting some kind of problem during the
firing. The payload appears to be operating correctly although NOAA
reports indicate a safemode associated with software issues.
In addition to the OLS, DMSP S-17 also carries a microwave
imager-sounder, ultraviolet spectrometers, particle detectors, a
magnetometer, and a laser threat warning sensor which will alert
operators if the spacecraft is attacked with a laser.
Mass of DMSP F-17 is probably about 1200 kg, slightly smaller than
its civilian cousin NOAA 18. Both DMSP and NOAA satellites are
now operated by the NOAA weather agency.
Badr 4
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Arabsat 4B, also known as Badr 4, was launched from Baykonur
on Nov 8 by a Proton-M with a Briz-M upper stage.
Dry mass of the EADS-Astrium Eurostar 2000+ satellite
is 1487 kg; fully fuelled it is 3304 kg. It provides
Ku-band communications for the Arab League.
The Proton reached a near-orbital -390 x 173 km x 51.5 deg
trajectory; the Arabsat/Briz separated and at the end of the first
Briz burn was in a low 173 x 174 km orbit. Briz made 4 burns
and deployed Arabsat into a 3127 x 35802 km x 14.1 deg orbit.
It reached a near-geosynchronous 35593 x 35782 km x 0.1 deg orbit
on Nov 16.
Erratum
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The Sep 25 GPS launch was SVN 52, not SVN 58.
GPS 58
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GPS navigation spacecraft SVN 58, the 3rd of the IIRM type, was launched by a
Boeing Delta 2 on Nov 17.
Kosmos-2423
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Russia's Don spy satellite, Kosmos-2423, was destroyed in orbit
on Nov 17 at the end of its mission.
Table of Recent Launches
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Date UT Name Launch Vehicle Site Mission INTL.
DES.
Sep 9 0700? SJ-8 Chang Zheng 2C Jiuquan Micrograv. 35A
Sep 9 1515 Atlantis (STS-115) Shuttle Kennedy LC39B Spaceship 36A
Sep 11 0435 IGS Optical-2 H2A Tanegashima Imaging 37A
Sep 12 1602 Zhongxing-22A Chang Zheng 3A Xichang Comms 38A
Sep 14 1341 Kosmos-2423 Soyuz-U Baykonur LC31 Imaging 39A
Sep 18 0408 Soyuz TMA-9 Soyuz-FG Baykonur LC1 Spaceship 40A
Sep 22 2136 Hinode ) M-V Uchinoura Astronomy 41A
HIT-SAT ) Tech 41F
SSSAT ) Tech 41D?
Sep 25 1850 GPS 52 Delta 7925-9.5 Canaveral SLC17A Navigation 42A
Oct 13 2056 DirecTV 9S ) Ariane 5ECA Kourou ELA3 Comms 43
Optus D1 ) Comms 43
LDREX 2 ) Tech 43
Oct 19 1628 METOP A Soyuz-2-1A Baykonur LC31 Weather 44A
Oct 23 1340 Progress M-58 Soyuz-U Baykonur LC1 Cargo 45A
Oct 23 2334 SJ-6-2A ) Chang Zheng 4B Taiyuan Sigint? 46A
SJ-6-2B ) Sigint? 46B
Oct 26 0052 STEREO Ahead ) Delta 7925-10L Canaveral SLC17B Science 47A
STEREO Behind ) Science 47B
Oct 28 1620 Xinnuo 2 Chang Zheng 3B Xichang Comms 48A
Oct 30 2349 XM-Blues Zenit-3SL SL Odyssey Radio 49A
Nov 4 1353 DMSP 5D-3 F-17 Delta 4M Vandenberg SLC6 Weather 50A
Nov 8 2001 Badr 4 Proton-M/Briz-M Baykonur LC200/39 Comms 51A
Nov 17 1912 GPS 58 Delta 7925-9.5 Canaveral SLC17A Navigation 52A
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| Jonathan McDowell | phone : (617) 495-7176 |
| Somerville MA 02143 | inter : jcm@host.planet4589.org |
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