Planet4589
May 27th 08, 10:06 PM
Jonathan's Space Report
No. 596 2008 May 27, Somerville, MA
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Shuttle and Station
-------------------
Aboard the International Space Station, astronauts Sergey Volkov,
Oleg Kononenko and Garrett Reisman continue the EO-17 expedition.
The Soyuz TMA-12 ferry craft is docked to the Pirs module, and
the Jules Verne cargo ship is at the Zvezda port.
Progress M-64 was launched on May 14 and docked with Zarya on May 16.
GIOVE B
--------
The second European Galileo navigation system test satellite left the
launch pad on Apr 26 at 2216 UTC on a Soyuz-FG/Fregat.
The spacecraft was built for ESA and European Satellite Navigation Industries
by Astrium using a Thales Proteus spacecraft bus; the satellite
was integrated by Thales in its Rome factory (which I believe is
the former Selenia Spazio plant?). GIOVE B has a mass of 530 kg.
The Soyuz-FG placed Giove/Fregat in a suborbital path; the first
Fregat burn placed the stack in a 170 km parking orbit.
At 0201 UTC on Apr 27 Giove B reached a 23118 x 23246 km orbit inclined 56 deg.
PSLV
----
The Indian Space Research Organization's Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle
flight C9 placed the Cartosat-2A imaging satlelite in a 620 x 661 km x
97.9 deg polar orbit on Apr 28, together with a cluster of small
satellites. The Indian Mini Satellite 1 is a small imaging satellite
with a mass of around 60 kg. The other payloads were nanosatellites with
masses from 1 to 7 kg: Cute-1.7/APD-II for the Tokyo Institute of
Technology; AAUSat-II for the University of Aalborg (Denmark); Can X-2
for UTIAS (the University of Toronto Institiute of Aerospace Studies);
Compass-1 for the Fachhochschule Aachen (Germany); Delfi-C3 for the
Technical University of Delft (Netherlands); SEEDS 2 for Nihon
University (Tokyo); and Can X-6, a collaboration between UTIAS and Com
Dev International. Can X-6 carries a payload for relaying identification
beacon data from shipping. Rubin-8-AIS remains attached to the PSLV
final stage and is also for locating ships.
AAUSat-II carries a gamma ray burst detector for the Danish National Space
Center.
Amos 3
-------
The Israeli Amos 3 communications satellite was launched on Apr 28 by
Zenit-3SLB from Baykonur. The Blok DM-SLB made three burns to a low
parking orbit, a 180 x 39064 km x 48.8 deg transfer orbit, and a 34225 x
39368 km x 0.7 deg near-geosynchronous orbit where it deployed Amos 3.
This deployment orbit is claimed by the Amos operators to be slightly
different from the target one, although Land Launch, which operates the
Zenit-3SLB, denies the launch vehicle was at fault. I am counting the
launch as a success. By May 12 Amos 3 was in a 35762 x 35928 km x 0.1
deg orbit drifting at 0.8 deg W per day.
AMC 14
------
The AMC 14 satellite has been moved to a 16846 x 35605 km x 19.5 deg
transfer orbit and is now expected to be moved to an inclined
geosynchronous orbit.
Galaxy 18
---------
A Sea Launch Zenit-3SL was launched from the Odyssey platform in
the Pacific and put Intelsat's Galaxy 18 satellite in transfer orbit.
By May 22 it was in a 9423 x 35609 km x 0.1 deg orbit.
C/NOFS
------
Antonio Elias of Orbital very kindly provided me with some details
of the C/NOFS launch, via the nasaspaceflight.com forum.
The L-1011 aircraft took off from Kwaj at 1604:00 UTC on Apr 16,
and dropped the Pegasus at 1702:48. Ignition of stage 1 followed,
as normal, 5 seconds later. The drop point was 10.5229N 167.7562E
(geodetic), which is a little to the north of the HETE-2 drop point.
C/NOFS is currently in a 405 x 851 km x 13.0 deg orbit.
PHOENIX
--------
The Mars Phoenix probe landed on Mars at 2338:24 UTC on May 25.
Landing site was near 68.22N 234.3E (areocentric), the Green Valley site
among the Scandia Colles in Vastitas Borealis.
Yubilyeniy
----------
Russia launched three Gonets-class low orbit communications satellites
on May 23. Unusually, they were given Kosmos designations - they
may actually be the Strela-3 military version of Gonets.
The launch also carried Yubilyeniy (Jubilee), a test satellite with
an amateur radio payload to commemorate the 50th anniversary of Sputnik
last year.
The Gonets satellites are in a 1476 x 1510 km x 82.5 deg orbit;
the depleted Briz stage is in a 1200 x 1506 km orbit.
FY-3A
-----
China launched the FY-3A polar orbiting weather satellite on May 27.
The FY-3 series replaces the older FY-1 polar system (FY-2 satellites
make up the geostationary system and will be replaced by the FY-4 series).
FY-3A entered an 806 x 810 km x 98.8 deg orbit; the final stage
is in a 703 x 801 km orbit.
Table of Recent (orbital) Launches
----------------------------------
Date UT Name Launch Vehicle Site Mission INTL.
DES.
Mar 9 0403 Jules Verne ATV Ariane 5ES Kourou ELA3 Cargo 08A
Mar 11 0628 Endeavour(STS-123) Space Shuttle Kennedy LC39A Spaceship 09A
Mar 13 1002 USA 200 Atlas V 411 Vandenberg SLC3E Sigint 10A
Mar 14 2318 AMC 14 Proton-M/Briz-M Baykonur LC200/39 Comms 11A
Mar 15 0610 GPS 48 Delta 7925 Canaveral SLC17A Navigation 12A
Mar 19 2248 DirecTV 11 Zenit-3SL SL Odyssey, POR Comms 13A
Mar 27 1715 SAR-Lupe 4 Kosmos-3M Plesetsk LC132/1 Radar 14A
Apr 8 1116 Soyuz TMA-12 Soyuz-FG Baykonur LC1 Spaceship 15A
Apr 14 2012 ICO G1 Atlas V 421 Canaveral SLC41 Comms 16A
Apr 16 1702? C/NOFS Pegasus XL L1011,KMR Science 17A
Apr 18 2217 Star One C2 ) Ariane 5ECA Kourou ELA3 Comms 18B
Vinasat 1 ) Comms 18A
Apr 25 1535 Tian Lian 1 Chang Zheng 3C Xichang Comms 19A
Apr 26 2216 GIOVE B Soyuz-FG/Fregat Baykonur LC31 Navigation 20A
Apr 28 0353 Cartosat 2A ) PSLV SDSC SLP Imaging 21A
IMS 1 ) Imaging 21D
Can X-2 ) Comms 21L?
Cute-1.7-APD-II ) Tech 21C?
Delfi-C3 ) Tech 21G
AAUSat-II ) Astron 21F
SEEDS 2 ) Tech 21J
Compass 1 ) Tech 21E
Can X-6 ) Comms 21B
Rubin-8-AIS ) Comms 21K
Apr 28 0500 AMOS 3 Zenit-3SLB Baykonur LC45 Comms 22A
May 14 2023 Progress M-64 Soyuz-U Baykonir LC1 Cargo 23A
May 21 0943 Galaxy 18 Zenit-3SL SL Odyssey Comms 24A
May 23 1520 Kosmos-2437 ) Rokot Plesetesk LC133/3 Comms 25
Kosmos-2438 ) Comms 25
Kosmos-2439 ) Comms 25
Yubileyniy ) Comms 25
May 27 0302 FY-3A Chang Zheng 4C Taiyuan Weather 26A
..-------------------------------------------------------------------------.
| Jonathan McDowell | phone : (617) 495-7176 |
| Somerville MA 02143 | inter : |
| USA | |
'-------------------------------------------------------------------------'
No. 596 2008 May 27, Somerville, MA
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Shuttle and Station
-------------------
Aboard the International Space Station, astronauts Sergey Volkov,
Oleg Kononenko and Garrett Reisman continue the EO-17 expedition.
The Soyuz TMA-12 ferry craft is docked to the Pirs module, and
the Jules Verne cargo ship is at the Zvezda port.
Progress M-64 was launched on May 14 and docked with Zarya on May 16.
GIOVE B
--------
The second European Galileo navigation system test satellite left the
launch pad on Apr 26 at 2216 UTC on a Soyuz-FG/Fregat.
The spacecraft was built for ESA and European Satellite Navigation Industries
by Astrium using a Thales Proteus spacecraft bus; the satellite
was integrated by Thales in its Rome factory (which I believe is
the former Selenia Spazio plant?). GIOVE B has a mass of 530 kg.
The Soyuz-FG placed Giove/Fregat in a suborbital path; the first
Fregat burn placed the stack in a 170 km parking orbit.
At 0201 UTC on Apr 27 Giove B reached a 23118 x 23246 km orbit inclined 56 deg.
PSLV
----
The Indian Space Research Organization's Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle
flight C9 placed the Cartosat-2A imaging satlelite in a 620 x 661 km x
97.9 deg polar orbit on Apr 28, together with a cluster of small
satellites. The Indian Mini Satellite 1 is a small imaging satellite
with a mass of around 60 kg. The other payloads were nanosatellites with
masses from 1 to 7 kg: Cute-1.7/APD-II for the Tokyo Institute of
Technology; AAUSat-II for the University of Aalborg (Denmark); Can X-2
for UTIAS (the University of Toronto Institiute of Aerospace Studies);
Compass-1 for the Fachhochschule Aachen (Germany); Delfi-C3 for the
Technical University of Delft (Netherlands); SEEDS 2 for Nihon
University (Tokyo); and Can X-6, a collaboration between UTIAS and Com
Dev International. Can X-6 carries a payload for relaying identification
beacon data from shipping. Rubin-8-AIS remains attached to the PSLV
final stage and is also for locating ships.
AAUSat-II carries a gamma ray burst detector for the Danish National Space
Center.
Amos 3
-------
The Israeli Amos 3 communications satellite was launched on Apr 28 by
Zenit-3SLB from Baykonur. The Blok DM-SLB made three burns to a low
parking orbit, a 180 x 39064 km x 48.8 deg transfer orbit, and a 34225 x
39368 km x 0.7 deg near-geosynchronous orbit where it deployed Amos 3.
This deployment orbit is claimed by the Amos operators to be slightly
different from the target one, although Land Launch, which operates the
Zenit-3SLB, denies the launch vehicle was at fault. I am counting the
launch as a success. By May 12 Amos 3 was in a 35762 x 35928 km x 0.1
deg orbit drifting at 0.8 deg W per day.
AMC 14
------
The AMC 14 satellite has been moved to a 16846 x 35605 km x 19.5 deg
transfer orbit and is now expected to be moved to an inclined
geosynchronous orbit.
Galaxy 18
---------
A Sea Launch Zenit-3SL was launched from the Odyssey platform in
the Pacific and put Intelsat's Galaxy 18 satellite in transfer orbit.
By May 22 it was in a 9423 x 35609 km x 0.1 deg orbit.
C/NOFS
------
Antonio Elias of Orbital very kindly provided me with some details
of the C/NOFS launch, via the nasaspaceflight.com forum.
The L-1011 aircraft took off from Kwaj at 1604:00 UTC on Apr 16,
and dropped the Pegasus at 1702:48. Ignition of stage 1 followed,
as normal, 5 seconds later. The drop point was 10.5229N 167.7562E
(geodetic), which is a little to the north of the HETE-2 drop point.
C/NOFS is currently in a 405 x 851 km x 13.0 deg orbit.
PHOENIX
--------
The Mars Phoenix probe landed on Mars at 2338:24 UTC on May 25.
Landing site was near 68.22N 234.3E (areocentric), the Green Valley site
among the Scandia Colles in Vastitas Borealis.
Yubilyeniy
----------
Russia launched three Gonets-class low orbit communications satellites
on May 23. Unusually, they were given Kosmos designations - they
may actually be the Strela-3 military version of Gonets.
The launch also carried Yubilyeniy (Jubilee), a test satellite with
an amateur radio payload to commemorate the 50th anniversary of Sputnik
last year.
The Gonets satellites are in a 1476 x 1510 km x 82.5 deg orbit;
the depleted Briz stage is in a 1200 x 1506 km orbit.
FY-3A
-----
China launched the FY-3A polar orbiting weather satellite on May 27.
The FY-3 series replaces the older FY-1 polar system (FY-2 satellites
make up the geostationary system and will be replaced by the FY-4 series).
FY-3A entered an 806 x 810 km x 98.8 deg orbit; the final stage
is in a 703 x 801 km orbit.
Table of Recent (orbital) Launches
----------------------------------
Date UT Name Launch Vehicle Site Mission INTL.
DES.
Mar 9 0403 Jules Verne ATV Ariane 5ES Kourou ELA3 Cargo 08A
Mar 11 0628 Endeavour(STS-123) Space Shuttle Kennedy LC39A Spaceship 09A
Mar 13 1002 USA 200 Atlas V 411 Vandenberg SLC3E Sigint 10A
Mar 14 2318 AMC 14 Proton-M/Briz-M Baykonur LC200/39 Comms 11A
Mar 15 0610 GPS 48 Delta 7925 Canaveral SLC17A Navigation 12A
Mar 19 2248 DirecTV 11 Zenit-3SL SL Odyssey, POR Comms 13A
Mar 27 1715 SAR-Lupe 4 Kosmos-3M Plesetsk LC132/1 Radar 14A
Apr 8 1116 Soyuz TMA-12 Soyuz-FG Baykonur LC1 Spaceship 15A
Apr 14 2012 ICO G1 Atlas V 421 Canaveral SLC41 Comms 16A
Apr 16 1702? C/NOFS Pegasus XL L1011,KMR Science 17A
Apr 18 2217 Star One C2 ) Ariane 5ECA Kourou ELA3 Comms 18B
Vinasat 1 ) Comms 18A
Apr 25 1535 Tian Lian 1 Chang Zheng 3C Xichang Comms 19A
Apr 26 2216 GIOVE B Soyuz-FG/Fregat Baykonur LC31 Navigation 20A
Apr 28 0353 Cartosat 2A ) PSLV SDSC SLP Imaging 21A
IMS 1 ) Imaging 21D
Can X-2 ) Comms 21L?
Cute-1.7-APD-II ) Tech 21C?
Delfi-C3 ) Tech 21G
AAUSat-II ) Astron 21F
SEEDS 2 ) Tech 21J
Compass 1 ) Tech 21E
Can X-6 ) Comms 21B
Rubin-8-AIS ) Comms 21K
Apr 28 0500 AMOS 3 Zenit-3SLB Baykonur LC45 Comms 22A
May 14 2023 Progress M-64 Soyuz-U Baykonir LC1 Cargo 23A
May 21 0943 Galaxy 18 Zenit-3SL SL Odyssey Comms 24A
May 23 1520 Kosmos-2437 ) Rokot Plesetesk LC133/3 Comms 25
Kosmos-2438 ) Comms 25
Kosmos-2439 ) Comms 25
Yubileyniy ) Comms 25
May 27 0302 FY-3A Chang Zheng 4C Taiyuan Weather 26A
..-------------------------------------------------------------------------.
| Jonathan McDowell | phone : (617) 495-7176 |
| Somerville MA 02143 | inter : |
| USA | |
'-------------------------------------------------------------------------'