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Vol. 38 No.12, September 2013 Editor: Jos Heyman FBIS In this issue: Satellite Update 4 Cancelled projects: Conestoga 5 News Ardusat 3 Arirang-5 7 Dnepr 1 7 Dream Chaser 7 Eutelsat and Satmex 2 Fermi 7 Gsat-14 7 HTV-4 3 iBall 3 Kepler 4 Orion 7 PicoDragon 3 Proton M 2 RCM 2 Russian EVAs 2 SARah 4 SGDC-1 4 SPRINT A 4 TechEdSat-3 3 WGS-6 4 HTV-4 Unpressurised Logistics Carrier with STP-H4 TIROS SPACE INFORMATION Eutelsat and Satmex 86 Barnevelder Bend, Southern River WA 6110, Australia Tel + 61 8 9398 1322 Eutelsat has acquired Mexico’s Satmex, a major communicaions satellite operator in the Latin (e-mail: [email protected]) American region. o o The Tiros Space Information (TSI) - News Bulletin is published to promote the scientific exploration and Satmex has currently three satellites in orbit at 113 W (Satmex-6), 114.9 W (Satmex-5) and commercial application of space through the dissemination of current news and historical facts. 116.8 oW (Satmex-8) and it can be expected that, once the acquisition has been completed, In doing so, Tiros Space Information continues the traditions of the Western Australian Branch of the these satellites will be renamed as part of the Eutelsat family. In addition Satmex has the Astronautical Society of Australia (1973-1975) and the Astronautical Society of Western Australia (ASWA) Satmex-7 and -9 satellites on order from Boeing. It is not clear whether these satellites will (1975-2006). remain on order. The News Bulletin can be received worldwide by e-mail subscription only. Subscriptions can be requested by sending an e-mail address to [email protected]. Tiros Space Information reserves the right to refuse Eutelsat has also announced that it has ordered the Eutelsat 65 West A satellite from any subscription request without the need to provide a reason. All opinions expressed are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the opinions of the Editor or Space/Systems Loral which, after its launch in early 2016, will serve the Latin American Tiros Space Information. market. The LS-1300 platform will be fitted with 10 C band, 24 Ku band and 24 Ka band All material contained in this publication may be reproduced provided due acknowledgment is made. transponders. Calling card... RCM Canada’s MacDonald, Dettwiler and Associates (MDA) has booked the Falcon 9 for the launch of its three Radarsat Constellation Mission (RCM) Earth observation satellites. The launches will take place in 2018. Proton M ISL, the launch company, expects to resume the use of the Proton M launch vehicle on 15 On 31 August 1973 the Western Australian Branch of the Astronautical Society of Australia September 2013 although Russian officials have denied this. was established and issued its News Bulletin shortly afterwards. Two years later this became The investigation into the launch failure of 2 July 2013 has revealed that the failure was the Astronautical Society of Western Australia which remained in existence until 2006 when caused by the incorrect installation of sensors detecting speed and direction. the News Bulletin, the only remaining activity of the Society, was taken over by Tiros Space By the end of the year up to five Proton M launches are expected to have taken place. Information. This means that this News Bulletin celebrates a 40 years heritage which Meanwhile, the Russian Prime Minister has reprimanded the chief of the Roskosmos space continues in our use of the logo of the long abolished Astronautical Society of Australia. agency, Vladimir Popovkin, for failing to carry out his duties properly. Russian EVAs On 16 August 2013 cosmonauts Yurchikhin and Misurkin made an EVA of 7 hours, 29 minutes during which they installed equipment and routed power cables for the arrival of the Russian Multipurpose Laboratory Module. They also installed a panel of experiments on the Poisk module to collect data on the effects of the microgravity environment in low-Earth orbit. They made a second EVA of 5 hours, 59 minutes on 22 August 2013, during which they removed a space laser communications system from the hull of the Zvezda service module OK, I realise that it reads Vol. 38 on the top of the current issue, but that is because of a and installed a pointing platform on which a small optical telescope will be installed on a future rather strange decision in November 1975, when, with the corporate change, we started with Russian spacewalk. number 1 again. Really, the first News Bulletin was published in September 1973. Jos Heyman Tiros Space Information – News Bulletin, September 2013, page 2 HTV-4, PicoDragon, TechEdSat-3 and Ardusat The HTV-4 cargo spacecraft that was launched on 3 August 2013 and docked with the ISS on 9 August 2013, carried 5400 kg of cargo/supplies to the ISS of which 3900 kg was in the Pressurized Logistics Carrier and 1500 kg on the Unpressurized Logistics Carrier. The HTV-4 pressurized module contained 8 HTV Resupply Racks with station supplies and equipment. The payload also included four cubesats which will be launched through the Kibo module at a later date. The first one is PicoDragon, a single cubesat that carries two amateur radio downlinks and has been developed by the Vietnam National Satellite Centre. The Technical and Educational Satellite (TechEdSat)-3 is a 3U cubesat that has been developed at the San Jose State University (SJSU) and the University of Idaho. The satellite will test the Exo-Brake passive de-orbit system which has been mounted in two of the three cubesat units. After deployment of the satellite the Exo-Brake system will be activated and it is expected that it will de-orbit the satellite within 10 days. ArduSat Edu kit The pressurised cargo also included Kirobo, the humanoid robot referred to in the February 2013 issue of the News Bulletin. The unpressurised cargo included the Space Test Program-Houston (STP-H)-4, a suite of seven experiments to investigate space communications, Earth observation and materials sciences. Two orbital replacement units (ORU), comprising a spare Main Bus Switching Unit (MBSU) and a spare Utility Transfer Assembly (UTA), both to keep the space station’s electrical system operating smoothly, were also carried as unpressurised cargo. HTV-4 is expected to undock on 5 September 2013 at which time it will carry the Space Test Program-Houston (STP-H)-3 experiment towards destruction in the atmosphere two days later. After undocking and just before the break-up of the of the spacecraft, the i-Ball re-entry recorder, a 22 kg, 40 cm diameter sphere developed by IHI Aerospace, will be released from a container. The sphere will descend whilst suspended from a parachute, and record data, including still images, during the re-entry in order to increase the knowledge on what happens during re-entry. On landing in the sea i-Ball will stay afloat for data transmission but will Exo-Brake eventually sink. This capsule was also carried on the previous HTV-3 spacecraft. The first TechEdSat was deployed on 4 October 2012. No data is available on TechEdSat-2. i-Ball Finally Arduino Satellite (Ardusat) -1 and –X are two 1U cubesats developed by NanoSatisfi Inc., as a crowd funded project to provide a platform on which students and DIY space enthusiasts can run their own space - based Arduino experiments. The primary payload is a bank of Arduino processors which can sample data from the satellite’s imaging payload, and on board sensors. Arduino is an open-source electronics prototyping platform based on flexible, easy-to-use hardware and software. It's intended for artists, designers, hobbyists and anyone interested in creating interactive objects or environments. NanoSatisfi is a small San Francisco based company that offers a special ArduSat educational kit for US$50 and sells three days operating time on board of its satellites for US$125. Experiment time of two weeks will cost US$450. Tiros Space Information – News Bulletin, September 2013, page 3 Satellite Update SARah Launches in July 2013 Germany has ordered the follow up to its SAR-Lupe radar reconnaissance satellite constellation that is being operated by the German military. Int.Des. Name Launch date Launch vehicle Country Notes To be known as SARah, the constellation will consist of one active satellite (SARah Aktiv-1) to 2013 034A IRNSS-R1A 1-Jul-2013 PSLV XL India be built by EADS Astrium, and two passive satellite (SARah Passiv-1 and -2 ) to be built by --- Glonass M 2-Jul-2013 Proton M/Briz M Russia 3 satellites failed OHB-System. 2013 035A SJ-11-5 15-Jul-2013 CZ 2C China Technology The latter two satellites will fly at an altitude of 500 km in formation with the active satellite and 2013 036A MUOS-2 19-Jul-2013 Atlas V-551 USA Military comsat will register the reflected signals of the active satellite. The active satellite will fly at a higher 2013 037A SJ-15 19-Jul-2013 CZ 4C China Technology altitude of about 750 km. 2013 037B CX-3 19-Jul-2013 CZ 4C China Technology The satellites are expected to have a mass of up to 2000 kg and will carry more powerful 2013 037C Shiyan-7 19-Jul-2013 CZ 4C China Technology processing and storage facilities, allowing more images to be taken. 2013 038A Alphasat I-XL 25-Jul-2013 Ariane 5ECA ESA Maritime comsat 2013 038B Insat-3D 25-Jul-2013 Ariane 5ECA India Meteorological The three satellite will be placed in orbit by two Falcon 9 launches that are expected to take 2013 039A Progress M- 27-Jul-2013 Soyuz U Russia Docked with ISS place in 2018 and 2019.