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Le taxi Soyouz-TMA-7 arrive à l'arrimage sur l'ISS en 2005.
Il amène l'équipage d'Expedition-12. (Doc NASA 2005)
Désormais ma page actualité se trouve sur mon blog à l'adresse :
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Vous trouverez plus bas l'actualité du mois qui est résumée par notre excellent collègue
Jonathan Mc.Dowell, un dévoué astrophysicien du Harvard Smithsonian Center
Jonathan McDowell
(Doc Novosti Kosmonavtiki 2006)
Jonathan's Space Report
No. 624 6 mars 2010, Somerville, MA
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Shuttle and Station
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STS-131 was rolled out to the launch pad on Mar 4; it is scheduled
for launch in April. The STS-130 mission was completed on Feb 22.
STS-130's second spacewalk began on Feb 14, with Quest airlock depressurization
at 0219 UTC and hatch open at 0220 UTC. Patrick, in SEMU 3004, and Behnken, in
SEMU 3018, hooked up fluid lines and electrical cables between Unity and
Tranquility. The spacewalk ended with repressurization of Quest at 0814 UTC.
The Cupola was unberthed from the end of the Tranquility module at 0524 UTC
Feb 15, after an hour's delay due to uncooperative bolts and latches.
The Space Station's module shuffle continues as reserve docking port
PMA-3 was unbolted from the zenith location on the Harmony module at
0052 UTC on Feb 16 and moved by the SSRMS arm to the end location on
Tranquility, where the Cupola used to be. PMA-3 was fixed in its new
location at 0228 UTC.
For EVA3 Behnken used SEMU 3005 and Patrick used SEMU 3004.
Quest was depressurized at 0213 UTC, with hatch open a minute later.
They completed the exterior outfitting of Tranquility and Cupola.
The airlock was repressurized at 0803 UTC, with Cupola's newly open window
shutters exposing the windows and giving the crew a new view of the Earth.
Endeavour undocked at 0054 UTC on Feb 20. The OMS engines were fired at
0214 UTC on Feb 22 to drop the vehicle out of orbit, and it landed on
runway 15 at Kennedy Space Center at 0320 UTC.
Landing of Soyuz TMA-16, with Maksim Suraev and Jeff Williams, is
scheduled for March 18.
Yaogan 9
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China launched the 'yaogan weixing jiu hao' (Resource Satellite No. 9)
from the Jiuquan space center on Mar 5. The satellite is thought to have
both civilian and military applications; the large fairing on the CZ-4C
launch vehicle suggests the possibility of a big SAR radar antenna. US
tracking reports the satellite in a 1083 x 1100 km x 63.4 deg orbit,
very like that used by the US Navy ocean surveillance satellites.
The orbital inclination is lower than previous Yaogan missions but
similar to that used by the old low-orbit FSW satellites launched
from Jiuquan.
This is the 19th launch of the Shanghai-developed Chang Zheng 4
(CZ-4, Long March 4) launch vehicle, and the first from the northern
Jiuquan base. All previous CZ-4, CZ-4B and CZ-4C launches were from
the Taiyuan center.
Current orbits of Yaogan Weixing satellites: (km x km x deg)
YW1 627 x 629 x 97.9
YW2 631 x 655 x 97.6
YW3 627 x 629 x 97.8
YW4 634 x 652 x 97.9
YW5 486 x 493 x 97.4
YW6 510 x 511 x 97.6
YW7 622 x 660 x 97.9
YW8 1192 x 1204 x 100.5
YW9 1083 x 1100 x 63.4
GLONASS
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A Khrunichev Proton-M rocket with an Energiya Blok DM-2 upper stage was
launched from Baykonur on Mar 1. Early on Mar 2 it deployed three
Uragan-M navigation satellites, Nos. 731, 732 and 735; they were given
code names in the Kosmos series. The satellites will form part of the
GLONASS navigation system and are in 19100 km orbits.
GOES P
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A new weather satellite was launched from Cape Canaveral on Mar 4 aboard
a Boeing Delta 4. The latest Geostationary Operational Environmental
Satellite, GOES P, has a launch mass of 3215 kg and a dry mass of around
1540 kg and is based on the Boeing 601 bus. It reached a 6623 x 35177 km
x 12.1 deg orbit at 0418 UTC on Mar 5. GOES P carries a weather imager
and sounder, as well as a space environment monitor, a search
and rescue transponder, and a solar X-ray telescope.
Mars Express
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Europe's Mars Express orbiter has been making close flybys of the small
Martian moon Phobos, with a record close approach of 67 km on March 3,
beating the previous 89 km record set by Viking Orbiter 1 on 1977 Feb 20.
Mars Express is in a 353 x 10333 km x 86.8 deg orbit around Mars, while
Phobos is in a 5838 x 6122 km x 1.1 deg orbit.
Details from ESA are as follows:
Flyby date Distance
Feb 16 0552 991 km
Feb 22 574 km
Feb 25 398 km
Feb 28 226 km
Mar 3 2055 67 km
Future scheduled flybys are:
Mar 7 107 km
Mar 10 286 km
Mar 13 476 km
Mar 16 662 km
Mar 19 848 km
Mar 23 1341 km
Mar 26 1304 km
Cassini
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The Cassini probe made the closest ever flyby of Saturn's moon Mimas
(Saturn I) at 1723 UTC on Feb 13, passing 9520 km from the icy world's
surface. At 1742 UTC on Mar 2, Cassini flew only 101 km from Rhea
(Saturn V), and the next day on Mar 3 at 1342 UTC passed 1817 km from
the Dione Trojan moon, Helene (Saturn XII).
Stardust
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The Stardust space probe changed its orbit slightly on Feb 17,
decreasing its perihelion by 75000 km to target a flyby of comet
9P/Tempel-1 at 0442 UTC on 2011 Feb 15. Stardust is now
in a 0.971 x 1.728 AU x 8.5 deg solar orbit and is currently
in the paramartian region in the (heliocentric) direction of Pisces.
Suborbital flights
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Dartmouth'se CHARM II payload was launched on a Black Brant XII,
NASA 40.025UE, on Feb 16 to study auroral particle acceleration.
The Swedish-German REXUS program launched two small Orion rockets
from the ESRANGE base in Kiruna, Sweden, carrying student experiments
to the edge of space.
The Russian Navy launched an R-29RM Sineva missile from a submarine
in the Barents Sea, probably to the Kura target range in Kamchatka.
The Sineva usually carries around 4 reentry vehicles.
The two MARTI targets used as victims of the Airborne Laser
were flights NASA 36.250DR on Feb 4 and NASA 36.251DR on Feb 12,
following on from the Jan 10 test launch of NASA 36.247DR.
India launched a new sounding rocket on Mar 3. The Advanced Technology
Vehicle is a two-stage rocket which, based on photos, appears to
have two identical stages based on the old RH-560 sounding rocket motor,
itself derived from the old French Stromboli motor. This makes
ATV very similar to the 1960s Eridan rocket in external appearance.
The rocket reached a 46 km apogee; since it didn't leave the atmosphere
on this flight it is not included in the table below.
Table of Recent (orbital) Launches
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Date UT Name Launch Vehicle Site Mission INTL.
DES.
Feb 3 0345 Progress M-04M Soyuz-U Baykonur LC1 Cargo 03A
Feb 8 0914 Endeavour (STS-130) Space Shuttle Kennedy LC39A Spaceship 04A
Tranquility/Cupola Module 04
Feb 11 1523 SDO Atlas V 401 Canaveral SLC41 Astronomy 05A
Feb 12 0039 Intelsat IS-16 Proton-M/Briz-M Baykonur LC200/39 Comms 06A
Mar 1 2119 Kosmos-2459 ) Proton-M/DM-2 Baykonur Navigation 07A
Kosmos-2460 ) Navigation 07B
Kosmos-2461 ) Navigation 07C
Mar 4 2357 GOES P Delta 4M+(4,2) Canaveral SLC37B Weather 08A
Mar 5 0455 Yaogan Weixing 9 Chang Zheng 4C Jiuquan Radar? 09A
Table of Recent (suborbital) Launches
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Date UT Payload/Flt Name Launch Vehicle Site Mission Apogee/km
Feb 3 Kavoshgar-3 Kavoshgar Iran Bio 100?
Feb 4 0803 MARTI Target Black Brant IX San Nicolas I Target 100?
Feb 7 0520 Agni III RV Agni III Chandipur R&D flight 350
Feb 9 0901 NASA 41.084UE Terrier Orion Poker Flat Atmosphere 160?
Feb 12 0444 ABL Target Scud MLP, Pacific O. Target 100?
Feb 12 0531 MARTI Target Black Brant IX San Nicolas I Target 100?
Feb 16 0949 NASA 40.025UE Black Brant XII Poker Flat Auroral 803
Mar 2 0725 SSC REXUS 7 Improved Orion Esrange Aeron/Tech 83
Mar 4 0450 Sineva RV-1) Sineva K-114, Barents Op. Test 1000?
Sineva RV-2)
Sineva RV-3)
Sineva RV-4)
Mar 4 1015 SSC REXUS 8 Improved Orion Esrange Tech 88
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| Jonathan McDowell | phone : (617) 495-7176 |
| Somerville MA 02143 | inter : jcm@host.planet4589.org |
| USA | jcm@cfa.harvard.edu |
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