Atlas 5 Launches NRO Mission

The most powerful Atlas 5 to fly from Vandenberg AFB, a 541 model with four solid rocket motors and a five meter diameter payload fairing, launched the classified National Reconnaissance Office NROL-35 mission on December 13, 2014. The 522 tonne rocket lifted off from Space Launch Complex 3 East at 03:19 UTC and quickly flew into a news blackout.

Analysts expected the launch to orbit a payload bound for an elliptical 12-hour Molniya type orbit. Potential payloads included communications or signals intelligence satellites. The use of an Atlas 541 indicated that the satellite would likely be heavier than any previously launched by the U.S. to a Molniya orbit. A previous launch of a "Trumpet"-type sigint to 1,120 x 37,600 km x 63.56 deg Molniya orbit used a less-capable Atlas 5-411 with only one strap-on solid motor.

The AV-051 Atlas was the first equipped with an RL10C-1 Centaur engine. The Aerojet-Rocketdyne powerplant was a modified RL10B-2 that came from excess stock from the Delta 4 program. To make the conversion, the bottom two extendible nozzle sections of the RL10B-2 were removed and an improved dual direct spark igniter was installed. The engine produced 10.383 tonnes of thrust, a slight improvement from 10.115 tonnes of thrust produced by the previous RL10A-4-2 Centaur engine.

It was the 455th RL10 launched. The engines have flown for 50 years on seven different launch vehicle types, including Saturn I, Atlas Centaur, Atlas 3, Atlas 5, Titan 3E, Titan 4A/B, and Delta 3.

AV-051 was ninth Atlas 5 of the year, a record for Atlas 5. It was also the third Atlas 5 of the year to fly from VAFB.

China Orbits Sigints

A Chang Zheng 4C orbited three satellites from Chian's Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center on December 10, 2014. The three-stage rocket lifted off from LC 43/603 at 19:33 UTC on the Yaogan 25 mission, reported by China's Xinhua press service to be conducting scientific experiments and land surveys, monitoring crop yields, and aiding in preventing and reducing natural disasters.

Western tracking systems showed an initial object in a 908 x 1102 km x 63.46 deg orbit, consistent with the location of a third stage after lifting a collection of three signals intelligence satellites toward roughly 1,100 km x 63.4 deg orbits. Such satellite arrays use spatial diversity to determine signal source locations and are typically used to track naval activity. Yaogan 20, launched on August 9, 2014, was the most recent similar example of the type.

It was the 13th CZ family, sixth CZ-4 series, and third CZ-4C, launch of the year. Twelve of the launches occurred after the beginning of August.  Four were launched during the past month.

CZ-4B Orbits China/Brazil Satellite

A Chang Zheng 4B rocket successfully orbited CBERS 4 (China-Brazil Earth Resources Satellite) from Taiyuan Satellite Launch Center. The three-stage rocket lifted off from Pad 9 at 03:26 UTC. CBERS-4 was inserted into a 738 x 748 km x 98.55 deg sun synchronous orbit by a third stage burn about 45 minutes later. The third stage subsequently purged its propellant tanks to lower itself into a 478 x 740 km x 98.44 deg orbit.

CBERS 4 is a cooperative earth resource monitoring project involving China and Brazil. The 1.98 tonne satellite was assembled by China Academy of Space Technology. It is similar to CBERS 3, which was lost in a 2013 CZ-4B launch failure. As a result of the loss, the CBERS 4 launch was moved up by one year from previous plans.

It was the 200th orbital launch attempt by a rocket named "Chang Zheng" (Long March), and the 206th attempt by a DF-5 based rocket. Two "CZ-1" launches, which orbited China's first two satellites, were performed by smaller DF-3 based rockets during 1970-71. Eight of the DF-5 based launch vehicles were named "Feng Bao" ("Storm") instead of "Chang Zheng".



Ariane 5 Performs Sixth Launch of Year

Ariane 5 ECA L575 orbited DirecTV 14 and GSat 16, communication satellites for the U.S. and India, on December 6, 2014. Arianespace Mission VA221, the year's sixth Ariane 5, lifted off from Kourou's ELA 3 at 20:40 UTC.  After a 25 minute ascent phase, the satellites separated into geosynchronous transfer orbit.

DirecTV 14, a 6. 3 tonne Space Systems/Loral 1300 series 20-kilowatt satellite, was equipped with 16 Ka-band and 18 Reverse DBS transponders for direct broadcast service from geostationary orbit at 99 desgrees west.  GSat 16, a 3.18 tonne satellite built by ISRO, carried Ku and C-band transponders.  It will be positioned at 55 degrees east.

VA221 was the fifth Ariane 5 ECA flight of 2014 and the 80th orbital launch attempt worldwide of the year.


Orion EFT-1

EFT-1 Liftoff

NASA's Orion Exploration Flight Test 1 began with a 12:05 UTC liftoff from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station Space Launch Complex 37B on December 5, 2014.  The eighth Delta 4 Heavy launch vehicle boosted EFT-1, with the first unmanned Orion Command Module, into an initial 186 x 894 km x 28.4 deg orbit after a 17 minute 39 second ascent. Delta 4's twin outer booster cores burned out and jettisonned 3 minutes 58 seconds after liftoff.  The core first stage shut down at the 5 minute 30 second mark.  The Delta Heavy Cryogenic Second Stage then performed an 11 minute 30 second first burn to reach low earth orbit.

Orion remained attached to Delta 4's cryogenic second stage in orbit, awaiting a second burn about 1 hour 55 minutes into the flight at the end of the first orbit.  This second burn was expected to loft EFT-1 to a nearly 6,000 km apogee on a suborbital trajectory, creating high speed reentry conditions of up to 9,000 meters per second to test Orion's Avcoat ablative heat shield.  Orion uses the largest, heaviest ablative heat shield ever flown in space.

Service Module Fairing Jettison

Important separation events were successfully performed during the ascent, including separation of three 450 kg Service Module Fairings at the 6 minute 20 second mark, about 30 seconds into the second stage burn, and of the roughly 7.5 tonne Launch Abort System (LAS) about 5 seconds later.  The LAS had inert Abort and Attitude Control solid motor simulators, but used a live Jettison Motor to pull itself and its large fairing away from Orion.

Delta 4 Heavy weighed 740 tonnes at liftoff, including Orion, its dummy Service Module and Stage Adapter, the mostly-inert Launch Abort System with its fairing, and jettisonable Service Module panels. In orbit, the Orion Command Module and dummy Service Modules together likely weighed roughly 11.5 to 12 tonnes. The CM alone weighed about 9 to 9.5 tonnes in orbit and 8.6 tonnes at splashdown. The LAS likely weighed about 7.7-7.8 tonnes.

Diagram Showing EFT-1 LAS and SM Fairing Separation

After coasting in its initial low earth orbit, the second stage restarted its Pratt & Whitney Rocketdyne RL10B-2 engine at the 1 hour 55 minute mark, performing a 4 minute 43 second burn to boost Orion into its final elliptical orbit, which had a -20 km perigee, a 5,809 km apogee, and 28.77 deg inclination.  The second stage was expected to perform a third, de-orbit burn after the CM separated. 

The CM and SM remained attached to the Delta 4 cryogenic second stage until the CM separated for reentry about 3 hours 23 minutes after launch, after the vehicle began falling back to Earth from apogee.  At that point, the CM began using its own reaction control system, consisting of 12 monopropellant thrusters, to control its attitude.  The CM performed a brief "Raise Burn" to test its capabilities about 3 hours 57 minutes after liftoff.

Left:  Orion EFT-1 Launch Abort System Fairing Installation at Kennedy Space Center

Right:  Orion Approaches Splashdown

Orion's entry interface occurred at about the 4 hours 13 minute mark.  The capsule was travelling at a velocity of nearly 9,000 meters per second when it hit the atmosphere.   This represented about 84% of the reentry velocity expected by a CM returning from future planned SLS-launched deep space missions.  During reentry, Orion experienced peak heating of about 4,000 F and maximum g-forces of 8.0 to 8.3. 

The Orion CM reentered and splash down under three main parachutes in the Pacific Ocean about 444 km west of Baja, California about 4.5 hours after liftoff.  Splashdown occurred 4 hours 24 minutes after liftoff.  The A U.S. Navy team, based on the U.S.S. Anchorage (LPD-23, a San Antonio-class amphibious transport dock), recovered the spacecraft.

Lockheed Martin assembled Orion at Kennedy Space Center's Operations & Checkout Building during a two year buildup.  The company bought the Delta 4 Heavy launch from United Launch Alliance in 2010.  NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center built the Stage Adapter.  ATK built the Launch Abort System motors.

It was the first civilian payload carried by Delta 4 Heavy.  After its initial demonstration test flight in 2004, the world's heaviest lifter boosted six Defense Department payloads, including five top secret missions for the National Reconnaisance Office.  EFT-1 may have been the heaviest payload at liftoff of a Delta 4 Heavy, but it was likely not the heaviest payload placed into orbit.  EFT-1 shed nearly half of its mass en route to orbit.

At Cape Canaveral Space Launch Complex 37B in Florida, a Delta 4 Heavy has been topped by NASA's first Orion crew carrying spacecraft. This prototype Orion, consisting of a live Command Module and a dummy Service Module, will orbit the Earth twice during an unmanned test, reaching a nearly 6,000 km apogee, before the spacecraft will reenter the Earth's atmosphere at nearly 9,000 meters per second to test its Avcoat heat shield. Orion will splash down below three ringsail parachutes in the Pacific Ocean off the California coast.

Buildup for this "Exploration Flight Test 1" mission has been underway in Florida for months. Lockheed Martin crews spent nearly two years assembling this first flight-capable Orion in the Operations and Checkout Building at Kennedy Space Center (KSC), with its first power up occurring during November 2013. The Delta 4 Heavy stages began arriving at the Cape during early March, 2014. They were stored in the Horizontal Integration Facility at SLC 37 waiting out two Delta 4 Medium series launches, one to orbit GPS 2F-6 on May 17 and another to launch the first two GSSAP satellites on July 28.

Launch stand modifications for the EFT-1 mission were completed and validated before the Delta 4 Heavy stack was rolled out to its launch pad on September 30 and erected to vertical on October 1. The rocket stages were loaded with propellant during a November 5 wet dress rehearsal. Over the night of November 11-12, the Orion spacecraft and its integrated Launch Abort System was moved, during a 30 kilometer, six hour journey, from the Launch Abort System facility, where LAS and fairing installation had occurred, to SLC 37B.


Illustration of EFT-1 Orion and Delta 4 Second Stage in Orbit

Planning for the flight, which was expected to occur during early December, began in 2010, shortly after President Obama cancelled Project Constellation and before continued development of Orion had been approved. The planning also preceded approval of Space Launch System (SLS). Lockheed Martin bought the Delta 4 Heavy flight and, at the time, discussed plans to follow up the launch with crewed flights beginning a couple of years later. Those plans were shelved after SLS was approved.

Delta 4 Heavy, currently the world's most capable rocket, will weigh 740 tonnes at liftoff with EFT-1.  The Orion EFT-1 payload will weigh about 21 tonnes at liftoff, including the mostly-inert Launch Abort System, fairing, and jettisonable Service Module panels. In orbit, the Orion Command Module and dummy Service Modules together will likely weigh roughly 11.5 to 12 tonnes. The CM alone will likely weigh about 9 to 9.5 tonnes in orbit and 8.6 tonnes at splashdown.

The CM and SM will remain attached to the Delta 4 cryogenic second stage until the CM separates for reentry during the final phase of the 4.5 hour mission, after the vehicle begins falling back to Earth from apogee.  After coasting in a low earth initial orbit, the second stage will perform a second burn to boost Orion into its final elliptical orbit, which will have a negative perigee.  The second stage will perform a third, de-orbit burn after the CM separates.


Angara A5

At Russia's Plesetsk Cosmodrome, Site 35/1, Krunichev crews rolled out the first multi-core Angara A5 rocket - the largest, most-capable rocket ever seen in Russia - on November 10, 2015. Angara, named after a fast-flowing 1,800 km long Siberian river, is Russia's first entirely post-Soviet space launch vehicle. After a two decade long, stop-start development program, a single-core Angara performed the program's first test launch from Russian soil on July 9, 2014. The suborbital flight from Plesetsk Cosmodrome was made by a two-stage Angara 1.2PP, heralding the start of the new modular launch vehicle family capable of lifting payloads ranging from light to heavy.  Now Angara A5 is being readied for its premier.

Angara 1.2PP (PP for Pervy Polyot, or "First Flight") consisted of a 2.9 meter diameter URM-1 (Universal Rocket Module) first stage topped by a 3.6 meter diameter URM-2 second stage. Heavy lifter Angara A5, a rocket that when fully developed may eventually rival Delta 4 Heavy, uses in its initial form five clustered URM-1 modules topped by a URM-2 second stage and a Briz M third stage. 

Each URM-1 is powered by a single, 196 tonne thrust Energomash RD-191 staged combustion kerosene/LOX engine. RD-191 is derived from the four-chamber Energomash RD-171 engine that powers the Zenit launcher. A two-chamber variant, RD-180, currently boosts Atlas 5 rockets. URM-2 is powered by a 30 tonne thrust LOX/kerosene RD-0124 engine. This staged-combustion engine was developed to power the upgraded Soyuz-2 third stage, and has already been proven in flight. The Briz-M hypergolic propellant third stage has flown for several years atop Proton-M boosters.


Rollout

Assembly of the first Angara A5 was completed in a horizontal fixture in the Site 35 hangar at Plesetsk during October and early November, 2014. The rocket was rolled out on a railroad transporter to its launch pad on November 10.  A propellant loading test was performed on or before November 20. The 770+ tonne rocket may lift off, rising on 980 tonnes of thrust from its five engines, before year's end, though an early 2015 test flight is also possible.

The core will throttle down while the four strap-on boosters burn at full thrust before separating about 3.5 minutes into the flight at an altitude of about 82 kilometers. The boosters will fall to earth about 850 kilometers east of Plesetsk. The core stage will separate less than two minutes later at about 148 kilometers altitude and fall about 2,320 kilometers downrange.

Angara A5 will be able to lift 24.5 tonnes to a 200 km x 63 deg low earth orbit (LEO), or 5.4 tonnes to geosynchronous transfer orbit (GTO) from Plesetsk with a Briz M upper stage. Use of a projected high energy KVRB stage could improve GTO performance to 6.6 tonnes. Angara A5's LEO capability is currently only exceeded by the RS-68A powered version of Delta 4 Heavy. 

Fueling Test

The first Angara family vehicle to fly was the two-stage KSLV-1 (Korean Space Launch Vehicle), which consisted of an Angara-derived first stage topped by a small solid fuel second stage developed by South Korea's Korea Aerospace Research Institute (KARI). The 28.5 by 2.9 meter, 140 tonne first stage was very similar to Angara's URM-1, except that it was powered by an Energomash RD-151 engine that produced 170 tonnes of liftoff thrust. RD-151 was a lower-pressure, lower-thrust version of 196 tonne thrust RD-191.

The first KSLV-1 launch took place on August 25, 2009. It was an attempt to boost STSat-2, a 100 kg test satellite, into a 306 x 1,500 km near polar orbit. The first stage portion of the ascent was successful, but one of the two payload fairing halves failed to separate. Orbital velocity could not be attained.

The second KSLV-1 failed on June 10, 2010. A "flash" was seen and telemetry was lost 137 seconds into the flight, about 60% of the way into the burn of the vehicle's Energomash RD-151 first stage engine. The cause of the failure was not immediately apparent, and the Russian and South Korean teams disagreed about the cause. The rocket was carrying a second engineering test satellite named STSat-2B.

A third attempt, on January 30, 2013, finally produced success. The final planned KSLV-1 successfully orbited South Korea's STSAT-2C satellite from Naro. The flight added South Korea to the list of 13 countries that have hosted orbital launches. STSAT-2C separated into a 296 x 1,513 km x 80.3 deg orbit about nine minutes after liftoff.

GSLV Mk3

GSLV Mk 3 Facilities Test Mockup

At Sriharikota's Second Launch Pad in India, crews have begun stacking the country's first GSLV Mk3 launch vehicle, in preparation for the GSLV Mk3 X1, or "LVM3-X", suborbital test flight. The 629 tonne, 42.4 meter tall rocket - India's largest - will fly with an inert C25 LH2/LOX third stage in a test that will loft a crew module demonstrator capsule thousands of kilometers downrange to test heat shield materials for a possible future crewed Indian spacecraft.  The launch may occur in late 2014 or early 2015.

The second GSLV Mk 3 is planned to subsequently perform the "LVM3-D1" orbital mission with a functional C25 third stage, a flight that may not occur until 2016 or later.

GSLV Mk 3, designed by India's Space Research Organization's (ISRO), will be able to lift 4-5 tonne satellites into geosynchronous transfer orbit (GTO) and potentially serve as a crew launch vehicle for India in the future. Although it shares the "Geosynchronous Space Launch Vehicle" designation with ISRO's GSLV and GSLV Mk 2 rockets, GSLV Mk 3 is an all new design.

GSLV is fitted with a 5 meter diameter payload fairing. It will lift off on the thrust of two S-200 solid propellant motors, each loaded with about 200 tonnes of propellant. The L-110 liquid core second stage will ignite its two hypergolic propellant Vikas engines 110 seconds after liftoff, about 20 seconds before the solid motors burn out. After a 200 second burn by the second stage, the C-25 cryogenic LH2/LOX fueled third stage would normally take over, performing two burns of its newly developed CE-20 Indian Cryogenic Engine (ICE) for a total of 580 seconds during a typical GTO mission. On the "LVM3-X" test flight, the propulsion phase will end when the Vikas engines of the L-110 second stage shut down.


First Flight Core (Second) Stage

The 25 meter tall, three-segment, steel-case S-200 will be the second largest active solid propellant motor in the world after the Ariane 5 EAP-E booster. NASA's Space Launch System boosters will also surpass S-200 if and when they enter service. S-200 is 3.2 meters in diameter and is manufactured in a plant at Sriharikota.

The L-110 core stage is 17 meters long and four meters in diameter. It is powered for 200 seconds by two Vikas engines similar to the engines used on the second stage of PSLV and GSLV. On those stages Vikas burns for 150 seconds in a single-engine configuration.

The cryogenic third stage requires development of the 20 tonne thrust CE-20 LH2/LOX engine, which is a pacing item for GSLV Mk 3. India's less powerful Indigenous Cryogenic Engine failed during its first flight in on April 15, 2010 during the GSLV Mk 2 D3 mission. It finally succeeded during the GSLV Mk 2 D5 flight of January 5, 2014.

Japan Launches Asteroid Sampler

H-2A-202 F26 launched Japan's Hayabusa 2 on a six year mission to gather and return to Earth samples from an asteroid on December 3, 2014. The 2.5 stage rocket lifted off from Tanegashima Yoshinobu Launch Complex 1 at 04:22 UTC to begin its nearly two-hour flight. For the first time, an H-2A second stage was to perform a one-orbit, 90 minute long parking orbit coast before restarting its LE-5B engine to propel Hayabusa 2 and three microsatellites away from Earth into solar orbit. White thermal paint was added to the exterior of the second stage tank to minimize propellant boiloff during the long coast.

Hayabusa 2, built by NEC Corporation, weighed 600 kg at liftoff and was the year's first satellite launched into solar orbit.  It will fly by Earth again in December 2015 to gain velocity before reaching asteriod 1999 JU3 in June 2018. After sampling the asteroid, Hayabusa 2 will depart in December 2019 for a return to Earth one year later. Samples will be returned in a small reentry capsule.

Hayabusa 2 was expected to separate 1 hour, 47 minutes, 15 seconds after liftoff. The microsatellites, named Procyon, Shin'en 2 and Artsat 2, were expected to separate a few minutes later. Together, the microsatellites weighed about 110 kg tonne.

The first Hayabusa spacecraft, also called MUSES-C, was launched on 9 May 2003 by an M-5 rocket. It rendezvoused with asteroid Itokawa in September 2005 and attempted to gather samples. A sample capsule returned to Earth in June 2010.

Russia Orbits Glonass-K

A Russian Soyuz 2-1b/Fregat rocket launched a Glonass-K navigation satellite into orbit from Plesetsk Cosmodrome November 30, 2014. Lift off from Area 43 Pad 4 took place at 21:52 UTC. After the Soyuz rocket boosted Fregat and its payload into low earth orbit, the Fregat upper stage performed three burns to lift the 0.935 tonne satellite into a roughly 19,130 x 19,150 km x 64.8 deg orbit. Spacecraft separation occurred about 2.5 hours after launch.

It was the third Soyuz 2-1b/Fregat launch with a Glonass payload from Plesetsk in 2014. It was only the second Glonass-K launched to date. The first took place in 2011.


Soyuz Orbits ISS Crew

A Soyuz FG rocket successfully launched Soyuz TMA-15M with three crew to the International Space Station on November 23, 2014. The 2.5 stage R-7 based launch vehicle lifted off from Baikonur Cosmodrome Area 31 Pad 6 at 21:01 UTC, beginning a 5 hour, 48 minute fast-track ascent to the station.

The crew included Russia's Anton Shkaplerov, Italy's Samantha Cristoforetti, and USA's Terry Virts. They joined Barry Wilmore, Alexander Samokutyaev, and Elena Serova on ISS.

It was the year's fourth crewed orbital space flight. All have been performed by Soyuz vehicles from Russia.  The launch was also the 50th by a Soyuz FG variant, all of which have been successful.



China Launches Second Kuaizhou (Updated 11/24/14)

China launched the second quick response orbital launch vehicle named "Kuaizhou" ("Quick Vessel") on November 21, 2014 from Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center. The rocket boosted a "disaster monitoring satellite", according to China's Xinhua, named Kuaizhou 2 into a 293 x 298 km x 96.56 deg orbit after a 06:37 UTC liftoff.

The first Kuaizhou launch from the same site occurred on September 25, 2013.  No photos of either launch were initially released.  Photos of the second launch vehicle in a hangar and being launched were made available on November 23, 2014.

Kuaizhou is believed to be a small solid fuel based launched vehicle developed by China Aerospace Science and Industry Corporation (CASIC). It may be based on the DF-21/25 or DF-31 solid fuel ballistic missiles already in China's inventory. Since those missiles are road mobile, the launch may have been performed from a mobile transporter erector launcher from a flat pad at Jiuquan.

Kuaizhou uses grid fins at the base of its first stage to provide, or augment, initial steering.   It may have three solid stages and a fourth, potentially liquid insertion stage.   The fourth stage of propulsion may be built in to the satellite.

China attempted to develop a DF-31 based solid fuel orbital launch vehicle named KT-1 about ten years ago, but KT-1 failed in two test flights. The country then developed a DF-21 based ASAT launch vehicle named KT-2 that it used to destroy a satellite in orbit in 2007. On May 13, 2013, China launched another unknown solid fuel rocket on an extremely high altitude suborbital launch from XiChang.

It was the year's 75th known orbital launch attempt and the 12th by China.  Five of the world's last 10 orbital attempts were performed by China.

CZ-2D Orbits Yaogan 24

China's Chang Zheng 2D orbited Yaogan 24, likely a Jianbing-6 series electro-optical military observation satellite, from Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center on November 20, 2014. The 232 tonne, two-stage rocket lifted off from LC 43/-603 at 07:12 UTC. The rocket delivered the satellite, which likely weighed about one tonne, into a 630 x 653 km x 97.91 deg sun synchronous orbit. Previous satellites of this series included Yaogan 2, 4, 7, and 11, launched in 2007, 2008, 2009, and 2010, respectively.

China’s Xinhua news agency reported that Yaogan 24 was a remote sensing satellite that will ”mainly be used for scientific experiments, natural resource surveys, crop yield estimates and disaster relief".

It was the 11th CZ launch of 2014, all but one of which have flown since the beginning of August.



China Orbits Yaogan 23

A two-stage Chang Zheng 2C rocket orbited China's Yaogan 23 remote sensing satellite from Taiyuan Satellite Launch Center on November 14, 2014.  Liftoff of the 213 tonne launch vehicle from LC 9 took place at 18:53 UTC. Yaogan 23, which likely weighed less than one tonne, was lofted into a 470 x 497 km x 97.14 deg sun synchronous low earth orbit. 

China described the satellite's mission to be for "scientific experiments, land resources survey, crop yield assessment, disaster prevention and reduction, and other fields".  Western observers believed that Yaogan 23 was a radar ground mapping satellite with a primary military mission.

It was the 10th CZ launch of 2014.

Dnepr Orbits Japanese Satellites

On November 6, 2014, a modified Russian R-36MUTTH "Satan" ICBM named Dnepr orbited five Japanese Earth observation satellites from the Yasnyy launch site at Dombarovsky. The launch from an underground missile silo took place at 07:35 UTC.

Dnepr boosted ASNARO (Advanced Satellite with New system ARchitecture for Observation), a 500 kg satellite for optical Earth observation built by NEC Corporation of Japan for the Ministry of Economy, Trade, and Industry, and four Japanese university microsatellites, each weighing between 49 and 60 kg, to a roughly 550 km x 97.46 deg sun synchronous orbit.

Russian Strategic Rocket Forces of the Russian Ministry of Defense performed the launch for ISC Kosmotras, which is a consortium of Russian, Ukrainian and Kazakhstan companies.

Orbital Announces Accident Recovery Plans

On November 5, 2014, Orbital Sciences announced its plans to recover from the October 28, 2014 Antares launch failure. Its plans included steps both to restore Antares to flight and to fulfill the company's contractual requirements under NASA's Commercial Resupply Services (CRS) program.

Orbital's decisions were informed in part by early findings of the Antares launch failure Accident Investigation Board (AIB), which was focusing on a "probable turbopump-related failure in one of the two Aerojet Rocketdyne AJ26 stage one main engines". As a result of the findings, Orbital announced that it would likely discontinue use of the engines on future Antares launch vehicles.

The company was already planning to replace the AJ26 engines, which are refurbished forty year old NK33 engines made by Kuznetsov for the USSR's N1 rocket. Even before the failed Antares launch, Orbital had decided on an alternate, modern engine, thought most likely to be an Energomash RD-18x or RD-19x series staged combustion kerosene/LOX engine.

The new engines would not have flown on Antares until 2017 at the earliest, but Orbital now intends to accelerate the replacement effort and aim for a 2016 first flight of the re-engined rocket from Wallops. If no more AJ26 engines are flown, a two year or more gap in Antares flights will result. To compensate, Orbital said that it plans to fly one or two Cygnus cargo missions to the International Space Station on "non-Antares" rockets during 2015-2016.

Likely potential temporary Antares stand-ins include Atlas 5, Delta 4, Falcon 9, and Soyuz.

The company planned to take advantage of the heavier lifting capabilities of both the "non-Antares" rockets and of the upgraded Antares after 2016 to carry more cargo in each Cygnus than originally planned. The result will be one less Cygnus mission than originally planned, eliminating the need to build a spacecraft to replace the Cygnus lost on October 28.


Rockets and Failure

For as long as rockets and rocket-powered craft have flown, there have been failures. Space Launch Report readers know that roughly one out of every 16 orbital space launch attempts on average end in failure, a record that has been repeated steadily for more than forty years.

It should not have been a surprise, then, when the fifth Orbital Science Antares launch vehicle failed on October 28, 2014, or when Virgin Galactic's SpaceShipTwo broke up in flight three days later, killing Scaled Composites’ pilot Michael Alsbury and injuring pilot Peter Siebold. The Antares loss was the fourth known orbital space launch vehicle failure world-wide in 2014. At least 23 such failures have occurred since the start of 2010, and 126 since 1990.

Modern rocketry is a frightening balancing act. To accelerate from a dead stop to more than seven times faster than a rifle bullet in a few minutes, an orbital launch vehicle must create, contain, and endure extreme pressures, temperatures, and forces. All it takes to trip up the process is one loose connection, one small piece of sand or rust, a bad bit of metal or insulation, a misplaced bit in a control program, or an unexpected vibration.

Still, the general public continues to express surprise when a failure occurs. Perhaps it is because most failures occur out of sight, downrange or in orbit. Maybe it is because, increasingly, some launch providers refuse to show their failures. SpaceX, for example, has never showed external videos of its  fiery, explosive Falcon 1 failures. If not for a bystander with a camera, the world would not have seen its F9R test stage destroyed in a fireball above Texas earlier this year. SNC never showed the crash of its Dream Chaser prototype. North Korea and Iran don't show launches in real time and usually don't announce failures. China and now Russia don't show launches live which allows them to restrict videos of failures.

Fortunately, NASA TV did not restrict coverage of the spectacular Antares failure. It served as a necessary reminder to everyone that rockets fail. The network also showed a press conference held shortly after the launch that exhibited the type of resilience required to be in the rocket business. David Thompson, chairman and chief executive of Orbital Sciences, said during that conference, shortly after witnessing the $200+ million failure that, "Orbital has experienced adversity in the past, some of which was more difficult than this. And the company has always emerged stronger as a result. I am determined that we will do so again this time.”


Soyuz 2-1A/Fregat Orbits Milcomsat

A Soyuz 2-1A launch vehicle with a Fregat upper stage orbited Meridian 17L, a Russian military communications satellite, from Plesetsk Cosmodrome on October 30, 2014. The 3.5 stage rocket lifted off from Site 43 Pad 4 at 01:42 UTC, beginning a 2 hour 16 minute mission that placed the 2 tonne satellite into an elliptical 12 hour "Molniya" orbit that was initially tracked to be 968 x 39,749 km x 62.81 deg.

It was the first flight of an NPO Lavochkin built Fregat stage since the August 22, 2014 failure of a Fregat stage launched from Kourou left two of Europe's Galileo navigation satellites in incorrect, useless orbits. That failure was subsequently found to have been caused by frozen propellant lines for attitude control thrusters. An investigation found that the propellant lines were routed next to helium lines. On some stages, the lines were in direct contact, allowing the cold helium line to freeze propellant in the propellant line during long coast periods.

Meridian 17L was described as the seventh next-generation Meridian satellite. The first such satellite was launched in 2006, but failed less than 2.5 years later. The second was placed in an incorrect orbit due to a Fregat failure in 2009. The fifth was lost in a Soyuz launch vehicle failure. The third and fourth next-generation Meridians were successfully launched in 2010 and 2011.


50th Atlas 5 Orbits GPS 2F-8

The 50th Atlas 5 rocket, a two-stage 401 variant, orbited U.S. Air Force Global Positioning Satellite 2F-8 from Cape Canaveral SLC 41 on October 29, 2014.  Liftoff occurred at 17:21 UTC to begin a 3.5 hour mission designed to place the 1.63 tonne navigation satellite into a 20,200 km x 55 deg circular orbit.  

Atlas climbed on a northeast azimuth from the Cape, paralleling the Eastern Seaboard of the United States.  Centuar performed a 12 minute 50 second long first burn as it flew up the coast and halfway across the Atlantic to lift itself into an elliptical 176 x 20,279 km x 55 deg transfer orbit.   After coasting for just over 3 hours to first apogee south of Australia, Centaur burned again for about 1.5 minutes to complete the mission.  

Antares/Cygnus Launch Fails

First Antares 130 on Pad 0A with Orb-3/Cygnus Payload

The fifth Orbital Sciences Antares rocket suffered a fiery failure moments after liftoff with the Orbital CRS-3 (Orb-3) Cygnus ISS resupply mission from Wallops Island, Virginia on October 28, 2014. Flying for the first time as an Antares 130 variant with a lengthened Castor 30XL second stage, the rocket lifted off from Pad 0A at 22:22 UTC.

The two AJ-26 first stage main engines ignited at T+0 seconds, followed by liftoff at about T+2 seconds. The initial moments of the ascent seemed normal until about T+14 seconds when the engine exhaust plume suddenly changed color from its usual intense white to a yellowish color. About one second later a ball of fire erupted from the aft section of the rocket and propulsion ceased.

The big rocket momentarily hung in midair before beginning to fall, engine section first, trailing a stream of fire. At about T+24 seconds, the nearly fully fueled Antares rocket impacted between the beach and the pad itself, creating a huge fireball that flung debris in all directions. An intense post-impact fire that appeared to involve pieces of the second stage solid propellant burned for many minutes.

Although Pad 0A exhibited signs of obvious damage, the basic reinforced concrete structure of the launch pad and other elements of the facility appeared on NASA TV to still be intact - one hopeful sign amidst the otherwise catastrophic scene.

The Initial Fireball

Orbital CRS-3 included a Cygnus spacecraft loaded with 2.215 tonnes of cargo for the International Space Station, heaviest-ever for Cygnus which weighed about 5.644 tonnes including cargo.  The cargo included crew provisions, research hardware, emergency equipment, spacewalk supplies and packing materials. It was slated to stay at ISS for about one month until returning to a destructive reentry with about 1.36 tonnes of trash.

It was the first Antares failure. The Ukrainian/Russian/American rocket first flew on April 21, 2013. The second Antares carried the first Cygnus to ISS on the Orb-D1 mission on September 18, 2013. The subsequent operational Orb-1 and Orb-2 missions lifted off on January 9 and July 13, 2014, respectively.

Ground Impact

Although the cause of the failure was not known immediately after launch, attention was expected to focus on the AJ-26 main engines, which are decades-old NK-33 Russian rocket engines that have been refurbished by U.S. Aerojet-Rocketdyne. On May 22, 2014, an AJ-26 being test fired at Stennis Space Center suffered a catastrophic failure 30 seconds into a planned 54 second burn. The failure destroyed the engine and triggered an investigation.

Orbital did not reveal the cause of the failure and damage to the test stand had prevented renewed testing by the time of the Orb-3 liftoff. The Orb-2 and Orb-3 Antares engines, which had previously been tested at Stennis before the May failure, were cleared for flight following borescope inspections and a review of their own test firing data.

CZ-2C Orbits Shijian 11-08

A CZ-2C rocket launched China's Shijian 11-08 into sun synchronous orbit from Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center on October 27, 2014. It was the third Shijian 11 ("Practice") launch of the year and the second in a month. It was also likely the final launch of the Shijian 11 series.

The 213 tonne, two stage rocket lifted off from Launch Complex 43, Pad 603 at 06:59 UTC. The satellite, eigth in a series, entered a roughly 700 km x 98.22 deg orbit.

Shijian 11-08 was developed by China Spacesat Co. Ltd for China Aerospace Science and Technology Corporation. It likely weighed less than 1 tonne, given CZ-2C's near-polar orbit capability.

China announced that the satellite would be used to "conduct experiments in spece". No further details of the satellite mission were announced. It was the ninth Chang Zheng orbital launch of the year and the fourth launch in a month.

Dragon Returns

SpaceX Dragon CRS-4 returned from a nearly five week stay at the International Space Station on October 25, 2014.  The cargo hauling capsule splashed down off Southern California's coast with 1.486 tonnes of cargo.  The CRS-4 mission began with a September 21, 2014 launch from Cape Canaveral, Florida.  CRS-4 was the fourth of at least 12 missions to ISS that SpaceX is contracted to fly under NASA's $1.6 billion Commercial Resupply Services (CRS) contract.

China Launches Lunar Sample Return Precursor

China launched its Chang'e-5-T1 lunar sample return precursor test flight from XiChang Satellite Launch Center on October 23, 2014. Chang'e-5-T1, bound for a lunar free-return trajectory, lifted off from Launch Complex 2 atop the first Chang Zheng 3CE (Enhanced) launch vehicle at 18:00 UTC.  The spacecraft was inserted into a 209 x 413,000 km lunar transfer orbit.

After circumnavigating and passing about 13,000 km from the Moon's surface about four days after liftoff, the satellite is slated to return toward Earth and, a little more than eight days after liftoff jettison a reentry module that will return to be recovered in Inner Mongolia. The module is shaped like a scaled version of China's manned Shenzhou reentry module. It will have to endure an 11.2 km/sec high speed reentry that includes a skip-type profile.

Chang'e-5-T1 is a test of elements of the Chang'e-5 mission planned for 2017. Chang'e-5 will return a 2 kg sample of lunar soil and rocks to the Earth using a reentry module similar to the Chang'e-5-T1 module.

CZ-3CE is an enhanced version of the CZ-3C launch vehicle that uses a first stage stretched by 1.488 meters and boosters stretched by about 0.76 meters. The lengthened stage and boosters have both previously flown on the CZ-3BE launch vehicle, beginning in 2007. CZ-3CE can lift 3.9 tonnes to a standard GTO, an increase of 0.1 tonnes from CZ-3C. These "Enhanced" variants will become the new standards as China phases out the previous versions.

Proton Orbits Express AM6 (Updated 10/24/14)

Russia's 399th Proton orbited the Express AM6 communications satellite from Baikonur Cosmodrome on October 21, 2014. The 705 tonne, four-stage rocket lifted off from Site 81 Pad 24 at 15:09 UTC to begin a nearly 9.5 hour mission that included four burns by the Briz M upper stage.

Express AM6, a 3.358 tonne Express 2000 series satellite built by ISS Reshetnev, carried 72 transponders in Ku-band, C-band, Ka-band and L-band.

Ekpress-AM6 ended up in a 31,307 x 37,784 km x 0.7 deg orbit, short of the expected 33,800 x 37,787 km x 0.18 deg by about 50 meters per second delta-v.  During its fourth burn meant to raise the perigee and reduce the inclination of a 369 x 37,736 km x 49.56 deg transfer orbit, the Briz M stage cut off 24 seconds before its planned 779 second duration, leading outside observers to believe that some type of failure had occurred during the final burn even though Russian authorities insisted that the launch was successful.  Briz M used its own smaller thrusters to subsequently lift itself into a 34,984 x 39,549 km x 1.0 deg disposal orbit. 

Express AM6 should be able to use its electric propulsion system to maneuver itself from its "quasi-geosynchronous" insertion orbit to a final geostationary orbit at 53 degrees east longitude.  It is not known if the extra delta-v needed to reach GSO will affect the planned 15 year lifetime of the satellite.

The mission used Proton-M serial number 935-48 and Briz-M serial number 995-50. It was the sixth Proton launch, and fifth success, of 2014.



CZ-4C Orbits Yaogan Weixing 22

A Chang Zheng (Long March) 4C rocket orbited China's Yaogan Weixing 22 reconnasaince satellite from Taiyuan Satellite Launch Center on October 20, 2014. The three-stage rocket lifted off from Launch Complex 9 at 06:31 UTC. YG-22 was inserted into a roughly 1,200 km x 100.32 deg orbit.

As usual for a satellite of this type, China announced that it had a remote sensing mission for "scientific experiments, land survey, crop yield assessment, and disaster monitoring". Outside observers believe that YG-22 is an optical reconnaisance satellite that likely has a military mission, at least in part.

X-37B Lands at Vandenberg AFB

After 674 days in orbit, the third X-37B unmanned reusable space plane mission (OTV-3) ended with a successful landing at Vandenberg AFB Runway 12. Touchdown occurred at 16:24 UTC. It was the second flight of the first of two X-37B spacecraft.

OTV-3 was orbited by Atlas 5-501 AV-034 from Cape Canaveral, Florida on December 11, 2012. It initially entered a low earth orbit inclined 43.5 degrees to the equator. Previous OTV mission launches took place on April 22, 2010 and March 5, 2011, lasting 224 and 469 days, respectively.

The X-37B spaceplane's specific mission and what it carried in its small payload bay were classified. The Air Force only described the mission in general terms as "risk reduction, experimentation, and concept of operations development for resuable space vehicle technologies".

After the landing, the Air Force announced plans to launch a fourth X-37B mission from Cape Canaveral in 2015. Boeing recently announced plans to move its X-37B operations into two former Shuttle orbiter hangars (OPF-1 and OPF-2) at nearby Kennedy Space Center.

Ariane 5 Launches Comsats for Latin America

An Ariane 5 ECA L574 orbited Intelsat 30/DLA 1 and Arsat 1, communication satellites for Latin America, on October 16, 2014. Arianespace Mission VA220 began from Kourou's ELA 3 launch complex with a 21:43 UTC liftoff. The satellites separated into geosynchronous transfer orbits about 30 minutes later.

Intelsat 30/DLA 1, a 6.32 tonne Space Systems/Loral satellite, carries 72 Ku-band and 10 C-band transponders and will raise itself into geostationary orbit at 95 degrees west. The 2.973 tonne Arsat 1 satellite, which rode to orbit below Intelsat 30, was built by INVAP in Argentina. It be positioned at 71.8 degrees west.

It was the fifth Ariane 5, and fourth Ariane 5 ECA, flight of 2014. It was also the 45th consecutive Ariane 5 ECA success, a streak that has lasted nearly 12 years.

India Launches Navsat

PSLV-XL C26 successfully orbited India's IRNSS-1C navigation satellite on October 15, 2014 after launch from Sriharikota. The four stage rocket lifted off from Satish Dhawan Space Center's First Launch Pad at 20:02 UTC. The 1.425 tonne satellite separated into a subsynchronous transfer orbit about 20 minutes 18 seconds later.

The satellite will fire its liquid propulsion engine multiple times to raise itself from its initial 283 x 20,670 km x 17.9 deg transfer orbit into a 35,786 km x 0.0 deg geostationary orbit. IRNSS-1C had to be inserted into a subsynchronous orbit due to mass limits of the PSLV-XL launch vehicle.

It was the third Indian Regional Navigation Satellite System launch of seven planned by the end of 2015. Three will be placed in geostationary orbit while the other four will occupy inclined geosynchronous orbits.

It was the third PSLV launch, and fourth Indian launch, of 2014, the most-ever in a calendar year.

H-2A Orbits Weather Satellite

Japan's H-2A boosted the Himawari 8 weather satellite into geosynchronous transfer orbit on October 7, 2014 from Tanegashima Space Center. H-2A F25, a "202" variant with two strap-on SRB-A solid motor boosters, lifted off from Yoshinobu Launch Complex Pad 1 at 05:16 UTC.

The 53 meter tall, 286 tonne rocket's liquid hydrogen fueled upper stage fired its LE-5B engine twice to boost the 3.5 tonne Mitsubishi Electric Corp. built satellite toward a planned 250 x 35,976 km x 22.4 deg transfer orbit. Spacecraft separation occurred 27 minutes and 57 seconds after liftoff.

Himawari 8 will use its own propulsion system to gradually move itself into a circular geostationary orbit above the equator at 140 degrees east longitude. It will work for the Japan Meteorological Agency (JMA).

It was the third of four planned H-2A launches in 2014.