[UPDATED] You Only Die Twice (redux): the unusual and confusing double reentry of a ZQ-3 upper stage (2025-282A)

Click map to enlarge

(The title of this blogpost is inspired by a similar titled post from several years ago) 

The uncontrolled reentry of a large (assumed 7-8 ton weight) Chinese ZQ-3 (Zhuque-3) upper stage, 2025-282A (catnr. 66877), on 30 January 2026 for some reason created quite some public attention, especially in Europe. But  the event became decidedly unusual when, nine hours after the US Space Force published the Final TIP, a second Final TIP appeared. We have not seen that happening before. 

So what do we have here: an object that reentered TWICE?

The first published "final" TIP, published about an hour after the listed reentry time, was for 30 Jan 2026, 12:39 UTC ± 1m, near 54.3 S, 170.4 W. 

This time and location incidentally where a very close match to the final result of the experimental Tudat reentry model we were running for this object at Delft University of Technology (nominal 12:39 UTC, 56.0 S, 179.3 W, see here).

Jonathan McDowell and I believe that the final TIP's with a quoted 1-minute uncertainty are in fact based on space-based (satellite) observations of the reentry fireball, so they are accurate (and refer to the object starting to ablate at roughly 90-80 km altitude).

So far so good: observed and modelled reentry moment well in agreement. Nice!

But then it got confusing. Several hours later that day, the US Space Force published a second "final" TIP, also with a quoted 1-minute accuracy: 13:43 UTC ± 1m, near 3.9 S, 60.7 E. This is half-a-revolution (1h 4m) later than the first TIP.

 

Screenshot of the two relevant TIP's as published on Space-Track

 

Both locations are indicated by the yellow circles in the map in top of this post (the blue cross is the nominal result of our Tudat reentry model, the solid blue line the one-sigma uncertainty in that estimate).

So what happened here? How did this object appear to reenter TWICE?

While it could all be a clerical error or a mix-up/false detection, I suspect that this unusual "double reentry" is genuine. This particular reentry was from a somewhat eccentric orbit, more so that your average reentry. The last available orbit from ~2 revolutions before the 12:39 UTC TIP, was 211 x 102 km, with apogee decidely higher than perigee. Under such circumstances, parts might surve a low perigee (low enough to initiate ablation and partial reentry).

My suspicion therefore is that when the rocket stage initially reentered in perigee at 12:39 UTC and started to ablate and break up, a single massive/solid part survived this perigee and continued for half a revolution, before finally reentering at 13:43 UTC.

(alternatively, you could think of this as one reentry with a very, very long stretched debris strewnfield)

The longer surviving part might well be the dummy payload of this experimental launch, which remained attached to the ZQ-3 upper stage but might have separated from the upper stage during the 12:39 UTC perigee/reentry (edit: or the previous perigee pass, see post update below). If this dummy payload was a solid weight, meaning it had a much larger mass-relative-to-area (a lower area-to-mass ratio) than the rest of the rocket stage, it might have survived and come out of perigee again, while the actual upper stage meanwhile did not survive this perigee and reentered in the first spot at 12:39 UTC. The dummy payload then finally came down in the second spot at 13:43 UTC.

Although a different situation, it reminds me a bit of a confusing case from 2014, the reentry of a Russian Kobalt-M spy satellite (on which I also wrote under the title "You Only Die Twice" at the time, a blogpost which you can read here). The latter consisted of the uncontrolled reentry of shed parts over the USA, preceded by a controlled reentry of the film return capsule over Russia a few hours earlier. So a different situation, but equally confusing.

 

UPDATE  2 Feb 2026

I further investigated the hypothesis of a solid piece coming off the upper stage and surviving the initial 12:39 UTC reentry, by means of running trial-and-error models in Tudat, integrating the R/B to a certain time/altitude and taking the State Vector from that integration with a new mass and area to see if I could get a piece to survive to 13:43 UTC. I modelled for solid steel spheres (from the initial idea of a solid mass representing the dummy payload).

I have trouble to get anything surviving assuming it came off during or just before the 12:39 UTC first TIP. In order to create something that survives untill 13:43 UTC, I needed to go to a mass of 2500 kg coming off as much as half an hour before the 12:39 first TIP, at 129 km altitude: but then the remaining mass for the R/B without dummy payload does not have the R/B itself reenter at 12:39 UTC.

(added note: within error margins of the model, it however still might be possible) 

I do get a result that neatly matches both TIP's however, if I detach a small mass (only ~7.9 kg!) during the previous perigee pass, at about 11:25 UTC at an altitude of 109.5 km. This mass (with a corresponding diameter of about 12.4 cm for a solid steel object) in our Tudat model survives this perigee and the next and reenters at nominally 13:43 UTC at about 5 S, 62 E, in close agreement with the time and location of the second TIP. The R/B minus shed mass reenters earlier, around 12:39 UTC, the time of the first TIP. 

So, in summary of this scenario (see also map below):

Event I:  a ~7.9 kg. ~12.4 cm solid object detaches from the ZQ-3 R/B in perigee at 11:25 UTC;

Event II: the remaining ZQ-3 R/B reenters around 12:39 UTC at next perigee at location of TIP a;

Event III: the detached solid 7.9 kg object survives and reenters at 13:43 UTC at location of TIP b.

The object in question would however be too small to be a dummy payload (but could be a part of it) and I also wonder whether it is big enough to create a clear reentry fireball (clear enough to be seen from Space by SBIRS). So I am not entirely convinced this simulation solves the matter.

Click map to enlarge

(facetious added note: I am suddenly having hilarious visions of the dummy payload being a solid steel bobble-head statue of the Chinese LandSpace CEO, with the head coming off....)

NROL-77, probably a new NOSS (or maybe not)

click map to enlarge

On 9 December 2025 between 19:06 and 19:28 UTC, SpaceX will launch the classified mission NROL-77 for the NRO, from SLC-40 in Cape Canaveral. The NRO Press Kit is here.

Navigational Warnings point to initial launch into a ~49 degree inclined coasting orbit. Upon passing the descending node of that parking orbit, about an hour after launch, the Falcon 9 upper stage with payload will manoeuver into a ~63.4 degree inclined orbit, likely ~1000 x 1200 km. The upper stage deorbits at the end of the first revolution, in the eastern Pacific.

I initially briefly comtemplated a higher, more unusual orbit, at 1950 km altitude, based on the ~14 minute daily shift backwards of the launch window (as gleaned from Navigational Warning NAVAREA IV 1337). That was an overinterpretation (I blame the COVID infection I suffered the past week, it messes with the brain): the NOSS-like 1000 x 1200 km orbit is more likely and it fits the location and shape of the upper stage deorbit area well.

So this could be a new NOSS (Naval Ocean Surveillance System) duo of SIGINT satellites. Or maybe not, after the experience with NROL-85 in 2022 (see earlier blog post here) which featured only one payload, not two as is typical for NOSS missions. We'll see.

Below are the relevant Navigational Warnings, and two search orbits, one for the coasting orbit (valid untill ~1 hour after launch), the second for the payload(s). 

 

040948Z DEC 25
NAVAREA IV 1337/25(11,26).
NORTH ATLANTIC.
FLORIDA.
1. HAZARDOUS OPERATIONS, ROCKET LAUNCHING 
   091906Z TO 092010Z DEC, ALTERNATE
   101852Z TO 101956Z, 111838Z TO 111942Z,
   121824Z TO 121928Z, 131810Z TO 131914Z,
   141756Z TO 141900Z AND 151742Z TO 151846Z DEC
   IN AREAS BOUND BY:
   A. 30-50.00N 078-10.00W, 32-12.00N 077-07.00W,
      32-27.00N 076-28.00W, 32-03.00N 075-57.00W,
      31-38.00N 076-07.00W, 30-40.00N 077-57.00W.
   B. 28-39.69N 080-38.17W, 28-52.00N 080-15.00W,
      28-45.00N 080-03.00W, 28-29.00N 080-22.00W,
      28-27.61N 080-31.56W.
2. CANCEL THIS MSG 151946Z DEC 25.//

 

040904Z DEC 25
NAVAREA XII 789/25(21,22,83).
PACIFIC OCEAN.
1. HAZARDOUS OPERATIONS, SPACE DEBRIS
   1731Z TO 2200Z DAILY 09 THRU 15 DEC
   IN AREA BOUND BY
   12-02.00N 112-31.00W, 12-58.00N 114-47.00W,
   00-49.00S 120-38.00W, 01-46.00S 118-25.00W.
2. CANCEL THIS MSG 152300Z DEC 25.//

 

Search orbits:

NROL-77 PARKING                 for launch on 9 Dec 2025 19:06:00 UTC
1 70000U 25999A   25343.79583334  .00000000  00000-0  00000-0 0    03
2 70000 049.1163 258.3583 1136647 049.6536 329.5142 13.42495109    02

NROL-77 NOSS payloads           for launch on 9 Dec 2025 19:06:00 UTC
1 70001U 25999A   25343.83680556  .00000000  00000-0  00000-0 0    03
2 70001 063.4415 271.5212 0133723 213.5444 360.0000 13.42495109    02

 

image: NRO

 (with thanks to Ted Molczan for discussions)

BRIK-II is no more

On 12 November 2025, the Netherlands' first military satellite, the 6U cubesat BRIK-II (2021-058F), reentered into the atmosphere after 4 years of service. I posted about the launch and the backgrounds of this experimental small satellite in 2021.

 

BRIK-II during construction. Photo: Dutch Ministry of Defense

 

At TU Delft, we have been running a reentry model for BRIK-II in the open source TU Delft Astrodynamics Toolkit (Tudat). While for many weeks the prognosis from our model pointed steadily to 14 or 15 November 2025, things changed in the last few days when a strong series of geomagnetic storms developed, due to a series of strong solar flares. This (along with suspected attitude loss, causing a higher - and variable-  drag area) speeded up the reentry, as can be seen by the dramatic shift in the evolution of the reentry prediction during the last few days before reentry in the diagrams below:

 

click diagrams to enlarge

Our last estimate, based on the last available orbit from 12 November ~6:04 UTC, is that the cubesat reentered around 15:47 ± 1.9 hours UTC on November 12, 2025. 

The quoted error margin might, in fact, be a bit optimistic in this case, due to the unusually rough circumstances around the time of the reentry (which included the arrival of a shockwave from a X5.1-class solar flare). A more safe guess is reentry between ~11:45 and 19:45 UTC. The last available orbit on which our final forecast is based, dates from about 10 hours before the nominal reentry time from our model.

The map below shows the nominal reentry position plus the trajectory over the one- and two-sigma uncertainty interval in the prediction: 

click map to enlarge

 

BRIK-II, named after the very first aircraft of the Royal Netherlands Air Force in 1912 ("Brik"), was a trailblazer for the Dutch Air and Space Force. It was an experimental satellite, meant to show that operating satellites was possible for the Dutch military, and was a way to gain the Dutch Air Force valuable experience with such operations. Three other, operational, satellites would follow in the next four years: the joint Dutch-Norwegian satellites Huygens and Birkeland, and a SAR satellite.

Brik-II (the name means, a.o., "brick") truely paved the way into Space for the Dutch Air and Space Force.

 

BRIK-II imaged on-orbit by me on 30 March 2023

(on a related note: I have started to post experimental reentry forecasts for selected objects here: https://reentry.langbroek.org)

[MULTIPLE UPDATES] Possible Space Debris found near Newman, Australia on Oct 18, might be Jielong 3 upper stage remains

click map to enlarge

On 18 October 2025 near 14:00 local time (= 18 October ~6:00 UTC), a strange object was found on or near a dirtroad in the outback of  the Pilbara region in Western Australia. The object, suspected to be space debris, was found some 30 km east of the small mining town of Newman, as reported by ABC.

The object (photo's in the ABC report) resembles a COPV (Composite-Overwrapped Pressure Vessel), a type of space debris that often survives reentry. It reportedly was burning when found (this seems to be visible in the first photograph in the ABC report), which is unusual and against expectations for space debris. Nevertheless, the character of the object and a good match of the find location to a reentry on 18 October does persuade me to conclude that this is space debris indeed.

A possible candidate for the origin of this apparent space debris is a Chinese Jielong 3 upper stage, catnr. 61237, COSPAR 2024-173L. This object reentered on October 18, although (again! See this recent reentry) no TIP was issued by CSpOC.

I identified the object (note: so independently did Ravi Jagtiani) by assuming the report it was burning, although odd, is true, indicating a very recent impact. Using the latest orbital catalogue I first checked which objects were in orbits below 250 km on October 17-18, i.e. close to reentry, and next I ran a SatEvo analysis on this set to further cull it down to objects that should have been near reentry around that time. Starlink satellites could be excluded given the character of the debris. This left only a handfull of candidates. Of these, only one was in an orbit that would match passing close to Newman in the early hours of October 18: the mentioned Chinese Jielong 3 stage in a 97.6 degree inclined polar orbit. Using a standard SGP4 propagation as a first check, the ground-track would pass some 20-30 km east of Newman around 4:40 UTC on October 18. The rocket stage approached from the north-northeast moving towards the south-southwest.

The last available orbit for 2024-173L is for epoch 25291.03873492 (18 Oct 00:55 UTC), a few hours before the Newman object was found. Using that orbit as a starting point and deploying the reentry model we recently created in the open source Delft University of Technology Astrodynamics Toolkit (Tudat), I tried whether I could get a reentry trajectory to end ~30 km east of Newman. 

Not much information is known about the Jielong 3 components in terms of size and mass: therefore, estimates for size and mass of the upper stage had to be used. I assumed a size of about 1.5 x 1.5 meter (cf Jonathan McDowell's catalogue) and then by trail-and-error varied the mass to get an impact point as close to 30 km due east of Newman as possible.

An impact point situated directly ~30 km east of Newman results when I use a mass of ~301 kg, which seems a reasonable value for a small solid fuel upper stage build from composite. The two maps below show the Tudat modelled reentry trajectory that results from a 2.5 m² drag surface and 301 kg mass, with impact just after 4:40 UTC on 18 October (see also update II at the bottom of this post):

 

click map to enlarge

 

click map to enlarge

The modelled impact time is 1 to1.5 hours before the object was reportedly found. 

So it looks like the Jielong 3 upper stage 2024-173L is a good candidate for the origin of the possible space debris object found near Newman on October 18. Rather than a COPV from the stage, it could actually be (a significant part of) the upper stage itself, given the large size that the photo's suggest (and also given that the Jielong 3 upper stage is reportedly a solid fuel stage).

As we have seen with a number of recent reentries, CSpOC alas did not provide a TIP for this object (TIP = "Time of Impact Prediction", the reentry prediction by the CSpOC reentry model). They did however release an administrative "decay message" for 2024-173L for October 18 just after the reentry, indicating that it did reenter that day.

 

UPDATE I, 21 Oct 2025 00:20 UTC:

An EU-SST reentry analysis for the Jielong 3 upper stage 2024-173L is in good agreement with my Tudat analysis.

 

UPDATE II, 21 Oct 2025 15:45 UTC:

Using Tudat, I tried to fit the orbital evolution (based on US tracking data) for 2024-173L from July 1, 2025 to October 15, 2025 to the Tudat model, playing with mass and drag area, to get at empirical values for mass and drag area. One of the solutions that fits well is a mass of 300 kg and drag area of 2.2 m² , which is close to the values I used to get it to reenter near Newman as described earlier in this blogpost. 

click diagram to enlarge

With a 300 kg mass and 2.2 m² drag area, the Tudat reentry model has it nominally surviving untill ~5:17 UTC ± 65 min, nominally reentering half an orbital revolution after passing Newman: but passing Newman actually is well within the uncertainty window of this reeentry prediction (the blue line on the map shows the trajectory over the uncertainty window):

 

click map to enlarge

In other words: this too suggests that the object found near Newman could be (a part of) the Jielong 3 upper stage 2024-173L.

 

UPDATE III, 31 Oct 2025: 

A lone TIP has suddenly been issued for 2024-173L by CSpOC today: 18 Oct 2025 4:38 ± 1m UTC near nominally 18.1 S 121.2 E.  

This conforms well to the space debris being found in Newman, as the time and location likely are based (given the ± 1 minute uncertainty) on a satellite observation of the fireball, i.e. on the location at an altitude of 80-100 km. I have plotted the position in the map below, that also depicts our Tudat reentry trajectory with associated times.

 

click map to enlarge

[UPDATED] Identifying a reentry over the Canary Islands on 16 October as the reentry of the Chinese satellite Xinjishu Yanzheng 7 (XJY-7)

click to enlarge

In the early local morning of 16 October 2025 around 1:56 UTC, a spectacular phenomena appeared in the sky over Tenerife in the Canary Islands. A bright, slow, fragmenting fireball moved from south to north over the sky. Sonic booms were heard and registered by several seismic stations on Tenerife. The event clearly was a reentry of artificial space debris. For footage, see here and here. The all-sky image on the left above is from the Izana Atmospheric Research Center on Tenerife (the plotted sky map on the right is by me, for comparison, see discussion below).

I was alerted to the event by my Spanish colleague Josep Trigo (ICE-CSIC/IEEC) in the morning of October 16, who asked if I could identify which object was reentering here. A check on the CSpOC portal Space-Track did not yield a TIP that would match - as it turns out, the object in question never received a TIP, which is odd as it was heavy and large, as we will see.

So in order to identify it, I had to do some additional research. I selected all orbits from the orbital catalogue with perigee below 200 km. Next, I used SatEvo software to see which of these orbits would have a predicted reentry on October 15-16. From the handfull of candidates left, I next checked which of them would be over the Canary Islands near the time of the event (1:56 - 1:57 UTC on 16 October 2025). One object stood out - and it was one for which no TIP had been issued: the Chinese satellite Xinjishu Yanzheng 7 (XJY-7, 2020-102C), launched in 2020.

All sky imagery showing the reentry trail in the sky against a starry background had meanwhile been published on Twitter by the Izana Atmospheric Research Center on Tenerife. The general location of the trail amidst the stars in the sky and the direction of movement matched those expected for XJY-7 well. It was clear we had found our culprit.

Not much is known about XJY-7. Jonathan McDowell lists bus dimensions of about 3 x 5 x 9 meter and a dry mass near 3000 kg for this object in his catalogue. ESA's DISCOS lists similar dimensions but a mass of 5000 kg (perhaps a wet mass).

The last available orbit for XJY-7 was for epoch 25288.77158679, or 15 October 18:31 UTC, some 7h 25m before the event. To investigate further, I used the reentry model that my colleague Dominic Dirkx and I made some time ago (see earlier posts) in the Open Source Delft University of Technology Astrodynamics Toolkit (Tudat) to see whether I, with trial-and-error, could get a reentry model for XJY-7 to end over the Canary Islands. As it turns out, I could, for a mass of 2717 kg (close to 3 tons) and a drag area of 37.44 m² (the maximum drag surface listed by DISCOS), using past and current space weather.

The map below shows the resulting reentry groundtrack and times for this model integration. Note that the model does not take fragmentation and mass loss into account, so it has limitations and is an approximation only. I had the model terminate at 20 km altitude.

The figure below the map, compares the sky trajectory resulting from this model for the location of the Izana Atmospheric Research Center, to that registered by the all sky camera at Izana. They match well.

Click map to enlarge

 

click to enlarge

 

It is curious that no TIP was issued for this reentry by CSpOC. This was a large heavy object: 3 x 5 x 9 meter and 3 tons in mass. CSpOC apparently overlooked this reentry - a few hours post reentry, they however did add an administrative "decay message" for October 16 to the catalogue for this object, but without any further details. 

We recently have seen a complete lack of TIP's being issued for any object, for over a month. Only recently, CSpOC resumed issuing TIP's. CSpOC is currently clearly having some issues with their system. Luckily, we were nevertheless able to identify the object responsible for this spectacular reentry, by some diligent analysis.

 

UPDATE 17 Oct 2025  22:00 UTC:

Click map to enlarge (map updated to correct typo)

I played a little bit more with the reentry model, tinkering the area to mass ratio to get an even better fit to the sky trajectory as seen from the Izana camera station. Here is an updated plot of the modelled sky trajectory (numbers next to trajectory are atmospheric altitudes in km according to the simulation):

A mass of 2715.5 kg creates a very good fit, except for the end of the trail. That is no surprise: the reentry model is a simple model without mass loss and fragmentation, while in reality there is massive mass loss and fragmentation (meaning: changing area to mass ratio's for various fragments). When solid parts survive, heavy relative to their size, these have a lower area to mass ratio meaning they lose altitude less quickly.

Here is the improved model trajectory overlayed on the Izana camera image:

Click image to enlarge

(I thank Josep Trigo (ICE-CSIC/IEEC) and the Spanish SPMN for data and discussions)

A Trident-II D5 SLBM launch in the Atlantic on 21 September 2025: analysis of footage from Puerto Rico (UPDATED)

frame stack of movie by SAC station Anasco, Puerto Rico

 

click map to enlarge

On 15 September 2025, Navigational Warnings appeared that pointed to an upcoming Trident-II D5 SLBM (Submarine Launched Ballistic Missile) unarmed test launch in the Atlantic between 17 and 22 September 2025, from a submarine of either the US Navy or UK Royal Navy positioned some 400 km out of the coast of Florida (update 24 Sept 2025: according to this US DoD bulletin it was an American test launch from an unnamed Ohio-class SSBN (Ballistic Missile submarine). The submarine test-launched four Trident missiles between Sept 17 and 21). I have posted about such tests and the typical pattern of Navigational Warnings associated to them earlier, in an analysis of a Trident launch that was inadvertently captured on camera in a time-lapse by an amateur astronomer on La Palma in September of 2013.

And now we have another case of inadvertant capture on camera of such a launch, and a second opportunity for analysis! 

In the evening of 21 September 2025 near 23:30 UTC, eyewitnesses in Puerto Rico saw a fuzzy object and what looked like expanding missile exhaust clouds move through the sky, consistent with a rocket or missile launch. The event was captured by amongst others a meteor camera of the Caribbean Astronomy Society (SAC) near Anasco, Puerto Rico. 

Eddie Irizarry of SAC was so kind to send me the video footage for identification and analysis. Immediately, it was clear to me that the video showed the Trident test launch we expected.

In top of this post is a frame-stack from the footage. Below it is a map I prepared showing the northern part of the sky as seen from the camera station in Puerto Rico, with the blue line representing the sky trajectory expected for this Trident launch for an assumed (but see below) apogee altitude of 2200 km. They compare well (note: the video stack shows a part of the trajectory only, up to about azimuth 30 degrees, while the sky map shows the full trajectory).

Here is the video footage itself (courtesy of  Eddie Irizarry, used with permission):

 

 

The trajectory for this Trident test launch is known, as it can be reconstructed from the Navigational Warnings that have been issued for it. Below is the Navigational Warning, and a map where I have plotted the exclusion zones A-D from it, and a fitted ballistic trajectory:

151958Z SEP 25
HYDROLANT 1538/25(GEN).
ATLANTIC OCEAN.
DNC 01, DNC 16.
1. HAZARDOUS OPERATIONS 171830Z TO 220136Z SEP
   IN AREAS BOUND BY:
   A. 28-34.00N 076-29.00W, 29-07.00N 076-28.00W,
      29-05.00N 075-33.00W, 28-30.00N 075-35.00W.
   B. 28-37.00N 075-51.00W, 28-55.00N 075-44.00W,
      27-44.00N 070-28.00W, 27-05.00N 070-28.00W.
   C. 16-28.00N 044-01.00W, 17-01.00N 043-43.00W,
      14-36.00N 038-46.00W, 13-37.00N 039-33.00W.
   D. 10-35.00S 001-40.00W, 10-05.00S 001-25.00W,
      12-01.00S 002-21.00E, 12-45.00S 002-55.00E,
      13-11.00S 002-20.00E, 13-01.00S 002-02.00E,
      13-04.00S 002-00.00E, 12-38.00S 001-15.00E.
   E. 26-58.00N 070-28.00W, 28-14.00N 070-28.00W,
      25-56.00N 063-20.00W, 24-34.00N 063-50.00W.
2. CANCEL THIS MSG 220236Z SEP 25.

click map to enlarge

 

On the map, I have undicated the part of the trajectory that was captured by the SAC camera on Puerto Rico as a yellow line. 

Area A is the launch area where the submarine is located. Areas B, E and C are respectively the splashdown zones of the first, second and third stages of the missile. Area D is the RV (Reentry Vehicle) target zone. The switched designations for the C and E area are probably a clerical error.

The launch area, 400 km out of the Florida coast is one of two well established launch locations for Trident tests in the Atlantic (see my earlier investigation here). Likewise, the target area in the southeastern part of the Atlantic, 900 km east of St Helena at a range of about 9500 km from the launch site, is a well known target location for these test launches.

What cannot be well gleaned from Navigational Warnings alone, is the apogee altitude of this test. 

In this post, I will however reconstruct it from a combination of the known missile flight trajectory and measurements of the missile's sky track in the video footage from Puerto Rico, in a similar way as I analysed the earlier 2013 Trident observation from La Palma. For that 2013 test, I found an apogee at ~1800 km.

The video (the original is higher resolution than the version posted in this blogpost) provides plenty of reference stars to do astrometry on the missile path through the sky. So I measured the missile's position with respect to the stars for several frames from the video. Plotting  these observed positions (in RA/DEC) on a star map along with the expected sky trajectories in RA/DEC for various assumed apogee altitudes (based on the trajectory from the Navigational Warnings), it is clear that an apogee of 2200 km fits best. Red crosses in the plot below are the measured positions from the video: the blue lines provide the expected missile tracks for various apogee altitudes:

click map to enlarge

(note that I choose to plot RA on the Y-axis rather than X-axis, in order to get a plot orientation that is most easily compared to the video footage).

Earlier, while similarly analyzing the Trident launch seen from La Palma in 2013, I found an indicated apogee of ~1800 km, some 400 km lower than seems to be the case with this latest test launch. Both values are significantly higher than the ~1200 km that is often taken as a canonical value for an intercontinental missile apogee. These tests in the Atlantic therefore appear to be a bit "lofted", perhaps simply to keep the Reentry Vehicle (RV) impact area sufficiently out of the African coast.

From the timing of the Puerto Rico video, the actual launch time was likely somewhere near 23:27 UTC (Sept 21) from a location  near 28.8 N, 76.3 W, with a flight time near 41 minutes from launch to RV impact. As seen from Puerto Rico the missile cleared the horizon while at ~150 km altitude, steadily climbing to  ~800 km when it left the field of view of the CAS camera station (while continuing its ascend towards apogee). The closest slant range to the camera station was ~1300 km. The big cloud of exhaust gas seen in the early part of the video likely stops upon ejection of the second or third stage. The various smaller "pufs" of exhaust cloud that can be seen later emanating from the fuzzy object, are probably due to either the third stage or post-boost vehicle orienting itself.

(With thanks to Eddie Irizarry/CAS for sending me the footage and for his permission to use it in this blog) 

UPDATE 24 Sept 2025: 

According to this US DoD bulletin the missile was launched from an unnamed US Ohio-class Ballistic Missile submarine (SSBN). The submarine reportedly test-launched as much as four Trident missiles of the 5DLE variety between Sept 17 and 21. The below image was published, showing a Sept 21 nighttime launch, the missile that was seen from Puerto Rico:

 

Sept 21 2025 Trident missile launch. Photo US Navy/Shelby Thompson