Wednesday, 8 January 2025

Possible Space Debris impact in Kenia: a piece of the Ariane SYLDA 2008-034C? [updated]

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the metal ring found near Mukuku in Kenia. Image: Kenia Space Agency the metal ring found near Mukuku in Kenia. Image: Kenia Space Agency th...
Thursday, 10 October 2024

X-37B Spaceplane OTV 7 to lower orbit by aerobraking

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X-37B OTV 7 near apogee  imaged by the author on 3 October 2024. Click to enlarge It looks like the time on orbit is about to end for missi...
Wednesday, 25 September 2024

A Chinese ICBM test launch at full range, into the central Pacific, on September 25

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click image to enlarge click image to enlarge In a surprise move, China conducted a (for them) unusual ICBM test launch on September 25, 2...
Saturday, 21 September 2024

The Russian SIGINT satellite LUCH (OLYMP-K) 2 has moved again

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LUCH (OLYMP) 2 position change. Click image to enlarge   Luch (OLYMP) 2 (2023-031A), the second Russian OLYMP-K/LUCH 5X SIGINT satellite i...
Saturday, 14 September 2024

The North Korean satellite Malligyong-1 has manoeuvered again

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click map to enlarge At the end of the first week of September , the North Korean military reconnaissance satellite Malligyong-1 (2023-179A...
Monday, 2 September 2024

ACS 3 appears to be tumbling or gyrating

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  (this post was lightly editted and extended after initial posting) In a previous post I reported my first post-sail-deployment observatio...
Sunday, 1 September 2024

The Advanced Composite Solar Sail System 3 (ACS 3) observed after sail deployment [UPDATED]

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ACS 3 on 29 August 2024. Click to enlarge   On April 23, 2024, Rocketlabs launched an Electron rocket for NASA carrying ACS 3 (2024-077B) ,...
Sunday, 18 August 2024

More X-37B spaceplane OTV 7 observations

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OTV 7 imaged on August 11. Click image to enlarge In a previous blogpost I wrote about recovering the X-37B Spaceplane OTV 7 (2023-210A) o...
Sunday, 4 August 2024

Recovery of the X-37B spaceplane OTV 7

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click to enlarge   The classified US Space Force X-37B spaceplane OTV 7 (2023-210A) was launched on 29 December 2023, in an unusual Highly ...
Sunday, 7 July 2024

The Russian SIGINT satellite LUCH (OLYMP) 2 has arrived at its new destination, next to THOR 7

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LUCH (OLYMP) 2 imaged at its new location on July 6. Click image to enlarge   In a previous blogpost I signalled that the Russian military ...
Friday, 28 June 2024

LUCH (OLYMP) 2 is on the move again [UPDATED]

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Image from June 27, 2024. Click to enlarge  [ UPDATED on 5 July 2024 ] The Russian military geosynchronous SIGINT satellite LUCH (OLYMP)...
Sunday, 23 June 2024

The North Korean satellite Malligyong-1 raised its orbit again early June

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  click diagram to enlarge Early February 2024, the North Korean satellite Malligyong-1 (2023-179A) made a series of orbital raising manoeu...