Tuesday, 30 March 2021

[UPDATED] Cosmic Ballet: approach of MEV-2 and Intelsat 10-02 imaged

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image from 2 April 2021. Click image to enlarge At geosynchronous altitudes, a cosmic ballet is happening between Intelsat 10-02 (2004-022A...
Tuesday, 23 March 2021

[UPDATED] Reentry predictions for the Falcon 9 RB 2021-017BN

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click diagram to enlarge In my previous post , I discussed 2021-017BN, the Falcon 9 upper stage from the March 4 Starlink launch that shoul...
6 comments:
Friday, 12 March 2021

Apparent failed deorbit of the Starlink-18 Falcon 9 upper stage [UPDATED]

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On 4 March 2021 , after several delays, SpaceX launched the 18th Starlink batch (Starlink-18 or V1.0-17). While the launch and deployment p...
Monday, 8 February 2021

A possible (now CONFIRMED) Trident-II SLBM test launch between February 9 and 14, 2021 [UPDATED]

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click map to enlarge A Navigational Warning , NAVAREA IV 117/21 , appeared yesterday, and is suggestive of an upcoming Trident-II SLBM test ...
1 comment:
Monday, 25 January 2021

Virgin Orbit to launch first satellite for the Royal Dutch Air Force this year

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  Brik-II patch (collection author) Today, Virgin Orbit and the Dutch Ministery of Defense announced that Brik-II , the first satellite ow...
Saturday, 9 January 2021

First optical observations of the NROL-108 payloads USA 312 and USA 313

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In the early morning of January 9, I made the my first optical observations of the two payloads, USA 312 and USA 313 (2020-101A & B)...
Friday, 25 December 2020

Seasons Greetings!

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  To all of you who read this blog, I wish you a Merry Christmas, and a Happy, above all Healthy and Productive 2021! What a strange year 2...
Tuesday, 15 December 2020

NROL-108: another mystery launch perhaps similar to NROL-76 (USA 276)? [UPDATED]

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UPDATE 17 December 2020 16:15 UT : today's launch was scrubbed due to a pressure anomaly in the upper stage. A new launch attempt will ...
Friday, 27 November 2020

USA 310 (NROL-101) and it's Centaur on 25 November

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click image to enlarge   The image above was taken between 1:28:22 - 1:28:27 UT on November 25, and shows both USA 310 (the NROL-101 paylo...
2 comments:
Tuesday, 24 November 2020

Brightness variation of the NROL-101 Centaur upper stage from video observations

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 In my previous post I discussed our tracking of the recently launched NROL-101 objects: the payload (USA 310, 2020-083A) and the Centaur u...
Sunday, 22 November 2020

Tracking objects in MEO from the NROL-101 (USA 310) launch [updated]

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  NROL-101 payload USA 310. Click image to enlarge On 13 November 2020 at 22:32 UT, the United Launch Alliance (ULA) launched NROL-101 fo...
Sunday, 15 November 2020

SM-3 Block IIA Missile Defense test FTM-44 against an ICBM-class target imminent, 17-19 November 2020 [UPDATED]

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Click to enlarge. Image: MDA Three days ago, on 12 November 2020, a Navigational Warning appeared that denoted three hazard zones in the no...
5 comments:
Friday, 13 November 2020

Crew Dragon-1

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click map to enlarge [ Edit 13 Nov 23:25 UT:  due to the weather the launch has been postponed one day to 16 Nov 00:27 UT ] If weather coo...
Sunday, 1 November 2020

NROL-101: probably a HEO mission [or maybe not! See update at bottom]

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click map to enlarge EDIT 4 Nov 2020 22:30 UT:   post UPDATED with new maps and new value for inclination parking orbit EDIT 2, 22:50 UT (No...
2 comments: