Tianshi‑1 Deployment Near 66A Raises Orbital Ambiguity
China's Tianshi-1 appears to have been deployed from the Xinzhengcheng-02 parent satellite; object 66D was cataloged, but has TLEs that put it stationkeeping within 1 km of 66A. More data needed for clarity.
Moon‑
In a frame moving with the center of the Moon, the little loop goes away and is replaced by a hyperbola. Cyan dot is the sphere of the moon to scale, dashed line is the lunar sphere of influence....
Artemis 2’s Flight Path Overlaid on Moon’s Orbit
Here's the Artemis 2 trajectory in a geocentric inertial frame projected onto the equatorial plane. The cyan track shows the motion of the moon during the mission. https://t.co/deCYMUyDal
Integrity Exits Moon's Gravity, Heading Back Earth
Integrity has now passed lunar closest approach and is climbing uphill in the lunar gravity field. In about 18 hours it will leave the lunar gravitational sphere of influence and start falling back towards Earth.
Artemis Reaches 6,544 Km Perilune, 413,146 Km
At 2302 TDB (2300 UTC) Artemis will reach a perilune of about 6544 km altitude. Four minutes later it will reach a maximum distance to the geocenter of 413146 km. [Blue: geodistance; Red: height above moon; Magenta: geocent radial...
Integrity Spacecraft Reaches Lunar Orbit; 25‑28th Humans Depart Earth
The Integrity spacecraft just entered the lunar gravitational sphere of influence, at 0438 UTC Apr 6. Wiseman, Glover, Koch and Hansen are now the 25th to 28th humans to have left terrestrial space.
Artemis Escapes Moon Thanks to Sufficient Escape Velocity
Good question in the press conf: once it's in the grip of lunar gravity how come Artemis gets out again later? Because it has escape velocity relative to the Moon. The Moon is dominating its motion, but it's going...
Satellite Lifetime Drops Sharply With Altitude, Study Shows
Today's calculation: how long does a satellite in a circular orbit stay up when it stops all reboost burns? Depends on a lot of things, especially solar activity, but let's average over all of that and do a Kaplan-Meier analysis...
Artemis II Cubesats Tracked; ATENEA Likely Re
The Artemis II cubesats TACHELES, SWC-1 and K-RADCUBE have now been identified on Space-Track. ATENEA was not cataloged+was expected to have reentered at 1st perigee since it had no propulsion to raise its orbit. K-RAD may also have...
Space Force Confirms Meridian-M Launched Into Expected Molniya Orbit
Space Force orbit data show the Meridian-M satellite launched yesterday in a 996 x 39714 km x 62.8 deg 'Molniya' orbit as expected
NYT's Shocking Decline: How the Gray Lady Fell
Incredible .... how the Gray Lady has fallen. How did this get as far as print @nytimes ?
Three Artemis‑II Cubesats Show Successful Perigee‑Raise Burn
Three of the four Artemis-II cubesats have now been cataloged; orbits are 149 x 70247 km, 492 x 70228 km, and 61 x 70276 km. Suggests at least one made a successful perigee raising burn, but waiting for more data...
Soyuz-2-1a Launch From Plesetsk Carries Meridian Satellite
LAUNCH at 0628 UTC of a Soyuz-class rocket from Plesetsk. Suspected to be a Soyuz-2-1a/Fregat with a Meridian military comms satellite, but we'll have to wait for Space Force tracking to confirm that.
Tianlong-3 Launch Unconfirmed Amid Failure Speculation
LAUNCH of Tianlong-3 from Jiuquan at about 0417 UTC. Speculation it has failed but no official info yet.
Integrity Crew Shatters Isaacman 1400 Km Record 13 Minutes Post‑launch
Per a question asked in the presser, Integrity's crew broke the Isaacman height record of 1400 km at 2306 UTC Apr 1, a mere 13 minutes after launch.
Artemis II Begins TLI Burn, Reaching Lunar Distance
The Artemis II Integrity spacecraft is now coasting downwards and will reach perigee of about 195 km late on Apr 2. At 2349:50 UTC it will make the TLI (Trans-Lunar Injection) burn, a 388 m/s burn lasting 5m51s to raise...
Artemis 2 to Raise Perigee, Reaching 191×70,133 Km Orbit
Next major Artemis 2 milestone is a perigee-raise rocket burn carried out at 1130 UTC, near apogee. Resulting orbit will be around 191 x 70133 km.
Seventeenth Rassvet‑3 Debris Cataloged, Upper Stage Still Unidentified
A 17th object has been cataloged associated with the Rassvet-3 launch. Not yet clear which of the 17 objects is the Soyuz upper stage.
Orion Lifts Perigee, Now in 118×70134 Km Orbit
Orion has made the USS2 burn to raise its perigee. ICPS remains in a 11 x 70358 km orbit; Orion now in a 118 x 70134 km orbit.
Integrity Reaches 70,385 Km Apogee Before Moonward Burn
Integrity will reach a 70385 km apogee at about 1200 UTC Apr 2, before falling back to perigee where it will make the rocket burn to send it moonward; that burn due at about 2345 UTC Apr...
Integrity Tests Stationkeeping on Orion’s First Crewed Flight
Integrity is now using the ICPS upper stage as a target to practice stationkeeping and maneuvering, as part of this first crewed test flight of the Orion spaceship.
Artemis 2 Launch
LAUNCH at 2235:12 UTC of SLS flight 2 with Artemis 2 from Kennedy Space Center. Artemis 2 has now manuevered to a -2 x 70385 km x 28.3deg orbit
Only Five of the 24 Lunar Pioneers Remain Alive
Between 1968 and 1972, twenty-four humans entered lunar space, where the Moon's gravity dominates that of the Earth (within about 66000 km from the selenocenter). Only five of them are still alive.
Few Transporter 16 Payloads Remain Unidentified, SM‑1.2 Owner Sought
Of over 100 payloads deployed on the Transporter 16 launch, only a few have had no info released about them. Does anyone know who owns the "SM-1.2" satellite?
Wishing NASA Success on Artemis Launch, Bon Voyage Christina
Wishing @NASAAdmin and the entire @NASA team the best for tomorrow's Artemis launch attempt - and a special 'bon voyage' to @centerforastro alum @Astro_Christina !
NASA's “Fastest” Reentry Matches Apollo 10 Speeds
NASA claims the Art. 2 reentry will be the fastest crew entry ever at "about 25000 mph" (i.e. somewhere in the range 10.95 to 11.40 km/s). However the Horizons trajectory for Art2 appears to give 11.06 km/s (inertial) while Apollo...
OneWeb's Rare Failure: Satellite SL0179 Begins Deorbit
There have been very few failures in the OneWeb constellation; on Mar 16 OneWeb SL0179, launched in 2021, began rapid orbit lowering, presumably being retired as a result of some malfunction. https://t.co/catxyEcmju
Lijian‑2 Yields Single Cataloged Object in Low Orbit
1 object cataloged so far from the Lijian-2 launch, in a 217 x 604 km x 85.0 deg orbit
SpaceX Transporter 16 Launch Carries Over 100 Payloads
LAUNCH of SpaceX Transporter 16 rideshare mission at 1102 UTC Mar 30. Over 100 payloads aboard. GCAT will be updated later today I hope.
Shiyan‑33’s Low Orbit Raises Questions on CZ‑2C Capacity
Shiyan-33 tracked in a 485 x 505 km x 97.5 deg, 1030 LTDN SSO. With the CZ-2C/YZ-1S launch vehicle and such a low orbit, this must be a fairly massive satellite - anyone know the capacity of CZ-2C/YZ-1S to this orbit?
China Launches Shiyan‑33 Test Satellite on CZ‑2C/YZ‑1S
LAUNCH at 0411 UTC Mar 27 of a CZ-2C/YZ-1S from Jiuquan with the Shiyan 33 test satellite ( 试验三十三号卫星 ). Orbit not yet known.
Two Siwei Gaojing Imaging Satellites Launch via CZ‑2D
LAUNCH at 2251 UTC Mar 25 of the Siwei Gaojing 2-05 and 2-06 commercial imaging satellites by CZ-2D from Taiyuan
New Debris Object Misplaced in Expected Launch Catalog Range
There's a new object cataloged as 68376 and tagged as a debris object from the 2026-009 ALSAT-3A launch; it's in the catalog number range I was expecting for the 2026-061 Rassvet launch, but no TLEs for that launch yet.
Space Force Releases StriX-6 Orbital Data and Stage Details
Space Force orbital data now out for StriX-6, launched on Mar 20, showing it in a 557 x 580 km x 50.3 deg orbit with Electron stages in 173 x 491 km and 340 x 558 km.
Progress MS-33 Manually Docked to Poisk via TORU
The Progress MS-33 cargo ship docked with the Poisk module at about 1340:44 UTC Mar 24. The docking was carried out under manual remote control with the TORU system.
Unannounced Soyuz Launch Suspected, Details Remain
Possible launch of Soyuz rocket with Rassvet satellites at about 1800 UTC Mar 23. Russia has, unusually, made no announcement but there are observations downrange of rocket plume and claimed signals from a payload. Situation currently uncertain, no Space Force...
Progress M-33 Orbit Confirmed; Electron Launch Data
Progress M-33 cataloged in a 263 x 279 km orbit, with third stage in 183 x 215 km. No orbit data yet for Friday's Electron launch.
Jielong-3 Launch Deploys Ten New Navigation Satellites
LAUNCH at 1549 UTC of a Jielong-3 from the DFHT barge near Haiyan in the Yellow Sea placing 10 more Weili Kongjian (Centispace) navigation augmentation satellites in orbit
Two Unreported MDA Suborbital Launches Occurred in March
There were apparently two MDA suborbital target missile launches from Wallops on Mar 17 and 19 that weren't reported at the time: https://t.co/wDoCCKpEF4
Rocket Lab Launches Japan's Synspective Radar Satellite
LAUNCH at 1810 UTC Mar 20 of a Rocket Lab Electron from Mahia, New Zealand, with a radar satellite for Japan's Synspective (probably the StriX-6 satellite).
Seven Cubesats Deployed by D_Orbit Since Nov 28
I had missed that @D_Orbit had deployed seven cubesats from the IONs launched Nov 28; deployment dates not given but 2 Lacuna and 2 Lemur were ejected on or before Feb 16 from Stellar Stephanus, and 2...
Space Force Still Lists Deorbited Haven Demo as Orbiting
Space Force failed to issue a decay notice for VAST's Haven Demo, which was removed from orbit on Feb 5. It's still in the US satellite catalog as 'in orbit'.
Nihon University's Tenkoh
Nihon University's Tenkoh-2 cubesat, deployed from the HTV-X1 cargo ship on Mar 11, has been cataloged as object 68261, in a 495 x 501 km x 51.6 deg orbit.
US EVA-94 Spacewalk Begins on ISS at 1246 UTC
Spacewalk US EVA-94 is underway on the ISS. Astronauts Meir and Williams, in suits 3015 and 3003 and with SAFER packs 15 and 18 depressurized the airlock past 50 mbar at 1246 UTC, opened the hatch at 1251 UTC and...
Falcon 9 Reaches Parking Orbit, 10,020 Starlinks Deployed
Falcon 9 now in parking orbit. There are now 10020 Starlinks in orbit (although 25 of them are still attached to the Falcon 9 for another 50 min or so, until the stage's circularization burn and satellite deployment).
Most KZ-11 Payloads
Seven of the eight payloads from the KZ-11 launch cataloged in a 528 x 541 km x 97.5 deg sun synch orbit with 1030LT plane. The upper stage is in a 284 x 1059 km x 97.3 deg...
Yaogan 50‑02 Adjusts Orbit After Launch
Yaogan 50-02 cataloged in a 731 x 945 km x 142.0 deg orbit; upper stage did an orbit lowering burn to 573 x 836 km.
Chinese Astronauts Install Debris Shields During 7‑hour Spacewalk
Astronauts Zhang Lu and Wu Fei made a spacewalk from the Chinese Space Station from about 0430 UTC until 1135 UTC Mar 16, continuing installation of external debris protection panels https://t.co/GKPg66uFEF
Progress MS-31 Undocks From ISS Poisk Module
The Progress MS-31 cargo ship undocked from the ISS Poisk module at about 1324:12 UTC Mar 16
Kuaizhou-11 Deploys Eight Commercial Satellites
LAUNCH at 0412 UTC Mar 16 of a Kuaizhou-11 from Jiuquan, putting eight commercial sats in orbit: Juntian-1-04A, Dongpo-11, Dongpo-12, Dongpo-16, Weitong-1-01, Xiguang-1-06, Yuxing-3-05, and Yuxing-3-06.
