Starlink Stats Updated, Dummy Simulators Removed From Totals
Starlink stats pages updated at https://t.co/m5QkzkhI2u By popular demand I have now excluded the dummy Starlink simulators from the grand totals.
China Launches Second Yaogan‑50 on CZ‑6A
LAUNCH at 1322 UTC Mar 15 of a Chang Zheng 6A from Taiyuan with the second Yaogan-50 satellite. The first Yaogan-50 is in a 950 km retrograde (142 deg inclination) orbit.
Starlink Count Corrected to 9,967, Not 9,969
I've spent the evening chasing down errors in my data files. Please be aware that the total number of Starlinks currently in orbit is actually only 9967, and not 9969 as shown right now on my web page (should update...
Shiyan and CZ-2D Upper Stages Cataloged; Others Untracked
Shiyan 30-03, 30-04 and the CZ-2D upper stage cataloged in 587 x 593 km x 35.0 deg orbits following their launch on Mar 12. No orbit data yet for SatNet-LEO12 or Tenkoh-2.
Cygnus NG-23 Unberthed by Canadarm‑2 at 1106 UTC March 12
The Cygnus NG-23 cargo ship was released into orbit by Canadarm-2 at 1106 UTC Mar 12; it has been at ISS since Dec 1. [I don't have the unberthing time, anyone have it?]
Xichang CZ-2D Launch Deploys Shiyan‑30‑03/04
LAUNCH at 2233 UTC Mar 12 of a CZ-2D from Xichang with the 试验三十号卫星03、04星 (Shiyan 30-03 and 30-04) satellites
China Resumes Launches with CZ‑8A, Nine LEO Satellites
LAUNCH at 1948 UTC of a Chang Zheng 8A from Hainan Commercial Spaceport of nine Xingwang Digui (SatNet LEO) Group 20 satellites, the first Chinese orbital launch in a month after an unusual stand-down
Firefly Alpha Launch Successful, Satellite Placed in Precise Orbit
The Firefly Alpha launch appears to have been fully successful. The LM-400 test satellite is being tracked in a 401 x 405 km x 123.0 deg orbit, and the Alpha second stage made a perigee lowering burn at about...
Tenkoh‑2 Satellite Deployed From HTV‑X1 on March 11
The Tenkoh-2 satellite was deployed at 0934 UTC Mar 11 from the HTV-X1 cargo ship, which left the ISS on Mar 6
SpaceX Lowers 1,600 Starlink Satellites to Lower Orbit
SpaceX's massive redeployment of its higher orbit (~550 km) Starlink sats to a lower (~480 km) orbital shell continues. 652 sats have completed orbit lowering while 972 are currently on the way down https://t.co/BFtdccOGvs
Van Allen Probe A Reenters Pacific Near Mexico, Ecuador
[Corrected:] Van Allen Probe A reentered at 1037 UTC Mar 11 over 105W 2S, equatorial Pacific south of Mexico and west of Ecuador, per Space Force data
Falcon 9 Upper
Echostar XXV has been tracked in a 264 x 22015 km x 26.9 deg subsynchronous transfer orbit. The Falcon 9 upper stage made a perigee lowering burn and reentered at first perigee near 102W 10N at about 1130 UTC...
Van Allen Probe A Assigned New Space Force Orbit
New Space Force orbit for Van Allen Probe A , epoch 1440 UTC [6 hours ago], 113 km perigee, 952 km apogee. No updated reentry estimate
NASA Decommissions Van Allen Probes After Seven Years
NASA's Van Allen Probes A and B were two half-ton spacecraft launched in Aug 2012 to elliptical 600 x 30000 km orbits to study the radiation belts. In 2019 their perigees were lowered to 200 km so...
Falcon 9 Lifts Off with Echostar XXV Satellite
LAUNCH at 0419 UTC Mar 10 of a Falcon 9 from Canaveral with the Echostar XXV communications sat
Chandra's 27‑year Age Signals Urgent Need for Replacement
Very bad news for the future of X-ray astronomy. Chandra continues to operate well but it is almost 27 years old already, we really need to be working on a replacement
BlackSky Global Satellite Successfully Launched Into 467‑477 Km Orbit
The BlackSky Global satellite launched on Electron on Mar 5-6 has been cataloged in a 467 x 477 km x 42.0 deg orbit, confirming successful launch.
Rocket Lab Launches BlackSky Gen3 Imaging Satellite
LAUNCH of Rocket Lab Electron from Mahia at 2353 UTC Mar 5 carrying a BlackSky Global Gen3 imaging satellite
NASA’s ISS Live Stream Lacks Rewind Feature, Users Frustrated
@NASA is there a reason you don't have rewind mode enabled on the ISS live video stream https://t.co/bqWRdeeWwb ? This used to work, and it's very inconvenient not to be able to replay something you missed...
Kairos Suffers Third Consecutive First‑stage Failure at Minute One
Apparent FAILURE of Kairos during first stage flight, for the third time in a row Failure appeared to be about 1 min into flight.
Kairos Rocket Flight 3 Launches From Japan
LAUNCH at 0210 UTC Mar 5 of Kairos rocket flight 3 from Kii spaceport, Japan
Senate NASA Bill Boosts Funding for Chandra X‑ray Telescope
Encouraged to see the provisions in the Senate's NASA authorization bill (reported out of ctee today) supporting @chandraxray : #SaveChandra https://t.co/vEpAy3Mn9H
Third Attempt at Kairos Tonight— Hoping for Better Results
Third try for Kairos tonight. Let's see if it goes any better than the last two times...
Rocket Lab HASTE Suborbital Launch with Australian Scramjet
Suborbital LAUNCH of Rocket Lab HASTE with the Australian DART-AE Scramjet at about 0000:00 UTC Feb 28 from the Mid-Atlantic Regional Spaceport at Wallops Island, Virginia
Dragon CRS-33 Completes Deorbit, Trunk Jettison, Splashdown
The Dragon CRS-33 cargo ship made its deorbit burn around 0652 UTC Feb 27, and jettisoned the Boost Trunk at about 0710 UTC. The Trunk reentered over the Pacific near 127W 25N at ca. 0725-0730 UTC and the CRS-33 capsule...
Missed Feb 19 ISS Boost, Thanks Katya for the Heads‑up
I had missed this ISS orbit boost on Feb 19, thanks Katya for keeping an eye on these
CRS-33 Dragon Cargo Ship Undocks, Splashdown Expected Tomorrow
Dragon cargo ship CRS-33 undocked from IDA-2 at 1705 UTC Feb 26. Splashdown off the California coast is expected around 0744 UTC Feb 27.
E‑Space’s Protosat‑1 Reenters, Still No Proof of Success
The E-Space Protosat-1 IoT demo satellite reentred on Feb 22. It made no orbital manuevers, and - as for all 9 E-Space test satellites launched to date - there is no public evidence that it worked and no announcement about...
Starlink Group 17‑25 Launches From Vandenberg at 090
LAUNCH at 0904 UTC Feb 21 of Starlink Group 17-25 from Vandenberg Space Force Base
Exobrake Deployment Detected via Sharp Decay Spike
TechEdSat-11 was a 6UXL cubesat from NASA-Ames and San Jose State to test an exobrake drag device, launched on 2024 Jul 4. It reentered Feb 15; the decay rate increased sharply on Jan 16, likely marking the exobrake deployment. https://t.co/qEcoxQwW7c
Jonathan's Space Report No. 853 Now Online Only
Jonathan's Space Report No. 853 published at https://t.co/6gKV8Gl53V I have temporarily lost the capability to send this out as an email newsletter, so for the time being you'll have to access this on the website.
Chinese Spaceplane Shifts to Near‑circular 588‑km Orbit
The Chinese spaceplane maneuvered from a 349 x 592 km orbit to a circular 588 x 597 km orbit at about 0050 UTC Feb 12. (Shown: perigee, average, apogee heights) https://t.co/X9FhHPTxwJ
Proton Rocket Launches Russia Weather Satellite with Iran TV Payload
The Proton launch of Russia's Elektro-L No. 5 weather satellite carried a secondary payload, Iran's Jam-e Jam 1 television broadcasting sat, also called Iran-DBS. Elektro-L-5 has a mass of 2120 kg; Jam-e Jam 1 is likely only 150 kg...
Vulcan Centaur Reaches Orbit Despite Booster Glitch
LAUNCH at 0922 UTC Feb 12 of a Vulcan Centaur from Canaveral with the Space Force's GSSAP 7 and 8 satellites, and possibly other payloads. One of the GEM 63XL solid boosters malfunctioned but the vehicle was reportedly able to reach...
Two Feb 12 Launches Deploy Seven Satellites and a Weather Probe
LAUNCH at 0637 UTC Feb 12 of a Jielong-3 from the DFHT ship off Yangjiang, placing seven sats in orbit including Pakistan's PRSC-EO2 imaging sat. LAUNCH at 0852 UTC Feb 12 of a Proton from Baykonur with the Elektro-L weather sat.
Turkish Satellites Identified on Bandwagon‑4, Owner Unclear
The Semi-1N, Semi-1P, Semi-1L payloads from Nov 2025's Bandwagon-4 launch are now identified and revealed to be Turkish satellites. As far as I know the specific owner has still not been revealed - anyone know?
