SatTrackCam Leiden (b)log

click map to enlarge   (UPDATE AT BOTTOM OF POST) NAVIGATIONAL WARNINGS have appeared that point to A RUSSIAN LAUNCH FROM PLESETSK between MAY 16-26. The direction of launch as indicate...

https://sattrackcam.blogspot.com/2024/05/a-russian-optical-reconnaissance.html

Artist impression of ACS3 once the sail is deployed (image: NASA) On 23 MARCH 2024, Rocket Lab launched the ADVANCED COMPOSITE SOLAR SAIL SYSTEM (ACS3), a NASA solar sail experiment. The mai...

https://sattrackcam.blogspot.com/2024/05/a-glimpse-of-acs-3-solar-sail-bus.html

click to enlarge  (more imagery below the text) On May 10, 2024, THE STRONGEST SOLAR STORM IN 20 YEARS hit Earth. As a result, AURORA BOREALIS (NORTHEN LIGHTS) was visible at much lower la...

https://sattrackcam.blogspot.com/2024/05/ot-beautiful-aurora-of-may-10-2024.html

stack of 100 frames   Last week I finally got my first views of MALLIGYONG-1 (2023-179A), the new RECONNAISSANCE SATELLITE which NORTH KOREA launched on 21 November 2023 (see this earlier ...

https://sattrackcam.blogspot.com/2024/04/imaging-north-koreas-new-satellite.html

Mentor 6 on April 16, 2024. Click image to enlarge A NUMBER OF SIGINT SATELLITES IN GEOSYNCHRONOUS ORBIT HAVE BEEN MOVING LATELY. A small roundup: There is the brand new SIGINT satellite M...

https://sattrackcam.blogspot.com/2024/04/dark-moves-at-geosynchronous-altitude.html

click image to enlarge. Image (c) by @mickeywzx , used with permission It appears that MENTOR 10 (USA 353), THE PAYLOAD OF NROL-70, which launched on 9 April 2024 at 16:53 UTC, has been found...

https://sattrackcam.blogspot.com/2024/04/mentor-10-usa-353-nrol-70-payload.html

click image to enlarge Earlier this year, I blogged about the detection of A SERIES OF SMALL ORBIT RAISING MANOEUVERS performed by the new NORTH KOREAN military optical reconnaissance satell...

https://sattrackcam.blogspot.com/2024/04/manoeuver-moments-of-north-korean.html

click to enlarge On 12 APRIL 2024 near 16:00 UTC, THE RUSSIAN ARMED FORCES TEST-FIRED AN UNARMED ICBM from KAPUSTIN YAR, targetting the test range at SARY SHAGAN at a distance of some 2000 ...

https://sattrackcam.blogspot.com/2024/04/russian-icbm-test-topol.html

click map to enlarge AN ODD NAVIGATIONAL WARNING has appeared , for "SPACE DEBRIS" along a 420-km trackline over the Gulf of Biscaye, from a point some 37 km southwest of Concarneau on the ...

https://sattrackcam.blogspot.com/2024/04/a-possible-french-missile-test-over.html

NROL-70 launch trajectory. Click map to enlarge   On 28 MARCH 2024, if weather cooperates (see update at bottom of post), ULA will launch NROL-70 from SLC-37 at Cape Canaveral, carrying a...

https://sattrackcam.blogspot.com/2024/03/nrol-70-likely-mentor-10-advanced-orion.html

click map to enlarge In the early hours of MARCH 21, at 6:40 UTC, Rocketlab will launch an Electron rocket from Launch Complex 2 on Wallops, Virginia. The launch, designated NROL-123 and nic...

https://sattrackcam.blogspot.com/2024/03/nrol-123.html

click map to enlarge STARSHIP FLIGHT TEST 3 (see this earlier pre-launch post ) was largely a success. Starship FT 3 launched from Boca Chica at 13:25 UTC (MARCH 14, 2024) and was successful...

https://sattrackcam.blogspot.com/2024/03/reconstructing-approximate-reentry-and.html

click map to enlarge Pending FAA approval (i.e., the launch date might well be postponed), SpaceX aims to launch STARSHIP FLIGHT TEST 3 this week. Navigational Warnings issued indicate a win...

https://sattrackcam.blogspot.com/2024/03/starship-flight-test-3-upcoming.html

PAN on March 4, 2024 (click image to enlarge) UNID near PAN on March 8, 2024 (click image to enlarge) In the evening of March 8 I did some observations to check upon the drifting PAN/NE...

https://sattrackcam.blogspot.com/2024/03/a-so-far-unidentified-obejct-in-geo.html

ISS EP9 battery imaged on 8 March 2024 18:17 UTC (click image to enlarge) On 11 January 2021, A 2.6-TONS CAR-SIZED CONTAINER WITH OLD NIH BATTERIES was detached from the International Space ...

https://sattrackcam.blogspot.com/2024/03/the-iss-ep9-battery-pack-observed-on.html

Kim Jong Un inspecting a Malligyong satellite under construction in 2023. image: KCNA On 21 November 2023 (see this earlier blogpost ), after two failed earlier attempts, NORTH KOREA launche...

https://sattrackcam.blogspot.com/2024/02/a-perigee-raising-manoeuvre-by-north.html

It probably generated a lot of Stiff Upper Lip and an "Ow well, that is regrettable Old Boy...." from the UK Defense Secretary and the UK Royal Navy Commander that were on scene to witness th...

https://sattrackcam.blogspot.com/2024/02/january-uk-trident-ii-d5-slbm-test.html

ionospheric glow caused by Starfish Prime, a 1962 nuclear detonation in Space (image: Wikimedia) It sounds a bit like the fictituous Goldeneye satellite from the 1995 Bond movie of that same...

https://sattrackcam.blogspot.com/2024/02/nukes-in-space.html

click map to enlarge If all goes well, SpaceX will launch USSF-124 for the US Space Force on 14 February 2024, using a Falcon 9 rocket launching from Cape Canaveral launch pad 40. The launch...

https://sattrackcam.blogspot.com/2024/02/ussf-124-hypersonic-and-ballistic.html

OTV 7 imaged from Leiden at 12 Feb 2024. Click image to enlarge In my previous post , I wrote about the first on-orbit detections, by Tomi Simola, of the US Space Force's X-37B SPACE PLANE m...

https://sattrackcam.blogspot.com/2024/02/imaging-x-37b-robotic-spaceplane.html

  OTV 7 discovery image by Tomi Simola, Finland  ((c) Tomi Simola, used with permission) On 29 December 2023 at 1:17 UTC, after several delays, SpaceX launched a Falcon Heavy for the US S...

https://sattrackcam.blogspot.com/2024/02/x-37b-otv-7-has-been-found-in-heo.html

click map to enlarge Navigational Warnings have appeared pointing to an UPCOMING SOYUZ LAUNCH FROM PLESETSK between February 9 and 13. The direction of the launch suggests a ~97.4-degree i...

https://sattrackcam.blogspot.com/2024/02/an-upcoming-russian-sso-launch-from.html

click map to enlarge Over the past month, there was much anticipation for a (almost certainly) British Royal Navy TRIDENT-II D5 SLBM TEST in the Atlantic. The arrival of the British nuclear ...

https://sattrackcam.blogspot.com/2024/01/an-upcoming-british-royal-navy-trident.html

click to enlarge First of all, A HAPPY, HEALTHY AND CLEAR 2024 TO ALL THE READERS OF THIS BLOG! The past year has been an active and productive year. I did optical observations on 50 NIGHT...

https://sattrackcam.blogspot.com/2024/01/2023-at-glance.html

click map to enlarge   Two Navigational Warnings have appeared , NAVAREA XII 841 and NAVAREA XII 845, that together point to A MISSILE DEFENSE TEST with a MRBM/IRBM target missile fired FR...

https://sattrackcam.blogspot.com/2023/12/a-missile-defense-test-in-ne-pacific-on.html