@planet4589 profile picture
Jonathan McDowell @planet4589

Astronomer commenting on space launches. Orbital Police. All plots CC-BY. gofundme.com/f/fund-jonathan…

Joined January 2009
  • Posts 82,837
  • Following 4,703
  • Followers 171,790
4,003 Photos and videos
Suborbital launch at 0401 UTC Jul 6 of a Chinese JL-2 or JL-3 submarine missile from the Bohai Sea to the Pacific. From NOTAMs provided by @Hurin92 I fit an approx -3900 x 1050 km x 44 deg orbit with impact about 0428 UTC near 174E 6S
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Jonathan McDowell reposted
Andrew Jones @AJ_FI
6h
And another new asteroid! Here's Torifune, captured during yesterday's flyby by Hayabusa2. jaxa.jp/press/2026/07/202607…
Andrew Jones @AJ_FI
13h
Tianwen-2 had arrived. Here's asteroid Kamo'oalewa seen from 20 km away xinhuanet.com/20260706/eb8cb…
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Jonathan McDowell reposted
Andrew Jones @AJ_FI
13h
Tianwen-2 had arrived. Here's asteroid Kamo'oalewa seen from 20 km away xinhuanet.com/20260706/eb8cb…
Andrew Jones @AJ_FI
Jul 3
Tianwen-2 sample return mission is expected to arrive at the near Earth asteroid Kamo'oalewa tomorrow (July 4) at a distance of ~20 kilometres. Hopefully we'll also see the first images of the asteroid very soon. mp.weixin.qq.com/s/97RjX0XCV…
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Qianfan Jigui 15 - launched today - consists of 20 satellites.
Jonathan McDowell
 @planet4589
23h
LAUNCH at 1343 UTC Jul 5 of a Chang Zheng 8A from Hainan with the Qianfan Jigui Group 15 satellites. It is not yet clear how many sats were on this flight.
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LAUNCH at 1343 UTC Jul 5 of a Chang Zheng 8A from Hainan with the Qianfan Jigui Group 15 satellites. It is not yet clear how many sats were on this flight.
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LAUNCH at 1050 UTC Jul 5 of Starlink Group 10-50 from Canaveral
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Hayabusa-2 zeroing in on the Torifune flyby
HAYABUSA2@JAXA @haya2e_jaxa
Jul 5
The final ground-based ΔV command operation for the flyby was performed at 15:00 JST. The spacecraft remains in normal condition.
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Space Force has cataloged LINK (the Swift reboost spacecraft) in a 362 x 392 km x 20.6 deg orbit, confirming successful launch. TLEs consistent with the launch NOTAM areas
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China's Tianwen-2 probe is matching orbits with space rock (469219) Kamo'oalewa, in a 0.90 x 1.10 AU x 7. 8 deg solar orbit. The rock is about 20 meters across and has a mass around 7000 tonnes, and is the smallest asteroid so far to have been visited by a spacecraft
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Launch at 0930 UTC Jul 4 of Qianfan Jigui Group 13 on a Chang Zheng 6A from Taiyuan
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LAUNCH at 0836 UTC Jul 3 of the LINK spacecraft aboard a Pegasus rocket on the SWIFT Reboost Mission. Stargazer took off from Kwajalein at about 0739 UTC and dropped the Pegasus near 166.W 7.5N.
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If anyone has more accurate drop coordinates, let me know please!
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No news from @NASA yet on the Swift Reboost Mission launch - the carrier plane was over the drop point at 0835 UTC Jul 3 but no word yet on whether or not the drop occurred or whether or not the launch was successful
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Jonathan McDowell reposted
Andrew Jones @AJ_FI
Jul 3
Tianwen-2 sample return mission is expected to arrive at the near Earth asteroid Kamo'oalewa tomorrow (July 4) at a distance of ~20 kilometres. Hopefully we'll also see the first images of the asteroid very soon. mp.weixin.qq.com/s/97RjX0XCV…
SpaceNews
 @SpaceNews_Inc
Jun 16
Tianwen-2 makes series of burns on approach to asteroid, according to radio tracking  spacenews.com/tianwen-2-make…
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Excited to see the official publication of the European study on Atmospheric Impacts of Re-entry and Launch (AIRL), I've been waiting for this for a while: zenodo.org/records/20831147

The Atmospheric Impacts of Re-entry and Launch (AIRL): High Priority Actions and Recommendations

Whitepaper: Outcomes of the AIRL Working Group, urgent short-term research priorities including measurement campaigns to fill knowledge gaps. Spaceflight activities have expanded at an unprecedented...

zenodo.org
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OK for me this comment wins the internet for today
𐌁𐌉Ᏽ 𐌕𐌉𐌌𐌉
 @OrevaZSN
Jul 1
The extinction of the dinosaurs is technically the highest ratio of birds killed with one stone.
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Jonathan McDowell reposted
Katya Pavlushchenko @katlinegrey
Jul 2
An #ISS orbit correction was performed on July 1 at 20:39 UTC in preparation for the departure of #SoyuzMS28 and arrival of #SoyuzMS29. #ProgressMS34 fired its engines for 567.8 sec with an impulse of 1.10 m/s, increasing the station’s orbit altitude for 1.9 km up to 419.89 km.
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It has been reported, that the last Pegasus rocket has launched with the Swift Rescue Mission (LINK) from the Kwajalein atoll. No confirmation of launch success so far.
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LAUNCH at 0430 UTC Jul 2 of Atlas V model 551 flight AV-114 from Canaveral, with 29 Amazon Leo satellites (group LA08)
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LAUNCH of Starlink Group 17-46 from Vandenberg at 0258 UTC Jul 2
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