Against my better judgement (I know it will enter the OPF from the other side) I'm still watching the live-stream 😂
I may need to see a doctor about this behavior lol 😇
Uhm, rumors flying about a possible X-37B runway training ops at the KSC SLF today...
Is our little gray friend out there training again ?
The USSF has apparently now listed the Lockheed Martin satellite (2026-046A/68127) as "ICOR SV" - anyone want to guess on what the name means? ("SV" = "Space Vehicle"?)
Meanwhile in Xichang, the mission (launch/satellites) patches leaves things for us to ponder on what went up a few hours ago:
Another photos set: m.weibo.cn/detail/52759...
Turns out SpaceLens did send their photographers to Wenchang last night and got some spectacular photos as well: m.weibo.cn/detail/52759...
More LM-8A launch photos galore (m.weibo.cn/detail/52759... / m.weibo.cn/u/1886400984):
Different rocket fuel (hypergolic UDMH/N2O4 vs kerosene/LOX), different combustion cycle (gas generator vs staged combustion), different sounds, same rumbling energy within 3 hours from 2 spots in southern China:
As for the Xichang launch, it's also successful & it's an old friend: satellites 03 & 04 of some experimental thingy named Shiyan 30 for "Earth observation technological testing and validation", on an LM-2D at 22:33 UTC. The previous 2 went up on September 29 last year.
View of the LM-8A launch from the back of the pad:
The 8th Long March 8A going downrange over the South China Sea:
Another set from m.weibo.cn/detail/52758...:
Photos of LM-8A launch from Space_Alioth, plus launch mission logo: m.weibo.cn/detail/52758...
Meanwhile over the valleys of Xichang, bright red spot and really clear rumbling has been spotted and heard at ~22:35 UTC:
In Wenchang, the LM-8A launch with SatNet LEO Group 20 (should be +9 satellites) has been officially confirmed as a success - here's the loud rumble of the YF-100 engines at liftoff:
And The Space Doge Guy will try to spot another Chinese launch again, though it should just be a red dot in the pre-dawn skies this time:
Still waiting for official announcement of the LM-8A launch (apparently SatNet LEO Group 20, TBC), but the 2nd Chinese launch of the night/day is coming up in ~30 minutes:
Side view of the LM-8A launch: m.weibo.cn/detail/52758...
Clear skies all the way to boosters separation tonight!
Liftoff was on time:
T-0 is apparently at 19:48 UTC:
Probably only a few minutes before the 1st Year Of The Horse launch of this dozen years cycle:
You will also be able to see this launch happening here, courtesy of The Space Doge Guy:
And this smallest Atlas V/Vulcan variant class rocket is certainly chilly already: m.weibo.cn/detail/52757...
Some miles down the road from where Artemis astronauts will head for the Moon, we are hearing about 1st astronauts heading close to there in 50+ years.
Meanwhile some miles down the road from where Chinese astronauts will do the same, this rocket is launching within 30 minutes:
Yes but those launches were to even more retrograde orbits (close to 140°) so I am not sure if this is a coincidence or not.
123° LEO is an interesting choice - it is used by NRO’s FIA-R (a.k.a. “Topaz”) radar spysats launched in the past 20 years so maybe it’s testing some new kind of SAR?
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 0140 UTC to 231 x 423 km x 123.1 deg.
Well for the 4th one I’m scratching my heads on one rectangular closed-air-space zone on the SSO bound track SW of Jiuquan SLC (in Himalayas) to occur March 16 ~04:10 UTC. This is reported to be a CASIC/ExPace Kuaizhou-1A launch but I’m not gonna trust an irregular NOTAM alone!
That launch, with such a “remote sensing satellite” going to a downright weird 950 km, 142° retrograde LEO is still unexplainable, and now we seems to be going to get a Yaogan 50-02 too or something like that. What the heck?
