Thursday, January 25, 2007

Chinese ASAT Test Update 3


My old friend and former Satellite Times colleague, Dr. TS Kelso, has put up some nice static shots with some pretty cool animations related to the Chinese ASAT test on his Celestrak website. You can view all of this at http://celestrak.com/events/asat.asp. You will need an AGI viewer to watch the animations. You can get that download (free) using the instructions at the bottom of the webpage above.

As of this posting, there are still only 32 debris fragments in the SSC. Either the early press reports on this event of a lot more fragments were overinflated, or the folks at NORAD are holding those additional fragments from public disclosure. Personally the later scenario seems more likely. No sense in giving away any secrets about the capabilities of the military space surveillance system we use. Guess I am going to have to go up to 216.980 MHz (Continuous Wave) and listen to the fence for some of these objects.

A couple of days ago the elsets that follow was posted to one of the space related internet newsgroups.

FENGYUN 1C DEB
1 29747U 99025AM 07023.56407695 .00007834 00000-0 25342-1 0 101
2 29747 100.1554 008.4028 1558145 118.7696 257.8945 10.98182180 790

FENGYUN 1C DEB
1 29746U 99025AL 07023.52122785 .00005209 00000-0 17182-1 0 84
2 29746 098.8709 008.6680 1379239 122.0906 252.1432 11.28055527 806

FENGYUN 1C DEB
1 29745U 99025AK 07022.88000165 .00011797 00000-0 38249-1 0 84
2 29745 098.8045 008.3010 1370855 122.8150 251.2410 11.30226504 631

FENGYUN 1C DEB
1 29744U 99025AJ 07022.92408167 .00004296 00000-0 13326-1 0 76
2 29744 099.8053 008.4497 1358262 122.0417 251.9808 11.34707238 805

FENGYUN 1C DEB
1 29743U 99025AH 07023.26564441 .00008760 00000-0 25746-1 0 92
2 29743 099.7993 008.7134 1365876 120.1595 254.1957 11.35877517 788

FENGYUN 1C DEB
1 29742U 99025AG 07023.50282117 .00024182 00000-0 75466-1 0 73
2 29742 099.6868 008.8786 1332094 127.6101 245.3589 11.38643569 865

FENGYUN 1C DEB
1 29741U 99025AF 07023.15934099 .00000530 00000-0 14857-2 0 75
2 29741 099.1817 009.2973 1065618 121.9753 248.9378 11.91040578 934

FENGYUN 1C DEB
1 29740U 99025AE 07023.35087885 .00000250 00000-0 71430-3 0 78
2 29740 099.0073 009.4849 1034757 125.5713 244.6315 11.97311749 959

FENGYUN 1C DEB
1 29739U 99025AD 07023.50165947 .00005304 00000-0 12466-1 0 76
2 29739 099.1328 010.0265 0906475 128.6718 239.8877 12.24959121 1249

FENGYUN 1C DEB
1 29738U 99025AC 07023.48683155 .00000601 00000-0 13960-2 0 74
2 29738 099.4695 010.3799 0806857 126.8984 240.8797 12.43799522 1017

FENGYUN 1C DEB
1 29737U 99025AB 07023.55331542 .00000385 00000-0 88902-3 0 79
2 29737 099.5783 010.6160 0754943 124.2411 243.2529 12.53908238 1090

FENGYUN 1C DEB
1 29736U 99025AA 07022.48062239 .00000331 00000-0 76037-3 0 69
2 29736 099.4392 009.7780 0733149 121.2931 246.2037 12.58144536 1141

FENGYUN 1C DEB
1 29735U 99025Z 07023.49007075 .00000390 00000-0 87059-3 0 79
2 29735 099.3780 010.6241 0721588 115.8302 251.8962 12.60810452 1091

FENGYUN 1C DEB
1 29734U 99025Y 07023.50448246 .00000397 00000-0 82037-3 0 77
2 29734 099.1429 010.8162 0646240 112.9841 254.0730 12.76536434 1415

FENGYUN 1C DEB
1 29733U 99025X 07023.48589236 .00000041 00000-0 12877-3 0 80
2 29733 099.2096 010.9966 0595561 126.4917 239.2578 12.87183524 1315

FENGYUN 1C DEB
1 29732U 99025W 07023.50453794 .00011517 00000-0 77803-3 0 81
2 29732 098.8993 014.3324 0307710 299.3374 057.7205 14.75484184 1466

FENGYUN 1C DEB
1 29731U 99025V 07023.50386682 .00026310 00000-0 18081-2 0 91
2 29731 098.9409 014.3613 0301523 294.1868 062.7790 14.75753423 1208

FENGYUN 1C DEB
1 29730U 99025U 07023.16379600 .00029781 00000-0 20314-2 0 91
2 29730 098.8857 013.9510 0301870 295.5731 061.4161 14.75910773 1440

FENGYUN 1C DEB
1 29729U 99025T 07023.16138554 .00024545 00000-0 16417-2 0 92
2 29729 098.9305 013.9855 0304419 295.2754 061.6912 14.76157375 1520

FENGYUN 1C DEB
1 29728U 99025S 07022.75332484 .00013304 00000-0 85982-3 0 76
2 29728 099.1808 013.6933 0311699 302.5405 054.5912 14.76187137 1381

FENGYUN 1C DEB
1 29727U 99025R 07023.42451586 .00044173 00000-0 28042-2 0 100
2 29727 098.8406 014.2322 0305861 294.0965 062.8133 14.77458071 1600

FENGYUN 1C DEB
1 29726U 99025Q 07023.13878412 .00010832 00000-0 47670-3 0 78
2 29726 099.1952 014.2106 0360915 316.9809 040.3661 14.78998480 1231

FENGYUN 1C DEB
1 29725U 99025P 07022.91792687 .00032899 00000-0 10259-2 0 70
2 29725 097.9767 013.1997 0393629 321.9947 035.3820 14.81700494 1492

FENGYUN 1C DEB
1 29724U 99025N 07023.51298744 .00041070 00000-0 14606-2 0 117
2 29724 099.0961 014.6515 0366411 312.4457 044.5979 14.83466086 1431

FENGYUN 1C DEB
1 29723U 99025M 07023.41442734 .00029620 00000-0 89017-3 0 87
2 29723 098.9746 014.5314 0369701 304.6753 052.0088 14.87272308 1129

FENGYUN 1C DEB
1 29722U 99025L 07023.51727699 .00040032 00000-0 83797-3 0 93
2 29722 098.9141 014.6918 0392541 306.1323 050.3979 14.91500305 1515

FENGYUN 1C DEB
1 29721U 99025K 07023.48803008 .00059247 00000-0 10272-2 0 126
2 29721 098.9971 014.7962 0393163 299.2981 056.9085 14.95537387 1253

FENGYUN 1C DEB
1 29720U 99025J 07022.93605049 .00323329 00000-0 57131-2 0 107
2 29720 098.9542 014.1826 0362860 297.2192 059.1041 15.00736564 1365

FENGYUN 1C DEB
1 29719U 99025H 07023.46000352 .00150504 68572-5 14168-2 0 165
2 29719 099.0245 014.8723 0429081 312.4602 044.0611 15.00468662 1573

FENGYUN 1C DEB
1 29718U 99025G 07023.52077542 .00228579 12993-4 13557-2 0 137
2 29718 099.2617 015.3329 0417897 279.9121 075.4346 15.10804265 1319

FENGYUN 1C DEB
1 29717U 99025F 07023.48157323 .00463120 47536-4 21988-2 0 149
2 29717 100.3941 016.2900 0395543 291.1443 064.6185 15.19119627 1538

FENGYUN 1C DEB
1 29716U 99025E 07023.52695506 .01394895 33843-5 84444-3 0 162
2 29716 099.4442 016.0514 0371283 275.8180 080.0741 15.49414372 1563

CZ-4 DEB
1 25733U 99025D 07022.96427767 +.00000207 +00000-0 +13073-3 0 02241
2 25733 098.6098 018.3029 0015029 209.8596 150.1724 14.14126392397485

CZ-4 R/B
1 25732U 99025C 07022.50393907 +.00000067 +00000-0 +53636-4 0 04334
2 25732 098.5452 016.1439 0037608 162.4420 197.8066 14.17130222398539

SJ-5
1 25731U 99025B 07023.52761450 -.00000033 00000-0 53029-5 0 9479
2 25731 098.6338 013.6972 0016564 229.2338 130.7397 14.11832734397188

FENGYUN 1C
1 25730U 99025A 07 16.60112448 .00000048 00000-0 29058-4 0 9329
2 25730 098.6469 006.2281 0014921 004.1687 356.0079 14.06556409396135

Based on these elsets here is a breakdown:

1999-025E 29716 746 x 167 99.443
1999-025F 29717 805 x 238 100.394
1999-025G 29718 837 x 246 99.261
1999-025H 29719 873 x 268 99.023
1999-025J 29720 833 x 314 98.961
1999-025K 29721 858 x 308 98.994
1999-025L 29722 869 x 320 98.910
1999-025M 29723 867 x 348 98.976
1999-025N 29724 877 x 362 99.100
1999-025P 29725 902 x 348 97.978
1999-025Q 29726 886 x 379 99.197
1999-025R 29727 854 x 424 98.842
1999-025S 29728 861 x 422 99.178
1999-025T 29729 856 x 428 98.929
1999-025U 29730 856 x 430 98.883
1999-025V 29731 856 x 431 98.938
1999-025W 29732 860 x 428 98.898
1999-025X 29733 1771 x 855 99.211
1999-025Y 29734 856 x 855 99.142
1999-025Z 29735 982 x 857 99.377
1999-025AA 29736 2003 x 858 99.437
1999-025AB 29737 2039 x 857 99.574
1999-025AC 29738 2116 x 856 99.472
1999-025AD 29739 2290 x 852 99.132
1999-025AE 29740 2528 x 858 99.005
1999-025AF 29741 2584 x 858 99.177
1999-025AG 29742 3079 x 859 99.261
1999-025AH 29743 3116 x 848 99.792
1999-025AJ 29744 3121 x 854 99.805
1999-025AK 29745 3160 x 860 98.813
1999-025AL 29746 3180 x 860 98.877
1999-025AM 29747 3499 x 845 100.158