CSO 1 is scheduled for launch from Kourou aboard a Soyuz ST-A on 2018 Dec 19 at 16:37:14 UTC. Stephen Clark will live-blog the launch for Spaceflight Now: https://spaceflightnow.com/2018/12/18/live-coverage-french-spy-satellite-set-for-launch-on-soyuz-rocket/ The press kit is available here: https://presse.cnes.fr/sites/default/files/drupal/201812/default/cp208-2018_-_pre-vs20_va.pdf The target plane appears to be that of the Helios 2A and 2B satellites, but for a higher altitude orbit. Here are rough search elements based on the planned launch time: CSO 1 800 X 800 km 1 74900U 74900A 18353.69738426 .00000000 00000-0 00000-0 0 08 2 74900 98.6250 287.0000 0000100 0.0000 5.0000 14.26800000 06 The orbit will be visible immediately to observers south of about 30 S. Northern hemisphere observers must wait for spring to see it. Ted Molczan _______________________________________________ Seesat-l mailing list http://mailman.satobs.org/mailman/listinfo/seesat-lReceived on Tue Dec 18 2018 - 18:54:12 UTC
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