Re: Space-Track numbers wrongly again?

From: Bob Christy via Seesat-l <seesat-l_at_satobs.org>
Date: Sat, 31 Jul 2021 08:18:37 +0000
Space-Track was tardy in publishing element sets for the 2021-067 launch.

It was of Tianhui 1-04 and it occurred about two hours before Electron lifted off on July 29:
https://www.zarya.info/Diaries/Launches/Launches.php?year=2021#067

Three catalogue numbers were reserved for it: 49049-49051. Thirty hours elapsed before element sets were issued, but only for the satellite. The rocket body was de-orbited and not catalogued, and there is no debris listed.

In contrast, elsets for the Electron objects appeared as 2021-068 about six hours after launch.

Space-Track's data output has been a little slow recently. Nauka's manoeuvres took many hours to show up and the first set for Tianlian 1-05 (2021-063A) appeared a full ten days after launch. Its transfer orbit was never published although equivalent sets are available for its rocket.

There was genuine 'phantom' catalogue entry earlier in July when objects from the 2021-060 launch were tagged as '2021-061' for nearly one week. It caused some head scratching on 'Twitter' and 'Facebook'.

Hopefully this helps.

Robert Christy

> On 31 Jul 2021, at 07:13, Leo Barhorst via Seesat-l <seesat-l_at_satobs.org> wrote:
> The last entries in Satcat probably show a new wrong numbering.
> 49044 49045 2021 066 A B Nauka and r/b
> 49046-49048 fragments from 3 different launches
> 49049-49051 noy yet assigned
> 49052-49054 2021 068 A-C 3 objects from Electron launch
> 
> Will 49049-49051 be 2021-67 A-C?
> I'm not aware of a launch between Nauka and Electron.
> 
> Electron launch  should be 2021 67 A-C.
> Looking at the orbital data objects A and B will probably be interchanged.
> A is in 241x610 km orbit and most likely the electron 2nd stage.
> B is in 598x610 km orbit and would be the Monolith satellite
> C is in 344x595 km orbit and can be the Kick stage.
> 
> Hopefully this will be cleared up soon.
> 
> Greetings
> Leo Barhorst
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Received on Sat Jul 31 2021 - 03:19:56 UTC

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