Quote from: Galactic Penguin SST on 05/10/2013 07:56 amA very strange NOTAM that indicates something being launched out of XSLC on the night of May 12 (missile test?): A0507/13 - A TEMPORARY RESTRICTED AREA ESTABLISHED BOUNDED BY:N272440E1062527-N270348E1061854 -N271521E1053214-N273614E1053838BACK TO START. VERTICAL LIMITS: SFC-UNL.ALL ACFT ARE PROHIBITED TOFLY INTO THE AREA. SFC - UNL, 12 MAY 12:57 2013 UNTIL 12 MAY 13:46 2013. CREATED:10 MAY 06:48 2013There's another evidence that may or may not be related to this thing - report coming soon.OK I have seen two tweets on May 8 from two people in different places - one in Dao County in Hunan and another near Zhaotong in Yunnan - that reports that there will be a rocket launch in the next few days and that rocket debris will fall over their heads, so the local people are warned beforehand. The one from Yunnan went further and said that this is the first time that their place is being targeted as a drop zone (claimed to be the first stage). Both places lines up with the straight line that stretches from XSLC to the air closure zone indicated above.The strange thing is that the drop zone is a mere 400 km from the launch site, has never been flown before in such a direction, and is happening at night time (~9 pm local). Missile test? Or something else.....
A very strange NOTAM that indicates something being launched out of XSLC on the night of May 12 (missile test?): A0507/13 - A TEMPORARY RESTRICTED AREA ESTABLISHED BOUNDED BY:N272440E1062527-N270348E1061854 -N271521E1053214-N273614E1053838BACK TO START. VERTICAL LIMITS: SFC-UNL.ALL ACFT ARE PROHIBITED TOFLY INTO THE AREA. SFC - UNL, 12 MAY 12:57 2013 UNTIL 12 MAY 13:46 2013. CREATED:10 MAY 06:48 2013There's another evidence that may or may not be related to this thing - report coming soon.
I'd really like to not see any more ASAT tests, it's already been established that messes can be made, and each one makes things worse. If this is what the Chinese are doing... why?
So it don't into orbit ?any TLE ?
Quote from: Lar on 05/14/2013 12:56 amI'd really like to not see any more ASAT tests, it's already been established that messes can be made, and each one makes things worse. If this is what the Chinese are doing... why?Well.... they don't actually need to really aim at a real satellite even for ASAT testing (i.e. using a simulated target), so let's see if there's a new debris cloud forming in GTO/GEO over the next few days....
Also they got sounding rocket test on 5th of April, but from Hainan and not so spectacular... Also branch of Chinese Science Academy was involved.
A0297/13 - A TEMPORARY RESTRICTED AREA ESTABLISHED: A CIRCLE CENTERED AT N181258E1093941 WITH RADIUS OF 10KM, VERTICAL LIMITS: SFC-UNL. GENERAL AVIATION ACFT (INCLUDE TRAINING FLY, PHYSICAL FLY, ENTERTAINMENT FLY AND ADVERTISEMENT FLY) ARE PROHIBITED TO FLY INTO THIS AREA. SFC - UNL, 05 APR 00:01 2013 UNTIL 08 APR 16:00 2013. CREATED: 02 APR 05:57 2013
Quote from: luhai167 on 05/14/2013 06:31 amHere is the official story, just another sounding rocket. However, if this is a sounding rocket, it is the most high profile sounding rocket I have ever seen.http://translate.google.com/translate?sl=zh-CN&tl=en&js=n&prev=_t&hl=en&ie=UTF-8&eotf=1&u=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.cas.ac.cn%2Fky%2Fkyjz%2F201305%2Ft20130514_3839206.shtml&act=urlThat would be one huge sounding rocket with extremely long range capabilities - they should have sold them back to the Americans and Europeans, for they would have good use of it at such a cheap price..... This is the worst cover-up story I have ever seen - which only add fuel to the speculation on what happened yesterday. I'm waiting for responses inside the Beltway....
Here is the official story, just another sounding rocket. However, if this is a sounding rocket, it is the most high profile sounding rocket I have ever seen.http://translate.google.com/translate?sl=zh-CN&tl=en&js=n&prev=_t&hl=en&ie=UTF-8&eotf=1&u=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.cas.ac.cn%2Fky%2Fkyjz%2F201305%2Ft20130514_3839206.shtml&act=url
Quote from: Galactic Penguin SST on 05/14/2013 06:44 amQuote from: luhai167 on 05/14/2013 06:31 amHere is the official story, just another sounding rocket. However, if this is a sounding rocket, it is the most high profile sounding rocket I have ever seen.http://translate.google.com/translate?sl=zh-CN&tl=en&js=n&prev=_t&hl=en&ie=UTF-8&eotf=1&u=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.cas.ac.cn%2Fky%2Fkyjz%2F201305%2Ft20130514_3839206.shtml&act=urlThat would be one huge sounding rocket with extremely long range capabilities - they should have sold them back to the Americans and Europeans, for they would have good use of it at such a cheap price..... This is the worst cover-up story I have ever seen - which only add fuel to the speculation on what happened yesterday. I'm waiting for responses inside the Beltway.... The interesting thing is that the science payload is reported to have included a barium release. Were there any observations of a red cloud reported?If you take the report at face value it could be something like one of the Soviet Vertikal' probes, or a US Blue Scout Junior, with thousands of km apogee rather than the usual few hundred km of typical sounding rockets.
Quote from: jcm on 05/14/2013 12:03 pmQuote from: Galactic Penguin SST on 05/14/2013 06:44 amQuote from: luhai167 on 05/14/2013 06:31 amHere is the official story, just another sounding rocket. However, if this is a sounding rocket, it is the most high profile sounding rocket I have ever seen.http://translate.google.com/translate?sl=zh-CN&tl=en&js=n&prev=_t&hl=en&ie=UTF-8&eotf=1&u=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.cas.ac.cn%2Fky%2Fkyjz%2F201305%2Ft20130514_3839206.shtml&act=urlThat would be one huge sounding rocket with extremely long range capabilities - they should have sold them back to the Americans and Europeans, for they would have good use of it at such a cheap price..... This is the worst cover-up story I have ever seen - which only add fuel to the speculation on what happened yesterday. I'm waiting for responses inside the Beltway.... The interesting thing is that the science payload is reported to have included a barium release. Were there any observations of a red cloud reported?If you take the report at face value it could be something like one of the Soviet Vertikal' probes, or a US Blue Scout Junior, with thousands of km apogee rather than the usual few hundred km of typical sounding rockets.I have seen hundreds of reports (and photos, although most of them are of rather poor) spread over more than a thousand miles apart yesterday, and "strangely" none of them reports a red cloud - all of them saw a comet like streak crossing the sky steadily for 1-2 minutes.Plus the last time they did such an experiment in early April the authorities issued warnings beforehand with indication that a sounding rocket launch was planned. Not this time.The rest of the story is left to the reader as an exercise.
Not impossible for both ideas to be true: trajectory test of a new launch vehicle variant with a science payload, but vehicle mainly intended to carry an ASAT in future.
Quote from: jcm on 05/14/2013 12:24 pmNot impossible for both ideas to be true: trajectory test of a new launch vehicle variant with a science payload, but vehicle mainly intended to carry an ASAT in future.Any ideas as to what rocket might be involved? There are some clues, such as the drop zone and final(?) stage burn-out seen well above the horizon at Hong Kong.
The release, if it occurred, might have been 20 minutes to an hour later depending on the apogee. Not impossible for both ideas to be true: trajectory test of a new launch vehicle variant with a science payload, but vehicle mainly intended to carry an ASAT in future.
http://www.chinanews.com/gn/2013/05-14/4817925.shtml
China once again high-altitude scientific exploration test: height higher data moreOn May 14, 2013 20:57 Source: China News (5) BEIJING, May 14 (Reporter Sun Zifa) reporter learned from the Chinese Academy of Sciences, National Space Science Center on the 14th, following the April 5, 2013, China successfully conducted for the first time sounding of the space environment and space science initiative test, May 13 and the success of a higher degree of high-altitude scientific exploration test.The pilot commander, GONG Jian village Fellow, National Space Science Center, deputy director of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, said the active test probe test compared to the space in Danzhou, Hainan on April 5 this year, at the altitude has been greatly increased by hundreds of kilometers to more than 10,000 kilometers; equipped with a more scientific instruments, data obtained relates to a wider range of space, the amount of data is more. Preliminary analysis indicates that the test has been obtained first-hand scientific data, the vertical distribution of different heights on the space environment parameters and space science research has a very important value.The trial, sounding rocket through the Earth's upper atmosphere and ionosphere, and finally into the magnetosphere. Sounding rocket carrying scientific instruments, space radiation in low latitudes with high-energy particles, ionospheric plasma and magnetic field distribution in situ detection. Sounding rocket released at the height of 10,000 km near the metal barium meal, barium cloud is formed in the space and ground-based optical telescope follow-up observations of the barium cloud evolution, measured to study the dynamic characteristics of this region of the magnetosphere data.It is reported that the space scientific experiments at the Xichang Satellite Launch Center, energetic particle detectors, Langmuir probe, magnetometer, the barium metal powder release device and other scientific instruments designed and developed by the Chinese Academy of Sciences, National Space Science Center, launch vehicles the Kunpeng VII "developed by the China Aerospace Science and Industry Group. (End)
Quote from: jcm on 05/14/2013 12:24 pmThe release, if it occurred, might have been 20 minutes to an hour later depending on the apogee. Not impossible for both ideas to be true: trajectory test of a new launch vehicle variant with a science payload, but vehicle mainly intended to carry an ASAT in future.Looks like you are indeed right! Those instruments did measure the magnetosphere and released solid barium at a height of over 10000 km (so at least there's a science payload hitchhiking)http://www.chinanews.com/gn/2013/05-14/4817925.shtmlHowever, the same news article exposed the real intent of the rocket :1. The altitude reached by the rocket is >10000 km; definitely beyond the range of all mainstream sounding rockets2. The rocket (claimed as "Kunpeng 7", although I am 100% sure that the name refers to the payload package and not the rocket) is built by CASIC (KT-1 derivative?)
It might be interesting to determine what was flying by in orbit around that time. - Ed Kyle
1976 Jun 18 1141 Scout D-1 S193C GP-A WI LA3A 10230 1963 Jul 30 1616:08 Blue Scout Jr 22-1/AD-622 AFCRL-1/21 (AD-622) CC LC18A 11100 1965 Mar 30 1609:31 Blue Scout Jr 22-4 (OAR Probe 4) AFCRL-35 CC LC18A 12067 1965 May 12 1602:35 Blue Scout Jr 22-8 (OAR Probe 6) AFCRL-335 CC LC18A 13586 1965 Jun 9 1626:15 Blue Scout Jr 22-5 (OAR Probe 7) AFWL-304 CC LC18A 17533 1965 Apr 9 1810:37 Blue Scout Jr 22-9 (OAR Probe 5) AWFL-14 CC LC18A 25422 1960 Sep 21 1301:53 Blue Scout Jr D-1 HETS CC LC18A 26700 1971 Sep 20 2331:00 Scout B S166C Barium Ion Cloud WI LA3A 31479 1961 Dec 4 0400:16 Blue Scout Jr O-2 HETS PA LC-A 44400 1961 Aug 17 1429 Blue Scout Jr O-1 HETS CC LC18A 225000