Author Topic: Kunpeng-7, XSLC, May 13th 2013  (Read 80629 times)

Offline Galactic Penguin SST

Kunpeng-7, XSLC, May 13th 2013
« on: 05/10/2013 07:56 am »
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-N273614E1053838
BACK TO START. VERTICAL LIMITS: SFC-UNL.ALL ACFT ARE PROHIBITED TO
FLY INTO THE AREA. SFC - UNL, 12 MAY 12:57 2013 UNTIL 12 MAY 13:46 2013. CREATED:
10 MAY 06:48 2013


There's another evidence that may or may not be related to this thing - report coming soon.
« Last Edit: 05/18/2013 03:27 pm by Satori »
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Offline Galactic Penguin SST

Re: Unknown (DN-2?), XSLC, May 13th 2013
« Reply #1 on: 05/10/2013 12:20 pm »
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-N273614E1053838
BACK TO START. VERTICAL LIMITS: SFC-UNL.ALL ACFT ARE PROHIBITED TO
FLY INTO THE AREA. SFC - UNL, 12 MAY 12:57 2013 UNTIL 12 MAY 13:46 2013. CREATED:
10 MAY 06:48 2013


There'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.....  ???

« Last Edit: 05/10/2013 12:26 pm by Galactic Penguin SST »
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Offline input~2

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Re: Unknown (DN-2?), XSLC, May 13th 2013
« Reply #2 on: 05/10/2013 01:02 pm »
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-N273614E1053838
BACK TO START. VERTICAL LIMITS: SFC-UNL.ALL ACFT ARE PROHIBITED TO
FLY INTO THE AREA. SFC - UNL, 12 MAY 12:57 2013 UNTIL 12 MAY 13:46 2013. CREATED:
10 MAY 06:48 2013


There'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 wild guess:
- Area around Zhaotong, Yunnan: 1st stage drop zone
- NOTAMed area: fairing drop zone
- Area in Dao county, Hunan: 2nd stage drop zone
« Last Edit: 05/10/2013 01:03 pm by input~2 »

Offline input~2

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Re: Unknown (DN-2?), XSLC, May 13th 2013
« Reply #3 on: 05/11/2013 03:32 pm »
As of May 11, 1525UTC, NOTAM A0507/13 has been removed from the  active  NOTAM list well before the indicated window has lapsed (May 12,   1346UTC)
So apparently this planned launch has been delayed or cancelled...

Offline input~2

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Re: Unknown (DN-2?), XSLC, May 13th 2013
« Reply #4 on: 05/12/2013 12:34 pm »
It's back, now on May 13
Quote
A0523/13 -  A TEMPORARY RESTRICTED AREA ESTABLISHED BOUNDED BY:  N272440E1062527-N270348E1061854 -N271521E1053214-N273614E1053838  BACK TO START. VERTICAL LIMITS: SFC-UNL.ALL ACFT ARE PROHIBITED TO  FLY INTO THE AREA. SFC - UNL, 13 MAY 12:47 2013 UNTIL 13 MAY 13:36 2013. CREATED: 12 MAY 11:34 2013

Offline Galactic Penguin SST

Re: Unknown (DN-2?), XSLC, May 13th 2013
« Reply #5 on: 05/13/2013 12:31 pm »
It's back, now on May 13
Quote
A0523/13 -  A TEMPORARY RESTRICTED AREA ESTABLISHED BOUNDED BY:  N272440E1062527-N270348E1061854 -N271521E1053214-N273614E1053838  BACK TO START. VERTICAL LIMITS: SFC-UNL.ALL ACFT ARE PROHIBITED TO  FLY INTO THE AREA. SFC - UNL, 13 MAY 12:47 2013 UNTIL 13 MAY 13:36 2013. CREATED: 12 MAY 11:34 2013

People being chased off their houses right now.....

It would be absolutely weird if a missile launch would require evacuating towns and villages in several different spots, but I have no explanation on what on earth is that thing being launched right now (doubt it's aimed towards orbit though).

Expect UFO reports soon.....  ::)
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Offline Galactic Penguin SST

Re: Unknown (DN-2?), XSLC, May 13th 2013
« Reply #6 on: 05/13/2013 01:05 pm »
It's back, now on May 13
Quote
A0523/13 -  A TEMPORARY RESTRICTED AREA ESTABLISHED BOUNDED BY:  N272440E1062527-N270348E1061854 -N271521E1053214-N273614E1053838  BACK TO START. VERTICAL LIMITS: SFC-UNL.ALL ACFT ARE PROHIBITED TO  FLY INTO THE AREA. SFC - UNL, 13 MAY 12:47 2013 UNTIL 13 MAY 13:36 2013. CREATED: 12 MAY 11:34 2013

People being chased off their houses right now.....

It would be absolutely weird if a missile launch would require evacuating towns and villages in several different spots, but I have no explanation on what on earth is that thing being launched right now (doubt it's aimed towards orbit though).

Expect UFO reports soon.....  ::)

Launched around 13:00 UTC - lots of observation reports ranging from Chengdu to Kunming, as well as UFOs from Chongqing all the way to Wuhan and Hainan island!  ::)  :o

Edit: Even more reports from places further downstream - including one in Fujian and at least 3 in Guangdong. Damn! I should have get out and look around if I can see the "purple comet tail" from Hong Kong....
« Last Edit: 05/13/2013 01:26 pm by Galactic Penguin SST »
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Offline Satori

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Re: Unknown (DN-2?), XSLC, May 13th 2013
« Reply #7 on: 05/13/2013 01:32 pm »

Launched around 13:00 UTC - lots of observation reports ranging from Chengdu to Kunming, as well as UFOs from Chongqing all the way to Wuhan and Hainan island!  ::)  :o

Edit: Even more reports from places further downstream - including one in Fujian and at least 3 in Guangdong. Damn! I should have get out and look around if I can see the "purple comet tail" from Hong Kong....

This is getting really interesting!!!

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Re: Unknown (DN-2?), XSLC, May 13th 2013
« Reply #8 on: 05/13/2013 01:55 pm »
Any other informations about this launch?

Offline input~2

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Re: Unknown (DN-2?), XSLC, May 13th 2013
« Reply #9 on: 05/13/2013 02:00 pm »
Launched around 13:00 UTC - lots of observation reports ranging from Chengdu to Kunming, as well as UFOs from Chongqing all the way to Wuhan and Hainan island!  ::) :o

Edit: Even more reports from places further downstream - including one in Fujian and at least 3 in Guangdong. Damn! I should have get out and look around if I can see the "purple comet tail" from Hong Kong....
I've seen reports from microbloggers located in Xichang, Xishuangbanna (Yunnan) and Shiyan (Hubei)

Offline Galactic Penguin SST

Re: Unknown (DN-2?), XSLC, May 13th 2013
« Reply #10 on: 05/13/2013 02:29 pm »
The huge area that people seeing the rocket plume means that this thing must be rising very quickly into space - so probably a solid motor powered thingy. And it launches from Xichang. And the path it took is roughly GTO-ish.

IMHO the only reasonable explanation is that this is an ASAT test - possibly towards a real or simulated GTO target. Let's see if there are new debris spreading around over the next few days (or even a flash saw by others east of China).....  ::)
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Offline input~2

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Dongneng-2?
« Last Edit: 05/13/2013 06:52 pm by input~2 »

Offline Galactic Penguin SST

Re: Unknown (DN-2?), XSLC, May 13th 2013
« Reply #12 on: 05/13/2013 03:55 pm »
Damn, someone DID caught it in Hong Kong! (click the picture for animation) :o

It looks all but certain that whatever was launched 3 hours ago is something top secret, as described by someone at Xichang: http://lt.cjdby.net/forum.php?mod=viewthread&tid=1614118
« Last Edit: 05/13/2013 03:55 pm by Galactic Penguin SST »
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Offline input~2

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Re: Unknown (DN-2?), XSLC, May 13th 2013
« Reply #13 on: 05/13/2013 06:28 pm »
Some sources in Sichuan report a launch time of 1258UTC

Offline jcm

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Re: Unknown (DN-2?), XSLC, May 13th 2013
« Reply #14 on: 05/13/2013 07:08 pm »
So from the map above one might expect reports from Taiwan too - and even negative ones would have significance


Also, worth noting no TLEs for any new launch as of 1900 UTC, but this is not dispositive as it often  takes them longer to process a 'new foreign launch' of this kind.  Also, no new debris listings, but that would probably only show up days later.
« Last Edit: 05/13/2013 07:11 pm by jcm »
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Offline Phillip Clark

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Re: Unknown (DN-2?), XSLC, May 13th 2013
« Reply #15 on: 05/13/2013 10:32 pm »
I have to pose the question: if this launch is "Dongneng-2" then what was Dongneng-1?   And what does this name translate as please?
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Re: Unknown (DN-2?), XSLC, May 13th 2013
« Reply #16 on: 05/13/2013 11:29 pm »
I have to pose the question: if this launch is "Dongneng-2" then what was Dongneng-1?   And what does this name translate as please?

Wikipedia says the name is 动能2 and Google Translate says 动能 means "kinetic energy."  One might speculate that -1 was the 2007 version.

FWIW and YMMV.
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Re: Unknown (DN-2?), XSLC, May 13th 2013
« Reply #17 on: 05/14/2013 12:56 am »
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?
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Offline luhai167

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Re: Unknown (DN-2?), XSLC, May 13th 2013
« Reply #18 on: 05/14/2013 06:31 am »
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
« Last Edit: 05/14/2013 06:32 am by luhai167 »

Offline Galactic Penguin SST

Re: Unknown (DN-2?), XSLC, May 13th 2013
« Reply #19 on: 05/14/2013 06:44 am »
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

That 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....  ;D
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