Author Topic: YaoGan Weixing-12 CZ-4B Taiyuan launch - November 9, 2011  (Read 25335 times)

Offline Satori

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YaoGan Weixing-12 will probably be launched from Taiyuan in the next few days.
« Last Edit: 11/09/2011 07:00 am by input~2 »

Offline Victory O

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Offline Galactic Penguin SST

If this thing is really the successor to YG-5 (as rumored for some time already), then I would guess the launch time could be around 03:00 - 05:00 UTC on November 6th. The problem is that it's eerily quiet on the Chinese front...   ::)
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Offline Chris Bergin

No sign of this one launching yet? Could someone send me a PM if it does (I'd rather three people did, as opposed to no one) and I'll get Rui's article on (I'll be on e-mail not web access for the interim).
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Offline Galactic Penguin SST

No sign of this one launching yet? Could someone send me a PM if it does (I'd rather three people did, as opposed to no one) and I'll get Rui's article on (I'll be on e-mail not web access for the interim).

Chris, nothing's happening at this moment: no official news (the Chinese stopped doing that since the failure in August), no blogger reporting on a launch happening (or even anything close to that), no NOTAMs, no sightings of UFOs, no secret satellites being found by the Americans, no fireballs falling out of the sky...  ::) So I don't know what's going on, and the launch status could be anywhere from a stealth launch achieved to not happening for some days from now.  :-\
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Offline input~2

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Re: YaoGan Weixing-12 CZ-4B Taiyuan launch - November 2011
« Reply #5 on: 11/06/2011 09:02 am »
Rain is supposed to stop Tuesday in the TSLC area...

Offline Galactic Penguin SST

LOL, it has just been launched! Launch time is 03:21 UTC (I got the correct launch time!).  ;D

Also onboard is the Tian Xun-1 picosatellite built by the Nanjing University of Aeronautics and Astronautics.

« Last Edit: 11/09/2011 03:09 am by Galactic Penguin SST »
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Offline Chris Bergin

There we go! Now to see if a launch image gets posted...or if I have to use a generic one ;) (Day time launch, yes?)
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Offline Galactic Penguin SST

There we go! Now to see if a launch image gets posted...or if I have to use a generic one ;) (Day time launch, yes?)

Yup, it's a daylight launch (11:21 Chinese time). And the pictures shouldn't take long to come: they would probably come at the noon time news report here (underway right now).

Edit: First picture now up.
« Last Edit: 11/09/2011 03:22 am by Galactic Penguin SST »
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Offline Chris Bergin

Excellent. Do we have a person/site to accredit the image too? I'll get Rui's article on shortly :)
« Last Edit: 11/09/2011 03:43 am by Chris Bergin »
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Offline Chris Bergin

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Offline Galactic Penguin SST

There we go! Now to see if a launch image gets posted...or if I have to use a generic one ;) (Day time launch, yes?)

Yup, it's a daylight launch (11:21 Chinese time). And the pictures shouldn't take long to come: they would probably come at the noon time news report here (underway right now).

Edit: First picture now up.

Some notes:
1. The picture above is unfortunately a stock photo: it wasn't snowing during the launch today.
2. Here's a Chinese discussion thread for TX-1: Link
« Last Edit: 11/09/2011 04:36 am by Galactic Penguin SST »
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Offline Galactic Penguin SST

Some interesting facts on the TX-1 micro-satellite:

1. The satellite's size is roughly 60 cm X 75 cm, and weights about 35 kilograms.

2. The satellite's main payload is a 2.5 kg CCD camera built by Suzhou University. It has a maximum resolution of roughly 30 meters.

3. The satellite has a clear military mission: it was built into a pear-like polygon shape to test the ability of making a stealth satellite (to both optical and radar tracking). (Think of the F-22 / B-2...)

4. The project started in around 2007, however it went into serious management problems that stalled its development for more than one year.

Also the launch time (03:21 UTC) strongly hints at YG-12 being the successor to YG-5, so we could predict that the satellite (which should fulfill the role of high-resolution optical reconnaissance) is in an orbit of ~500 X 500 km X 98 degrees.
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Offline Galactic Penguin SST

And some cool launch photos...  :)
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Offline Galactic Penguin SST

Precise launch time: 03:21:05:279 UTC.
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Offline input~2

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« Last Edit: 11/09/2011 07:21 am by input~2 »

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Re: YaoGan Weixing-12 CZ-4B Taiyuan launch - November 9, 2011
« Reply #16 on: 11/09/2011 07:43 am »
At lift-off, other launch vehicles drop ice that formed on the exterior of the cryogenic tanks.  CZ-4B apparently instead drops ... confetti?  What am I failing to understand?
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Offline input~2

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Offline Skyrocket

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Re: YaoGan Weixing-12 CZ-4B Taiyuan launch - November 9, 2011
« Reply #18 on: 11/09/2011 08:25 am »
At lift-off, other launch vehicles drop ice that formed on the exterior of the cryogenic tanks.  CZ-4B apparently instead drops ... confetti?  What am I failing to understand?

It drops thermal insulation panels of the payload fairing

Offline input~2

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Re: YaoGan Weixing-12 CZ-4B Taiyuan launch - November 9, 2011
« Reply #19 on: 11/09/2011 08:26 am »
At lift-off, other launch vehicles drop ice that formed on the exterior of the cryogenic tanks.  CZ-4B apparently instead drops ... confetti?  What am I failing to understand?
It looks like these "confetti" are external thermal protections from the fairing

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