QuoteA4147/19 - TEMPO DANGER AREA ACTIVATED PSN 755900N 0212600E - 755000N 0220200E - 753100N 0225600E - 752100N 0225200E - 751500N 0221300E - 752400N 0212900E - 753600N 0205100E - 755000N 0203000E - (755900N 0212600E IMPACT AREA FOR RUSSIAN MISSILES. SFC - UNL, 1730-1900, 25 NOV 17:30 2019 UNTIL 26 NOV 19:00 2019. CREATED: 18 NOV 11:42 2019QuoteB6675/19 - TEMPO DANGER AREA NZD026 (EAST AUCKLAND OCEANIC FIR) IS PRESCRIBED AS FLW: ALL THAT AIRSPACE BOUNDED BY A LINE JOINING: 30 00 00 S 131 00 00 W 60 00 00 S 131 00 00 W 60 00 00 S 175 00 00 W 30 00 00 S 175 00 00 W 30 00 00 S 131 00 00 W ACTIVITY: SPACE DEBRIS RETURN USER AGENCY: FOREIGN SPACE AGENCY PRESCRIBED PURSUANT TO CIVIL AVIATION RULE PART 71 UNDER A DELEGATED AUTHORITY ISSUED BY THE DIRECTOR OF CIVIL AVIATION. SFC - FL999, 25 NOV 17:30 2019 UNTIL 26 NOV 07:00 2019. CREATED: 14 NOV 15:11 2019
Red matches the July 10th launch of Soyuz-2-1v/Volga
https://twitter.com/LaunchStuff/status/1149170081236230153 (https://twitter.com/LaunchStuff/status/1149170081236230153)
Lime matches the December 28th 2013 maiden launch of Soyuz-2-1v/Volga
https://twitter.com/LaunchStuff/status/1196429006050119680 (https://twitter.com/LaunchStuff/status/1196429006050119680)
https://tass.ru/kosmos/7016875 (https://tass.ru/kosmos/7016875)
RKTs Progress director Dmitriy Baranov says that two out of three Soyuz-2-1v launch vehicles ordered by the Ministry of Defense for 2019 have been finished. One is in storage at RKTs Progress and the other has been shipped to the Plesetsk cosmodrome. A third rocket is in the final stages of assembly.
It is not quite clear from his statement if the rocket delivered to Plesetsk is the one used to launch Kosmos-2535/2536/2537/2538 last July. Possibly, that rocket was part of an earlier order by the Ministry of Defense. According to the Russian launch schedule on the NK forum there is another Soyuz-2-1v/Volga scheduled for launch from Plesetsk before the end of this year.
The original contract was for 5 rockets. Contract 1719187308072412246024961 from 2017, is connected to Volga upper stages №7, №8 and №9. I think №6 was for Lomonosov?
Also see here:-
https://forum.nasaspaceflight.com/index.php?topic=26990.msg1953068#msg1953068 (https://forum.nasaspaceflight.com/index.php?topic=26990.msg1953068#msg1953068)
I am deducing that the launch will be from LC 43/4 as 43/3's "return to launch" will be the Glonass-M launch in December.I'm not sure if 43/3 ended up with 2.1v adapting hardware installed as 16/2 is/was supposed to be rebuilt to solely take over 2.1v launches.
Any deductions as to what the payload(s) will be?
Most likely it/they will receive a Kosmos designation(s)?
Cross-post:QuoteA4147/19 - TEMPO DANGER AREA ACTIVATED PSN 755900N 0212600E - 755000N 0220200E - 753100N 0225600E - 752100N 0225200E - 751500N 0221300E - 752400N 0212900E - 753600N 0205100E - 755000N 0203000E - (755900N 0212600E IMPACT AREA FOR RUSSIAN MISSILES. SFC - UNL, 1730-1900, 25 NOV 17:30 2019 UNTIL 26 NOV 19:00 2019. CREATED: 18 NOV 11:42 2019QuoteB6675/19 - TEMPO DANGER AREA NZD026 (EAST AUCKLAND OCEANIC FIR) IS PRESCRIBED AS FLW: ALL THAT AIRSPACE BOUNDED BY A LINE JOINING: 30 00 00 S 131 00 00 W 60 00 00 S 131 00 00 W 60 00 00 S 175 00 00 W 30 00 00 S 175 00 00 W 30 00 00 S 131 00 00 W ACTIVITY: SPACE DEBRIS RETURN USER AGENCY: FOREIGN SPACE AGENCY PRESCRIBED PURSUANT TO CIVIL AVIATION RULE PART 71 UNDER A DELEGATED AUTHORITY ISSUED BY THE DIRECTOR OF CIVIL AVIATION. SFC - FL999, 25 NOV 17:30 2019 UNTIL 26 NOV 07:00 2019. CREATED: 14 NOV 15:11 2019
Red matches the July 10th launch of Soyuz-2-1v/Volga
https://twitter.com/LaunchStuff/status/1149170081236230153
Lime matches the December 28th 2013 maiden launch of Soyuz-2-1v/Volga
https://twitter.com/LaunchStuff/status/1196429006050119680
And, there is expectation of 1 or 2 more Soyuz-2-1v/Volga launches from Plesetsk this year:https://tass.ru/kosmos/7016875
RKTs Progress director Dmitriy Baranov says that two out of three Soyuz-2-1v launch vehicles ordered by the Ministry of Defense for 2019 have been finished. One is in storage at RKTs Progress and the other has been shipped to the Plesetsk cosmodrome. A third rocket is in the final stages of assembly.
It is not quite clear from his statement if the rocket delivered to Plesetsk is the one used to launch Kosmos-2535/2536/2537/2538 last July. Possibly, that rocket was part of an earlier order by the Ministry of Defense. According to the Russian launch schedule on the NK forum there is another Soyuz-2-1v/Volga scheduled for launch from Plesetsk before the end of this year.
The original contract was for 5 rockets. Contract 1719187308072412246024961 from 2017, is connected to Volga upper stages №7, №8 and №9. I think №6 was for Lomonosov?
Also see here:-
https://forum.nasaspaceflight.com/index.php?topic=26990.msg1953068#msg1953068
A general question wasn’t the Russian parliament meant to be passing a law classifying all these procurement documents so they no longer were published online?
As I have mentioned in the Kosmos-2535/2536/2537/2538 thread...https://forum.nasaspaceflight.com/index.php?topic=43064.0
A general question wasn’t the Russian parliament meant to be passing a law classifying all these procurement documents so they no longer were published online?
Hasn't happened so far, but I guess it's just a matter of time. This is where most of the leaks are taking place.
NZZO AUCKLAND (OAC)
B6675/19 - TEMPO DANGER AREA NZD026 (EAST AUCKLAND OCEANIC FIR) IS PRESCRIBED AS FLW: ALL THAT AIRSPACE BOUNDED BY A LINE JOINING: 30 00 00 S 131 00 00 W 60 00 00 S 131 00 00 W 60 00 00 S 175 00 00 W 30 00 00 S 175 00 00 W 30 00 00 S 131 00 00 W ACTIVITY: SPACE DEBRIS RETURN USER AGENCY: FOREIGN SPACE AGENCY PRESCRIBED PURSUANT TO CIVIL AVIATION RULE PART 71 UNDER A DELEGATED AUTHORITY ISSUED BY THE DIRECTOR OF CIVIL AVIATION. SFC - FL999, 25 NOV 17:30 2019 UNTIL 26 NOV 07:00 2019. CREATED: 14 NOV 15:11 2019
ENOB BODO FIC/FIR
A4147/19 - TEMPO DANGER AREA ACTIVATED PSN 755900N 0212600E - 755000N 0220200E - 753100N 0225600E - 752100N 0225200E - 751500N 0221300E - 752400N 0212900E - 753600N 0205100E - 755000N 0203000E - (755900N 0212600E IMPACT AREA FOR RUSSIAN MISSILES. SFC - UNL, 1730-1900, 25 NOV 17:30 2019 UNTIL 26 NOV 19:00 2019. CREATED: 18 NOV 11:42 2019
ULMM MURMANSK
Q6705/19 - TEMPO DANGER AREA ACT: 701800N0334900E-701200N0340800E-695400N0344300E-693300N0344700E- 692500N0341500E-693500N0333700E-695300N0330500E-701200N0331100E- 701800N0334900E. SFC - UNL, DAILY 1730-1900, 25 NOV 17:30 2019 UNTIL 26 NOV 19:00 2019. CREATED: 21 NOV 06:21 2019
Q6708/19 - FLW ATS RTE SEGMENTS CLSD: W57 ABELU - BAROD T570 NUTLA - LIMUS. SFC - UNL, DAILY 1730-1900, 25 NOV 17:30 2019 UNTIL 26 NOV 19:00 2019. CREATED: 21 NOV 06:25 2019
Would Bars #3 be an option (of course on Soyuz 2.1a) ?
Soyuz-2.1v missile successfully launched from Plesetsk with a military satellite
11/25/2019 20:56:14
Moscow. November 25. INTERFAX - The aerospace forces successfully launched the Soyuz-2.1v launch vehicle from the Plesetsk cosmodrome, the Russian Ministry of Defense’s Information and Communications Department told reporters.
"On Monday, November 25, at 20:52 Moscow time, from the launcher No. 4 of platform No. 43 of the State Testing Cosmodrome of the Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation (Plesetsk Cosmodrome), the Soyuz-2.1 light carrier rocket was successfully launched by the combat crew of the Aerospace Forces in "with a spacecraft designed in the interests of the Russian Defense Ministry," the Ministry of Defense said.
The ministry noted that all prelaunch operations and the launch of the Soyuz-2.1v rocket went on as normal. Means of a ground-based automated control complex monitored the launch and launch of the launch vehicle.
This is the second launch of the Soyuz-2.1v light carrier rocket carried out in 2019 from the Plesetsk cosmodrome. The previous launch from the northern spaceport was carried out on July 10, 2019.
The launch of the Soyuz-2.1v light-class launch vehicle, the flight design tests of which have been taking place at the Plesetsk cosmodrome since 2013, has been carried out by the space forces for the sixth time.
New Russian military satellite put into orbit
11/26/2019 0:30:51
Moscow. November 26th. INTERFAX - The Volga upper stage successfully launched the Russian Defense Ministry’s spacecraft into orbit, reporters at the Russian Ministry of Defense’s Information and Communications Department told reporters on Monday.
“Soyuz-2.1v light launch vehicle launched on November 25 at 20:52 Moscow time from the Plesetsk State Testing Cosmodrome in the Arkhangelsk Region successfully launched a spacecraft into the calculated orbit in the interests of the Russian Defense Ministry,” the Defense Ministry said. .
The launch of the Soyuz-2.1v launch vehicle and the launch of the spacecraft into orbit took place as usual.
Have any launch photos been released?Without guarantee, that they are current photos
The fairing in the video has two big extensions at the sides. That's the same fairing used for Kosmos 2519 (14F150 N1) on 25 June 2017.
https://forum.nasaspaceflight.com/index.php?topic=43064.msg1693829#msg1693829
Can anyone work out the serial number on the fairing? I think the top numbers ends in 0 and the bottom number with 004.
The Volga booster, with which a military satellite was launched the day before, is flooded in the Pacific Ocean, TASS reports. This was reported to reporters on Tuesday at the Russian Ministry of Defense.
"Specialists of the G.S. Titov Main Testing Space Center (GICC) of the Space Forces of the Aerospace Forces completed operations to remove the Volga launch unit from the target orbit of the spacecraft of the Russian Ministry of Defense and flood it in the Pacific," the department said.
There are some interesting questions:
- is it a single satellite ?
- is Kosmos 2542 the "inspector"
- will the inspector later be separated from the main satellite?
A possible target ?
Kosmos 2542 97.90° 96.95min 369 857 km
USA 224/
USA 245 97.90° 97.2min 260 1000 km
I don't know the orbit plane.
https://www.vedomosti.ru/politics/articles/2019/12/04/817885-raketno-kosmicheskuyu-otrasl
"It is not only a question of updating the grouping with more advanced systems, but also of deploying fundamentally new spacecraft. These include the inspector satellite launched on the Soyuz-2.1v rocket on November 26 from the Plesetsk Cosmodrome: it is capable of orbiting and carrying out external inspection and non-contact technical diagnostics of other satellites at the shortest possible distance. In addition, as RIA Novosti noted, inspector satellites can receive information not only from their own, but also from foreign satellites. According to space analyst Bart Hendricks, this may be a spacecraft created by NPO "Lavochkin" and the Central Research Institute of Chemistry and Mechanics within the framework of "Niveller" development. In June 2017, a platform satellite was launched into space under the code code "Cosmos-2519", and in August, a small spacecraft "Cosmos-2521" designed to inspect one of the domestic satellites was separated from it. Two months later, another discovery occurred: the Cosmos-2521 satellite-inspector Cosmos-2523, also capable of diagnosing the condition of other spacecraft, separated from Cosmos-2521."
Translated with www.DeepL.com/Translator
There are some interesting questions:So the questions are answered.
- is it a single satellite ?
- is Kosmos 2542 the "inspector"
- will the inspector later be separated from the main satellite?
His father, also named Ivan Safronov, died in mysterious circumstances in 2007 while working on a sensitive story about Russian arms deliveries to Syria. His death was officially explained as a suicide, but many have called that claim into question
His father, also named Ivan Safronov, died in mysterious circumstances in 2007 while working on a sensitive story about Russian arms deliveries to Syria. His death was officially explained as a suicide, but many have called that claim into question
Please, do not begin discussion here about this person. You do not know truth and can bring harm. Only his family can discuss this matter.
Either COSMOS 2542 or the sub-satellite it released today is transmitting on 2280MHz. No surprise as COSMOS 2491, 2499, 2504, 2519 and 2535 also use/used this frequency.
https://twitter.com/cgbassa/status/1203060452378513408
| 2019-079A/44797 in 368 x 857 km x 97.897° (Kosmos-2542 at epoch Dec 6, 1703 UTC) 2019-079D/44835 in 368 x 858 km x 97.895° (Kosmos-2543 at epoch Dec 6, 1349 UTC) |
Jonathan McDowell:
Looks like the inspector satellite 44835 (probable Kosmos-2543) separated from parent satellite 44797 (probable Kosmos-2542) sometime around 0600-1000 UTC Dec 6. Both are in 368 x 858 km x 97.9° orbits and remain within about 10 km of each other based on the most recent TLEs
Namely:
2019-079A/44797 in 368 x 857 km x 97.897° (Kosmos-2542 at epoch Dec 6, 1703 UTC)
2019-079D/44835 in 368 x 858 km x 97.895° (Kosmos-2543 at epoch Dec 6, 1349 UTC)
From: Nico Janssen via Seesat-l <seesat-l_at_satobs.org>
Date: Thu, 26 Dec 2019 15:55:41 +0100
<snip>
On 2019-12-09 or 2019-12-10 USA 245 changed its orbit. Before its
maneuver it was in a 272x985 km orbit. This is the last TLE set that I
could determine before the maneuver:
USA 245
1 39232U 13043A 19342.41935900 .00010000 00000-0 10147-3 0 00
2 39232 97.8900 42.9218 0508960 301.2530 203.1441 14.80147872 09
I lost track of USA 245 after its orbit maneuver. I suspect it is now in a
much higher orbit.
Kosmos 2542 is still in its original orbit. But meanwhile Kosmos 2543 has
climbed to a 590x859 km orbit, still in the same orbit plane as USA 245.
So what is going on? Is Kosmos 2543 chasing USA 245? And is USA 245
trying to escape by changing its orbit? Or is all this just a coincidence?
I do see that using the pre-maneuver TLE that you provided, Kosmos 2543 was set to have multiple close passes to USA 245, with the closest ones coming on Dec 9, as close as ~55km away. The timing of the USA 245 maneuver is interesting to say the least.
Kosmos 2543 made a small maneuver on Dec 9th followed by the larger ones you reference on Dec 14th and 16th. You would think that if a "chase" is going on, that would be enough time to get a good fix on the new position of USA 245.
It's a really interesting observation, especially if USA 245 can be re-acquired in an orbit up near where Kosmos 2543 has headed.
As a note of comparison, Cartosat-3, which is also in the same plane, only has passes as close as around 150km, and most are in the 300-400km range. That's just one data point, but it was certainly going to get closer to USA 245.
I recovered USA 245 (39232). Preliminary TLE set for its new 286x999 km
orbit:
USA 245
1 39232U 13043A 19365.39943200 .00010000 00000-0 10147-3 0 04
2 39232 97.8900 64.1996 0508394 225.3404 281.4041 14.75824432 08
As usual further TLE updates will be provided in this file:
https://hamsat1.home.xs4all.nl/tle.tle
The orbit planes of USA 245 and Kosmos 2543 are now only 0.26 degrees apart.
Kosmos 2543 is still in its 589x860 km orbit.
From: Nico Janssen via Seesat-l <seesat-l_at_satobs.org>
Date: Wed, 29 Jan 2020 14:18:29 +0100
Kosmos 2543 is still in its 588 x 861 km orbit. But meanwhile Kosmos 2542
raised its orbit to a 369 x 915 km orbit. USA 245 is now in a 283 x 1002 km
orbit. The orbit planes of Kosmos 2542 and USA 245 are about 0.55 degrees
apart and the difference between their orbital periods is only 1 second.
From: Michael R Thompson via Seesat-l <seesat-l_at_satobs.org>
Date: Thu, 30 Jan 2020 05:31:48 +0000
Took a deeper look tonight.
I can't find any Russian satellites that are as closely sync'd as USA 245.
If you want to be very generous, there are Russian satellites in a similar plane that yield marginal passes (~500km) every few days:
* Cosmos 2523: A previous inspection satellite from 2017
* Resurs P1: An earth observation satellite. There's a very close pass on Jan 30 (100km), but the rest are in the 500km range every ~2 days.
Additionally, the first maneuver on January 21st was perfectly sync'd with the closest approach of Cosmos 2542 and USA 245, which before this set of maneuvers, were occurring every 11 days.
With continuous visibility from a trailing distance of 100-500km, and a low required slew rate (consistently less than 0.1 deg/s) observation would be quite possible.
Dare I say likely?
Be interesting to see if over time the other 3 KH-11s gain their own watchers.
Be interesting to see if over time the other 3 KH-11s gain their own watchers.They wanted to know what a KH-11 satellite looked like.
If one of the purposes of these missions is to cause the KH-11 to make frequent orbital maneuvers trying to avoid close approaches, thus using using up its limited supply of propellant and reducing its lifetime, the Russians may well be succeeding!
This provocative attack is another attempt by the US to justify the action it is taking itself to place weapons in space while shifting to others the responsibility for the destabilization of the space security situation.
The propaganda campaign against Moscow is continuing, the purpose of which is to mask the destructive actions of Washington which provoke an arms race in outer space and its transformation into a new field of military confrontation, as well as in order to achieve the allocation of large-scale funding for such purposes.
We emphasize that the movements of our satellite do not pose a threat to the American space object and, most importantly, do not violate any norms and principles of international law.
Such misunderstandings could be [avoided] by activating a mechanism to conduct international consultations, as envisaged by article IX of the 1967 [UN Outer Space Treaty]. Preventing such misunderstandings would contribute to the building of a full and meaningful Russian-American dialogue on a broad range of issues related to the prevention of an arms race in outer space.
Such public accusations, which are on the verge of informational aggression and are often made by our American counterparts, do not contribute to predictability, confidence and the easing of tension.
Russia gives priority to the non-discriminatory use and exploration of outer space exclusively for peaceful purposes and, unlike the US, does not nurture plans to solve problems in orbit by using strike weapons. Proof of this is the large number of number of initiatives taken in this field by Russia and supported by a solid group of like-minded parties.
At present there is and can be no alternative to the Russian-Chinese proposal to develop an international legally binding instrument to keep space free of weapons of any kind on the basis of the Russian-Chinese draft agreement on preventing the placement of weapons in outer space, the use of force or the threat of force against space objects. We are planning to actively continue work in that direction, aimed at receiving concrete results.
The realization of America’s plans to militarize space will inflict irreparable damage on the existing system to ensure the safety of space activities.All earlier attempts by Washington to establish its own superiority in the military field invariably led to increasing tension and new spirals in the arms race”.
We are again calling on the United States to show prudence and abandon irresponsible adventures, fraught with extremely negative consequences for the entire world community, and for the United States themselves. It is clear that the appearance of weapons in space runs counter to the practice of international cooperation in the exploration and use of space for peaceful purposes”.
Cosmos 2542, the Russian inspection satellite of recent interest, was set to make another set of close passes to USA 245 sometime in the next week. But based on recent observations from @HAMSATNL, USA-245 made a small maneuver on the 5th that will put it at a distance of thousands of kilometers for weeks to come if not months.This is the largest "avoidance maneuver" that USA 245 has performed as a part of this dance. (There was a large maneuver back in January that I am assuming was a nominal stationkeeping maneuver.)
Kosmos-2542 significantly lowered its perigee between 22 and 27 April. Before the maneuvers it was in a 372x913 km orbit and currently it is in a 303x909 km orbit. It still comes relatively close to USA-245 every 8 to 9 days (today there was a pass at a distance of about 69 km), but the orbital planes of the two satellites are gradually drifting apart. USA-245 is now in a 269x1018 km orbit.Note that OTV-6 Is able to observe USA-245 to possibly monitor the payloads of this launch??:
Kosmos-2543, the subsatellite deployed from Kosmos-2542, has not shown any activity for a long time and is now in a 588x860 km orbit. Its closest passes to USA-245 now come at 4 day intervals (for instance, on 25 May and 6 June the closest distance will be 151 km and 146 km respectively). Its orbital plane is also drifting away from that of USA- 245.
My thanks to Nico Janssens for providing this update.
From seesat-l, C Bassa: http://www.satobs.org/seesat/May-2020/0159.html (http://www.satobs.org/seesat/May-2020/0159.html)QuotePassive radio observations of OTV 6 have been obtained on three passes, the first directly after launch, the other two earlier today.Observations reduced to derive orbit--using the two observations of the s/c on-orbit, as opposed to including the ascent observation: 391 km x 392 km x 45.0 deg.
Further analysis by Ted Molczan: http://www.satobs.org/seesat/May-2020/0160.html (http://www.satobs.org/seesat/May-2020/0160.html)
This orbit provides a repeating ground track: 46 revolutions in 3 days.
And Nico Janssen: http://www.satobs.org/seesat/May-2020/0163.html (http://www.satobs.org/seesat/May-2020/0163.html) , provides an updated TLE, then notes that OTV-6 passed USA-290 at a distance of 29 km earlier today--this would allow the KH-11 satellite to perform extremely high resolution sat-squared visual imaging.
Two other passes of KH-11 satellites also occurred, that would allow approximately a more "normal" KH-11 resolution: ~10 cm (with no atmosphere to muddle actual resolution).
OTV-6 passes USA-224 at a distance of 370 km.
OTV-6 passes USA-245 at a distance of 490 km.
The additional analysis by Marco Langbroek is here: http://www.satobs.org/seesat/May-2020/0164.html (http://www.satobs.org/seesat/May-2020/0164.html)
Following the discussion by the Russian Defense Ministry of the close satellite approach between the Kosmos-2543 inspector satellite and the Kosmos-2535 target, a new debris object has been cataloged in a 505 x 784 km orbit associated with Kosmos-2543.
Object 45915 appears to have separated from Kosmos-2543 at about 0750 UTC Jul 15 at a fairly high relative velocity (I don't entirely trust my code here so someone else should look at this).
Air Vice-Marshal
@HarvSmyth
, director of the UK's Space Directorate, has responded to a recent Russian satellite test in space:
We have taken note of statement made by US and British officials, including US Special Presidential Envoy for Arms Control Marshall Billingslea, head of US Space Command Jay Raymond, US Assistant Secretary of State for International Security and Non-proliferation Christopher Ford and Director of the Space Directorate at the UK Ministry of Defence Harvey Smyth), in connection with the testing of a Russian satellite, which allegedly has “the characteristics of a weapon,” on July 15, 2020.
We regard this as part of Washington’s anti-Russia information campaign to discredit Russia’s activities in the space area and our peace initiatives for preventing an arms race in outer space. The US and British representatives have again tried to distort facts so as to distract public attention from the existing threats in outer space, to justify their actions to deploy weapons in outer space and to get additional funding for these purposes. Not surprisingly, they keep silent about their own military activities in outer space, including the use of the so-called inspector and maintenance satellites as anti-satellite weapons.
It is also noteworthy that these statements have been made ahead of the Russian-US meeting of space security experts, scheduled to take place in Vienna on July 27. The goal of these statements is not clear to us. We would like to hope that they were not intended to influence the modality and outcome of this meeting, as well as to hinder the development of a bilateral dialogue on space issues and strategic stability, which is so important for the international community.
The testing conducted by the Russian Defence Ministry on July 15 has not endangered any other space object and, most importantly, has not infringed on any norms and principles of international law. According to our Defence Ministry, the inspector satellite was launched to inspect a Russian satellite at close range, using special equipment for this purpose. This mission has collected valuable information about the technical maintenance status of the inspected spacecraft and transmitted it to the ground-based command system.
We reaffirm Russia’s commitment to its obligations regarding the peaceful exploration and use of outer space by all states without discrimination. Of crucial importance in this connection are our initiatives, which incidentally the overwhelming majority of UN member states support, aimed at preventing the militarisation of outer space. The idea is to draft a multilateral binding agreement that will prevent an arms race in outer space based on a Russian-Chinese draft agreement on the prevention of the deployment of weapons in outer space, and the use or threat of force against space objects, as well as the globalisation of the political commitment on the no first placement of weapons in outer space.
We call on our American and British colleagues to act professionally instead of planting false information, to start negotiations and join meaningful and practical collective efforts. We reaffirm our readiness to discuss all issues related to activities in outer space with representatives from the concerned agencies and establishments.
I have recalculated the ejection velocity of the Kosmos-2543 projectile. The delta-V between Kosmos-2543 and object 45915 is somewhere between 140 m/s and 186 m/s. If you just look at the TLEs at closest approach at 0750 UTC Jul 15, the velocity vectors are different by 186 m/s. But small errors in the data causing things like plane offsets tend to inflate that number. If instead you just calculate the minimum delta-V to change the apogee and perigee from 604 x 618 km to 505 x 784 km, ignoring all the angular variables, that's 140 m/s so it has to be at least that. For the metrically impaired, 140 m/s is 313 mph so I infer the ejected object had its own rocket motor which most likely fired sometime after a low velocity ejection from the parent sat.
Dr Marco Langbroek
4 aug.
In evening twilight, I filmed 2019-079E, the purported '#ASAT Kill Vehicle' ejected by #Kosmos 2543 in July.
It shows a very erratic brightness behaviour (including a very sudden turn to invisible)
VIDEO (WATEC 902H + Samyang 1.4/85 mm):
From: Nico Janssen via Seesat-l <seesat-l_at_satobs.org>
Date: Wed, 25 Aug 2021 15:09:07 +0200
Kosmos 2542 (44797), one of the Russian 'Inspektor' satellites, has synchronized its orbit plane again with USA 245 (39232). As a result, there have been several close encounters between Kosmos 2542 and USA 245, with distances as short as
34 km on 2021-08-02 and 53 km on 2021-08-13.
Russia's Kosmos-2542 satellite, launched in 2019, gained some notoriety in 2020 for shadowing a US spy satellite, USA 245. It reentered over Samara, Russia on Oct 24 at 1007 UTC. The satellite appears to have been decommissioned in May.