The identification of the 64 satellites launched by SpaceX SSO-A mission on
December 3, 2018 continues. As noted last week, the concensus is that the
spacing between unidentified satellites is STILL not to a point where
positive identification is possible. In the past, two weeks after launch has
been the time when distance between cubesats increases enough to identify
most individual satellites. But, this time, we must wait for more
separation.
There are no major changes to the previous AMSAT-NA TLE Distribution
(Thursday, December 20, 2018) for the IDENTIFIED SSO-A launch objects at
this time except for the following comments:
(1) There is a disagreement between this week's TLE distribution (Thursday,
December 27, 2018) and the Space-Track data of the same date. Space-Track
shows PWSat 2 as OBJECT 43814, but detailed doppler analysis suggests that
PWSat 2 is object 43775 or 43779. Hopefully this will be resolved in the
coming week. In the mean time, all three objects 43775, 43779, and 43814 are
included in this week's distribution with PWSat 2 shown as CAT ID 43775.
(2) Space-Track has decided that OBJECT 43769 is now FLOCK 3S 1 (a
commercial satellite). OBJECT 43769 was the object that we had used last
week for AO 95. So, we are now going to use OBJECT 43771 for AO-95. OBJECT
43771 is the other object we think may be AO-95. Remember these objects are
still too close together so we must wait for more separation. Patience!
(3) Also we are still awaiting greater separation for JO 97 (ex JY1Sat).
JO-97 is shown as OBJECT 43803 but may be 43801. The downlink is 145.839085
MHz.
(4) The following objects have been identified as non-amateur radio
satellites and have been removed from this week's distribution:
EXCITE - CAT ID 43758 (identified by Space-Track, non-amateur)
KAZSTSAT - CAT ID 43783 (identified by Space-Track, non-amateur)
FLOCK 3S 3 - NORAD CAT ID 43788 (identified by Space-Track, non-amateur)
FLOCK 3S 2 - NORAD CAT ID 43821 (identified by Space-Track, non-amateur)
Thanks to Nico Janssen, PA0DLO, and Alan Biddle, WA4SCA, for this week's
update details.
The identification of the 64 satellites launched by SpaceX SSO-A mission on
December 3, 2018 continues. The concensus is that the spacing between
unidentified satellites is growing to a point where positive identification
may now be possible. In the past, two weeks after launch has been the time
when distance between cubesats increases enough to identify most individual
satellites. We will see.
There are no major changes to the previous AMSAT-NA TLE Distribution
(Monday, December 17, 2018) for the IDENTIFIED SSO-A launch objects at this
time except for the following comments:
(1) There is a disagreement between this week's TLE distribution (Thursday,
December 20, 2018) and the Space-Track data of the same date. Space-Track
shows PWSat 2 as OBJECT 43814, but detailed doppler analysis suggests that
PWSat 2 is object 43775 or 43779. Hopefully this will be resolved in the
next week. In the mean time, all three objects 43775, 43779, and 43814 are
included in this week's distribution with PWSat 2 shown as CAT ID 43775.
(2) The following satellites still await greater separation:
AO 95 (ex Fox 1Cliff) is shown as OBJECT 43769 but may be 43771;
JO 97 (ex JY1Sat) is shown as OBJECT 43803 but may be 43801, downlink
145.839085 MHz.
(3) The following objects have been identified as non-amateur radio
satellites and have been removed from this week's distribution:
ICEYE-X2 1 - CAT ID 43761 (identified by Space-Track, non-amateur)
STPSAT-5 - CAT ID 43762 (identified by Space-Track, non-amateur)
CORVUS BC4 - NORAD CAT ID 43767 (identified by Space-Track, non-amateur)
NEXTSAT-1 - NORAD CAT ID 43811 (identified by Space-Track, non-amateur)
GLOBAL-2 - NORAD CAT ID 43812 (identified by Space-Track, non-amateur)
Finally, the following satellites have been added to this week's TLE
distribution:
Reaktor Hello World is NORAD CAT ID 43743 (Downlink: 437.77527)
CHOMPTT is NORAD CAT ID 43855 (Downlink: 437.55895)
Thanks to Nico Janssen, PA0DLO, and Alan Biddle, WA4SCA, two very deligent
"telemetry fans."
Thanks everyone else for your patience in this process!
Sorry. I left out AO-85, NO-83 and NO-84 again.
I got out of my process and skip one step!
Use AMSAT-NA TLE distribution orb18351.2l.amsat (sent Monday,12-17-2018)and
delete the KEP email of Sunday,12-16-2018.
In case you missed Nico Janssen's,PA0DLO,comments on AMSAT-BB, here is
Nico's assessment of our current situation concerning the identification of
the 64 satellites launched by SpaceX SSO-A mission on December 3, 2018:
"With nearly all TLE sets for the SSO-A launch published, and many
separations increased to more suitable values, it is time to draw some
conclusions.
The following IDs are (almost) certain:
Unknown sat: obj 43768, downlink 436.73018 MHz;
MOVE-II: obj 43780, downlink 145.94993 MHz;
SNUSat 2: obj 43782;
ITASat 1: obj 43786, downlink 145.85999 MHz;
Unknown sat: obj 43787, downlink 435.5003 MHz;
EAGLET 1: obj 43790, downlink 435.20015 MHz;
ESEO: obj 43792, downlink 437.004 MHz;
CSIM: obj 43793;
RANGE-A: obj 43798, downlink 437.146 MHz;
Suomi 100: obj 43804;
Al-Farabi 2: obj 43805, downlink 436.50017 MHz;
MinXSS 2: obj 43807.
The following IDs are not certain, because the separation between the
objects is still too small:
AO 95 (ex Fox 1Cliff): either obj 43769 or obj 43771;
PWSat 2: either obj 43775 or obj 43779 (or maybe obj 43776);
JO 97 (ex JY1Sat): either obj 43803 or obj 43801, downlink 145.839085 MHz.
73,
Nico PA0DLO"
In an effort quickly to distribute current thinking and changes I have
issued a mid-cycle TLE distribution on 12-16-2018. I have indicated all
amateur radio satllites by name and their most probable TLE at this point in
time. Note: Since AO-95, PWSat 2, and JO-97 have not separated sufficiently
from their neighbors to ID, I have left them the same as last week. Finally,
I have included ALL Space-Track TLEs for the December 3, 2018 SpaceX SSO-A
launch with the exception of known commercial or non-amateur radio
satellites. (Hopefully this will allow some objects to removed from the
identification process.)
Thank you for your patience in this process!
The following satellites from the SpaceX Falcon 9 SSO-A 12-03-2018 launch
that have been identified to date by either Space-Track or by detailed
doppler analysis.
Thanks again to Nico Janssen,PA0DLO, for the satellite ID updates for this
week.
MinXSS 2 - NORAD CAT ID 43758
HAWKEYE 1 - NORAD CAT ID 43765 (per SPACE-Track,commercial)
AO-95 - NORAD CAT ID 43769
FLOCK 3S 1 - NORAD CAT ID 43770 (per SPACE-Track,commercial)
PWSat 2 - NORAD CAT ID 43775
MOVE-II - NORAD CAT ID 43780
SNUSat 2 - NORAD CAT ID 43782
ITASat 1 - NORAD CAT ID 43786
Unknown Satellite - NORAD CAT ID 43787 (Downlink: 435:500 Mhz)
EAGLET 1 - NORAD CAT ID 43790
ESEO - NORAD CAT ID 43792
CSIM - NORAD CAT ID 43793
HAWKEYE 2 - NORAD CAT ID 43794 (per SPACE-Track,commercial)
SKYSAT C12 - NORAD CAT ID 43797 (per SPACE-Track,commercial)
RANGE A - NORAD CAT ID 43798
HAWKEYE 3 - NORAD CAT ID 43799 (per SPACE-Track,commercial)
SKYSAT C13 - NORAD CAT ID 43802 (per SPACE-Track,commercial)
JO-97 - NORAD CAT ID 43803
Suomi 100 - NORAD CAT ID 43804
Al Farabi 2 - NORAD CAT ID 43805
The above list of SSO-A satellites has been included in the AMSAT-NA TLE
Distibution this week with the exception of the following non-amateur radio
satellites which have NOT been included:
HAWKEYE 1 - NORAD CAT ID 43765 (identified by Space-Track, non-amateur)
FLOCK 3S 1 - NORAD CAT ID 43770 (identified by Space-Track, non-amateur)
HAWKEYE 2 - NORAD CAT ID 43794 (identified by Space-Track, non-amateur)
SKYSAT C12 - NORAD CAT ID 43797 (identified by Space-Track, non-amateur)
HAWKEYE 3 - NORAD CAT ID 43799 (identified by Space-Track, non-amateur)
SKYSAT C13 - NORAD CAT ID 43802 (identified by Space-Track, non-amateur)
Note: The Falcon 9 SSO-A 12/3/2018 launch includes 64 spacecraft (15
microsats and 49 cubesats). The 20 objects above are those objects out of a
total of 55 listed by Space-Track.org that have, so far, been identified
with reasonable confidence.
We continue to wait for the remaining satellites to separate enough for
doppler analysis to confirm their identity. I will continue to add
satellites as they are identified.
