Jonathan's Space Report No. 854 2026 Apr 1 Somerville, MA, USA ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- ISS ---- Expedition 74 continues. Progress MS-32 made an orbit raise burn on Feb 19 at 0057 UTC, with a delta-V of 0.9m/s. It made a further reboost on Mar 13 at 1658 UTC, with a delta-V of 0.6m/s. Cargo ship Dragon CRS-33 undocked from IDA-2 at 1705 UTC Feb 26. CRS-33 made its deorbit burn around 0652 UTC Feb 27, and jettisoned the Boost Trunk at about 0710 UTC. The Trunk reentered over the Pacific near 127W 25N at ca. 0725-0730 UTC and the CRS-33 capsule splashed down near 117.7W 32.6N (off San Diego) at 0744UTC. The SSRMS Canadarm-2 unberthed the cargo ship HTV-X1 from Harmony nadir at 1923 UTC Mar 5 and released it into orbit at 1700 UTC Mar 6. On Mar 11, HTV-X1 deployed the 6U cubesat Tenkoh-2 from its H-SSOD deployer. On Mar 12 Canadarm-2 unberthed the Cygnus NG-23 cargo ship at 0752 UTC and released it into orbit at 1106 UTC. NG23 was deorbited over the Pacific sometime on Mar 14. The Progress MS-31 cargo ship undocked from the Poisk module on Mar 16 at 1324 UTC. It performed its deorbit burn at 1642 UTC, and reentered over the South Pacific around 1721 UTC. On Mar 18 Jessica Meir and Chris Williams made spacewalk US EVA-94 from the Quest airlock to install the 2A solar array mod kit originally launched aboard NG-20. They used suits 3015 and 3003, and SAFER packs 15 and 18. The airlock was depressurized from 1246 to 1954 UTC and the hatch was open from 1251 to 1947 UTC. The Progress MS-33 cargo ship was launched on Mar 22 at 1159:51 UTC. It docked with the ISS Poisk module on Mar 24 at 1340:55. Chinese Space Station ----------------------- The orbit of the station was boosted by about 4 m/s on around Jan 30, probably using the engine on the Tianzhou-9 cargo ship. EVA spacesuit Feitian-B is reported to have been returned to Earth aboard Shenzhou-20. Astronauts Zhang Lu and Wu Fei made a spacewalk from the Chinese Space Station from about 0430 UTC until 1135 UTC Mar 16, continuing installation of external debris protection panels. Starlink launches ------------------ Starlink Group 6-103 (29 Ku sats) was launched on Feb 16 from Canaveral. Starlink Group 10-36 (29 Ku sats) was launched on Feb 20 from Canaveral. Starlink Group 17-25 (25 Ku sats) was launched on Feb 21 from Vandenberg. Starlink Group 6-104 (28 Ku sats) was launched on Feb 22 from Canaveral. Starlink Group 6-110 (29 Ku sats) was launched on Feb 24 from Canaveral. Starlink Group 17-26 (25 Ku sats) was launched on Feb 25 from Vandenberg. Starlink Group 6-108 (29 Ku sats) was launched on Feb 27 from Canaveral. Starlink Group 17-23 (25 Ku sats) was launched on Mar 1 from Vandenberg. Starlink Group 10-41 (29 Ku sats) was launched on Mar 2 from Canaveral. Starlink Group 10-40 (29 Ku sats) was launched on Mar 4 from Canaveral. Starlink Group 17-18 (25 Ku sats) was launched on Mar 8 from Vandenberg. Starlink Group 17-31 (25 Ku sats) was launched on Mar 13 from Vandenberg. Starlink Group 10-48 (29 Ku sats) was launched on Mar 14 from Canaveral. Starlink Group 17-24 (25 Ku sats) was launched on Mar 17 from Vandenberg. Starlink Group 10-46 (29 Ku sats) was launched on Mar 17 from Canaveral. Starlink Group 10-33 (29 Ku sats) was launched on Mar 19 from Canaveral. Starlink Group 17-15 (25 Ku sats) was launched on Mar 20 from Vandenberg. Starlink Group 10-62 (29 Ku sats) was launched on Mar 22 from Canaveral. Starlink Group 17-17 (25 Ku sats) was launched on Mar 26 from Vandenberg. Starlink Group 10-44 (29 Ku sats) was launched on Mar 30 from Canaveral. Other Falcon 9 missions ------------------------ On Mar 10 SpaceX launched the Echostar XXV comms satellite. The satellite was built for Echostar by Lanteris using the model 1300 bus and had a launch mass around 6800 kg. It carries a Ku-band television broadcasting payload. The satellite was deployed in subsynchronous transfer orbit. On Mar 30 SpaceX launched the Transporter-16 rideshare mission with over 100 payloads, including: Amateur radio; Vegafly-1 (Vega Academy, Vietnam); HADES-SA (Hydra, Spain); Parus-6U1 (Taipei Tech, Taiwan); Lilium-4 (NCKU, Taiwan) IoT comms satellites Luna-2 (ASELSAN, Turkey); ERMIS 1 and 2 (U. Athens,Greece); Black Kite 2 (RAPTEX, Taiwan); Emisar (RISE, Romania); Fossasat 2E-25 (Fossa/Wisekey, Spain) Lasercom tests: Peaksat (UATH, Greece); Optisat (Planetek, Greece) Quantum key comm tests: SPOQC (Herriot-Watt U., UK) Other comm test sats: T-Microsat-2 (Tron Future, Taiwan) Ship tracking: AISSAT-4 (Norway); AE1A (ArkEdge, Japan); Mimir-1 (Norway) Ship tracking and GNSS meteo? : Lemur-2 (7 sats, Spire, US) Radio spectrum surveillance: BRO-19 (Unseen Labs, France), Hawk 14A/B/C (HE360, US); Vindler 2.0.1/2.0.2/2.0.3 (Sierra Nevada, US); Deloitte-2 and 3 (Deloitte,US) Imaging and remote sensing satellites: Newsat-53 and 54 (Satellogic, Argentina/Uruguay); IRIDE-MS1-Eaglet-2 9 to 16 (OHB, Italy), JACK-002 (Cosmoworks, Korea); ERMIS 3 (U Athens, Greece); Vireon 1 and 2 (AAC Clyde Space, UK); TORO3 (Pyras, Taiwan); DISCO-2 (Aarhus U, Denmark); SharjahSat-2 (U Sharjah, UAE); Phobos (Aethero, US); Harbinger (Utah Tech); Hotsat-2 (SatVU, UK), GARAI-B (Satlantis, Spain), GEMS2-Amethyst (WeatherStream/OMS, US); Unicorn 2R/2S (Alba, Germany); Sejong-3 (HANCOM, Korea); N1-Atlas (NOVI, US) Radar: Capella 20 (Capella, US); ICEYE X71, 73, 74, 75, 76 (ICEYE, Finland) Science sats: COSMO (U Colorado), AEPEX (U. Colorado), IO-1 (Iota Tech, UK) Recoverable microgravity: W-6 (Varda, US) Hosted payload sats: Out of the Box (Space Locker, France) Tugs: ION SCV Astounding Alexandra (D-Orbit, Italy); SpaceVan-002 (Exotrail, France); Vigoride 7 (Momentus, US); Gravitas (K2 Space, US) Technology test satellites: Femto-1 (Arquimea, Spain); Decimalsat (Ocullo, Malaysia); Helloworld 1 (Upkoi, USA); TES 23 (NASA Ames), SAL-E (Cal Poly), AiglonSat-1 (Aiglon College, Switzerland); Dream Big 1 to 6 (Near Space Launch, USA); FGN-100-D3 (Fergani Space, Turkey), TROOP-F3 (NearSpace, US), Flylab 1 and 2 (ONERA, France); SERT3 (Muon Space, USA); R5-S10 (JSC, US), MARS-1A/1B (Lunar Outpost, US) Unknown: SM-1.2 (unknown owner); Ghost Rider (Sandia Labs) SpaceOne -------- SpaceOne launched the third Kairos rocket from Kii, Japan on Mar 5. Once again, the rocket failed during stage 1 burn. The range safety destruct was activated 1m18s after launch at an altitude of 29 km. Rocket Lab ---------- Rocket Lab launched an Electron from Mahia on Mar 5 with a BlackSky Global imaging satellite (although the identity of the payload was not actually announced at the time). Rocket Lab launched an Electron from Mahia on Mar 20 with the StriX-6 radar sat for Synspective. Rocket Lab launched at Electron from Mahia on Mar 28 with two Celeste IOD navigation technology satellites for the European Space Agency. IOD-1 is a 16U satellite from Thales Alenia/L'Aquila; IOD-2 is a 12U satellite from GMV/Madrid. Both have S-band and L-band navigation signal payloads. Firefly Alpha ------------- Firefly Aerospace launched Alpha rocket FLTA0007 from Vandenberg on Mar 12. It carried a Lockheed Martin test payload to a 401 x 405 km x 123.0 deg orbit, deploying it at 0058 UTC, and then at 0140 UTC demonstrated a successful upper stage restart to lower the stage perigee, ending up in a 231 x 423 km orbit. CALT launches ------------- On Mar 12 CALT launched a CZ-8A from Hainan with the SatNet LEO 20 internet cluster. On Mar 27 CALT launched a CZ-2C with a Yuanzheng-1S upper stage from Jiuquan, with the Shiyan 33 test satellite. SAST launches ------------- On Mar 12 SAST launched a CZ-2D from Xichang to a 35 deg orbit, with a pair of Shiyan 30 satellites On Mar 15 SAST launched a CZ-6A from Taiyuan to a retrograde orbit with the Yaogan 50-02 satellite. On Mar 25 SAST launched a CZ-2D from Taiyuan with the Siwei Gaojing 2-05/2-06 imaging satellites. Commercial Chinese launches ---------------------------- EXPACE launched a Kuaizhou-11 on Mar 16, placing eight commercial satellites in orbit. Juntian 1-04A is an X-band radar satellite with 1 m resolution from Juntian Hangyu Jishu (Beijing), using a flat-panel bus. Dongpo-12 (Chengdian-1) is an imaging satellite from Huantian Zhihui (Meihan, Sichuan) in collaboration with UESTC (Dianzi Keji Univ; Chengdu, Sichuan). Dongpo-11 is an imaging satellite from Huantian Zhihui, also called Dianjian-1 Hezuo; it may also be connected with UESTC. Dongpo-16 (Jinjiang Xingyuan) is an X-band radar satellite from Huantian Zhihui and Xingyuan Hangtian (Chengdu, Sichuan) Weitong-1 01 (Nanhu Gaoxin) is a vis/infrared imaging satellite from Xingzhong Kongjian (Jiaxing, Zhejiang). Xiguang-1-06 (Dafo) is a hyperspectral imaging satellite from Zhongke Xiguang Hangtian Keji (Xi'an, Shaanxi). Yuxing 3-05 (Kechuang-1) is an imaging satellite for Hangtian Yuxing Keji (Beijing); it also carries plant cultivation and navigation augmentation experiments. Yuxing 3-06 (Hukeda-2) is a technology satellite owned by Hangtian Yuxing Keji, in collaboration with Hunan U. of Science and Tech. (Xiangtan, Hunan) and built by Mofang Weixing Keji (Shenzhen). It carries a refuelling technology development experiment using a robotic arm from Yuxing subsidiary Sanyuan Hangtian (Taicang, Jiangsu) and a drag balloon. After dispensing seven of the payloads the KZ-11 upper stage moved to an elliptical 284 x 1059 km orbit; an eighth payload was released after the orbit change, possibly in error. China Long March Rocket Co. launched a Jielong-3 on Mar 22 from the DFHT barge in the Yellow Sea near Haiyang. It carried ten satellites for the Weili Kongjian (Centispace) constellation of navigation satellites. On Mar 30 CAS Space launched the first Lijian-2 (Kinetica-2) from Jiuquan. It carried the Xinzhengcheng-02 prototype cargo ship, with a mass of 4200 kg, and two 100-kg class satellites Xinzhengcheng-01 and Tianshi-01. Rassvet ------- Roskosmos launched a Soyuz-2-1b from Plesetsk on Mar 23, placing sixteen Rassvet-3 communications satellites in orbit for the Byuro 1440 company. This was the first successful Russian orbital launch since 1966 that was not accompanied by an official government announcement, although Byuro 1440 later confirmed the launch. Table of Recent Orbital (and near-Orbital) Launches --------------------------------------------------- Date UT Name Launch Vehicle Site Mission INTL. Catalog Perigee Apogee Incl Notes Feb 13 1015 Dragon Crew-12 Falcon 9 Canaveral LC40 Spaceship 31A 208 x 241 x 51.6 Feb 15 0200 Starlink Group 17-13 Falcon 9 Vandenberg SLC4E Comms 32 242 x 255 x 97.3 Feb 16 0759 Starlink Group 6-103 Falcon 9 Canaveral LC40 Comms 33 259 x 267 x 43.0 Feb 20 0141 Starlink Group 10-36 Falcon 9 Canaveral LC40 Comms 34 258 x 270 x 53.2 Feb 21 0904 Starlink Group 17-25 Falcon 9 Vandenberg SLC4E Comms 35 244 x 258 x 97.3 Feb 22 0347 Starlink Group 6-104 Falcon 9 Canaveral LC40 Comms 36 261 x 270 x 43.0 Feb 24 2304 Starlink Group 6-110 Falcon 9 Canaveral LC40 Comms 37 258 x 268 x 43.0 Feb 25 1417 Starlink Group 17-26 Falcon 9 Vandenberg SLC4E Comms 38 240 x 255 x 97.3 Feb 27 1216 Starlink Group 6-108 Falcon 9 Canaveral LC40 Comms 39 257 x 267 x 43.0 Mar 1 1010 Starlink Group 17-23 Falcon 9 Vandenberg SLC4E Comms 40 242 x 255 x 97.3 Mar 2 0256 Starlink Group 10-41 Falcon 9 Canaveral LC40 Comms 41 254 x 265 x 53.2 Mar 4 1052 Starlink Group 10-40 Falcon 9 Canaveral LC40 Comms 42 252 x 261 x 53.2 Mar 5 0210 Tatara-1R Kairos Kii Tech F04 -6378 x 29 x 97.5 HErO Tech F04 -6378 x 29 x 97.5 SC-Sat-1a Tech F04 -6378 x 29 x 97.5 NUTSAT-3 Tech F04 -6378 x 29 x 97.5 AETS-1 Tech F04 -6378 x 29 x 97.5 Mar 5 2353 BlackSky Global-34? Electron Mahia LC1A Imaging 43 467 x 476 x 42.0 Mar 8 1100 Starlink Group 17-18 Falcon 9 Vandenberg SLC4E Comms 44 245 x 258 x 97.3 Mar 10 0419 Echostar 25 Falcon 9 Canaveral LC40 Comms 45A 264 x 22015 x 26.9 Mar 11 0934 Tenkoh-2 HTV-X1, LEO Tech 25-241C 495 x 501 x 51.6 Mar 12 0050 LM-400 Test? Alpha Vandenberg SLC2W Tech 46A 401 x 405 x 123.0 Mar 12 1948 WHDW 20-01 to 20-09 Chang Zheng 8A Hainan CLS LC1 Comms 47 867 x 878 x 50.0 Mar 12 2233 Shiyan 30-03 Chang Zheng 2D Xichang Sigint? 48A 585 x 592 x 35.0 Shiyan 30-04 Sigint? 48B Mar 13 1158 Starlink Group 17-31 Falcon 9 Vandenberg SLC4E Comms 49 244 x 258 x 97.3 Mar 14 1237 Starlink Group 10-48 Falcon 9 Canaveral LC40 Comms 50 251 x 265 x 53.2 Mar 15 1322 Yaogan 50-02 Chang Zheng 6A Taiyuan Radar? 51A 731 x 945 x 142.0 Mar 16 0412 Juntian 1-04A Kuiazhou-11 Jiuquan Radar 52 528 x 544 x 97.5 Dongpo-11 Imaging 52 Dongpo-12 Imaging 52 Dongpo-16 Radar 52 Weitong 1-01 Imaging 52 Yuxing 3-05 Tech 52 Yuxing 3-06 Tech 52B Xiguang 1-06 Imaging 52 Mar 17 0519 Starlink Group 17-24 Falcon 9 Vandenberg SLC4E Comms 53 242 x 247 x 97.3 Mar 17 1327 Starlink Group 10-46 Falcon 9 Canaveral LC40 Comms 54 252 x 258 x 53.2 Mar 19 1420 Starlink Group 10-33 Falcon 9 Canaveral LC40 Comms 55 256 x 268 x 53.1 Mar 20 1810 StriX-6 Electron Mahia LC1B Radar 56A 556 x 578 x 50.3 Mar 20 2151 Starlink Group 17-15 Falcon 9 Vandenberg SLC4E Comms 57 238 x 251 x 97.3 Mar 22 1159 Progress MS-33 Soyuz-2-1a Baykonur LC31 Cargo 58A 263 x 279 x 51.6 Mar 22 1447 Starlink Group 10-62 Falcon 9 Canaveral LC40 Comms 59 256 x 267 x 53.2 Mar 22 1549 Weili Kongjian 02 zu 01-10 Jielong-3 DFHT, Yellow Sea Nav 60 635 x 635 x 55.0 Mar 23 1724 Rassvet-3 1 to 16 Soyuz-2-1b Plesetsk Comms 61 288 x 323 x 82.3 OBZP-1 Comms 61 Mar 25 2251 Siwei Gaojing 2-05 Chang Zheng 2D Taiyuan Imaging 62A 500 x 513 x 97.4 Siwei Gaojing 2-06 Imaging 62B Mar 26 2303 Starlink Group 17-17 Falcon 9 Vandenberg SLC4E Comms 63 237 x 251 x 97.3 Mar 27 0411 Shiyan 33 Chang Zheng 2C/YZ-1S Jiuquan Tech 64A 499 x 592 x 97.4 Mar 28 0914 Celeste IOD-1 Electron Mahia LC1 Nav 65A 500 x 522 x 97.4 Celeste IOD-2 Mar 30 1100 Xinzhengcheng-02 Lijian-2 Jiuquan LC140 Cargo 66A 255 x 613 x 85.0 Xinzhengcheng-01 Imaging? 66 Tianshi-01 Tech? 66 Mar 30 1102 Transporter-16 Falcon 9 Vandenberg SLC4E Rideshare 67 Mar 30 2115 Starlink Group 10-44 Falcon 9 Canaveral LC40 Comms 68 251 x 264 x 53.2 Table of Recent Suborbital Launches ----------------------------------- The HASTE launch on Feb 28 used an Electron variant with live stage 1, inert stage 2, and no kickstage to place the DART-AE scramjet on a transatmospheric trajectory. It is unclear whether or not the apogee exceeded my 80 km boundary. Many exoatmospheric ballistic missiles have been launched as part of the Iran war which started on Feb 28. In previous recent conflicts Iran has used Emad, Ghadr-110, Shahab-3, and Kheibar Shekan ballistic missiles. The mix of missiles launched from Iran on Feb 28 onwards is not known. The US Army has launched PrSM missiles against Iran from an unknown location; these missiles are likely exoatmospheric, unlike most of the missiles used by US and Israel in the conflict. Missile launches continued through March, but are omitted from this table. A selection of the launches are being added to the GCAT database as data becomes available. Feb 10 1019 GNEISS 1 Black Brant 9 Poker Flat Auroral 319 Poker Flat Range Feb 10 1019 GNEISS 2 Black Brant 9 Poker Flat Auroral 320 Poker Flat Range Feb 11 0300 Mengzhou Abort Chang Zheng 10A-S1 Wenchang LC301 Test 105 S China Sea Feb 28 0000 Cassowary Vex HASTE Wallops LA0C Hypersonic 45? Atlantic Feb 28 HE warheads [many missiles] Iran Weapon 100? Israel Feb 28 HE warheads Kheihbar Shekan Iran Weapon 100? Israel Feb 28 HE warheads Qiam-1? Iran Weapon 100? Doha Feb 28 HE warheads [many missiles] Iran Weapon 100? Dubai Feb 28 HE warheads Fateh-360? Iran Weapon 100? Bahrain Feb 28 HE warheads [many missiles] Iran Weapon 100? Kuwait Feb 28 HE warheads [many missiles] Iran Weapon 100? Jordan Mar 1 onward HE warheads [many missiles] Iran Weapon 100? Israel etc. Mar 1 HE warheads PrSM Persian Gulf area? Weapon 100? Iran Mar 4 0701 GT255GM Minuteman 3 Vandenberg Test 1300? Kwajalein Mar 5 Warhead Khorramshar-4 Iran Weapon 100? Israel ? Mar 10 0602 REXUS 35 Imp. Orion Kiruna Microgravity 80? ESRANGE Mar 12 1135 REXUS 36 Imp. Orion Kiruna Microgravity 80? ESRANGE Mar 17 JFTX1 E1 Terrier Oriole? Wallops Target 100? Atlantic Mar 19 JFTX1 E2 Terrier Oriole? Wallops Target 100? Atlantic Mar 26 1630 Dark Eagle CHGB Booster Canaveral SLC46 Test 150? Atlantic .-------------------------------------------------------------------------. | Jonathan McDowell | | | Somerville MA 02143 USA | inter : planet4589 at gmail | | and | twitter: @planet4589 | | Bromley, UK | | | | JSR: https://www.planet4589.org/jsr.html | | Back issues: https://www.planet4589.org/space/jsr/back | | Subscribe/unsub: to be updated soon | '-------------------------------------------------------------------------'