Jim Shell’s Post

Perhaps THE best thing happening with #SpaceDomainAwareness inside the USG. .... closely matched by the Joint Commercial Operations (JCO) ... makes Jim very happy :-) Thank you Maj Sean Allen for your continued visionary leadership! SDA TAP Lab

Space object characterization via non-resolved optical signatures. A nice, clean example of using optical signature data (photometry) for satellite identification (and investigation of anomalies). In this case, open source photometric data from the Russian MMT system is processed on all the objects associated with a 2022 launch in China. It's a nice use case, as there are 9 identical satellites, and one rocket body. There is a clear consistency among the 9 satellites while the rocket body, in this case a CZ-2C upper stage, stands out as distinct By using optical cross section (OCS), the range-dependencies associated with visual magnitude are normalized in a manner similar to radar cross section signatures, providing a more intuitive representation. If only all cases were this well-behaved..... #SpaceDomainAwareness #SpaceObjectCharacterization

Great collection by s2a systems. This infers good news. The absence of debris in the orbit plane likely indicates there has not been a highly energetic debris event from the LM-6A upper stage. Hopefully the rocket body state will be known soon and a collect can examine for fragments in the immediate proximity, comparable to past low-energy LM-6A events.

YASDE Update: China's Long March 6A (60397, 2024-140), both launch and breakup on 06 Aug 2024. While we await for confirmation that all is well (no fragmentation) with the latest LM-6A launch from Tues (15 Oct 24), let's check in on the #SpaceDebris cataloged from the previous LM-6A launch which didn't end so well. As of today, 17 Oct 2024, 614 pieces of been cataloged by U.S. Space Forces – Space (S4S). 9 of these have decayed with 21 currently at an altitude intersecting crewed space flight. 🤞 Hopefully the latest launch is clean. My original event post on LinkedIn: https://lnkd.in/g6gtjUrf #SpaceTrafficManagement #LongTermSustainmentOfSpace #SpaceDomainNormsOfBehavior Office of Space Commerce (Orbit data from space-track.org, used with permission per ODR 24-002-4).

Updated DoD Space Policy has been released! See https://lnkd.in/ggdS4mib (esd.whs.mil URL). See #SpaceDomainAwareness highlight in graphic. #SpaceDomainNormsOfBehavior -- references the SecDef 9 Feb 2023 memo (para 1.2.t.(4)) #LongTermSustainability and #SpaceDebris -- see para 1.2.f #PartnersAndAllies - throughout

Beautiful. My optical system setup was a hand held phone 😉 … which blows me away TBH… Colorado Springs, CO

PRC paper on inferring the intentions of non-cooperative satellites as viewed from another satellite. 11 distinct motions (inferring to me maneuvers ?) identified. Paper: https://lnkd.in/gt3QFMcv (doi.org URL - not open access) #SpaceDomainAwareness #RendevousAndProximityOperations #OrbitalWarfare

🚀 Oh no....another PRC launch with a Long March 6A rocket (LM-6A) is scheduled 13 hrs from now - will there be another upper stage explosion generating #SpaceDebris? 🤞 Fingers crossed. Will be waiting for reports from LeoLabs and commercial LEO optical tracking by InTrack Radar Technologies, Inc., s2a systems, and Slingshot Aerospace to learn of the outcome. https://lnkd.in/gEuhPdCZ (nextspaceflight.com URL) #SpaceDomainNormsOfBehavior #LongTermSustainabilityOfSpace

#PartnersAndAllies for the win! #ProtectAndDefend #SpaceDomainAwareness

UNBELIEVABLE! Hats off to the men and women at SpaceX. Chilling.