For those genuinely interested in the finer points of new launches & activities on orbit. Curated by Robert Christy.
United Kingdom
Joined May 2022
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I see a lot of chit-chat on social media about the re-entry of Swift
If re-entries are your interest and you don't have a Space-Track login then this page might help you
orbitalfocus.uk/Diaries/Laun…
Launch list updated including
today's Starlinks
six-sat Yaogan cluster
latest Hulianwang Digui group
India's SVS-03
orbitalfocus.uk/2026#246
Rassvet update:
32 sats orbited in two launches
two failed to activate and re-entered
27 at/near operating height
three still orbit-raising
Two weeks after Elektro-L №3 reached 14°.5 west to sit alongside Elektro-L №2 Space-Track has caught up and released current orbit info
Elektro-L №2 is likely to be sent to graveyard orbit soon
orbitalfocus.uk/2019#095
Busy day yesterday
orbitalfocus.uk/2026#239
Electron launch with cluster of Hawk sats out of New Zealand
CZ 6A & 4B launches from China, both carrying Yaogan "remote sensing" sats - the satellite numbers on the second one are interesting
Starlink group From Vandenberg
Launch list up to date
Includes MMX off to Mars & today's Bandwagon 5 launch with sat names provided by SpaceX together with estimated timeline for Starfall re-entry vehicle return to Earth
orbitalfocus.uk/2026#237
#SpaceX #Starfall #Bandwagon5
Latest batch of Catalogue Numbers allocated to objects from the Transporter 18 launch leaves a gap of 17 in the sequence
Confirms that 17 sats are expected eventually to be catalogued for USSF 481 mission
orbitalfocus.uk/2026#235
USSF 259 launch Sep 17
Following todays USSF launch I've revisited the earlier similar one and made some changes based on Space-Track data
orbitalfocus.uk/2026#214
Estimated orbit for the satellites is revised
Estimated orbits have been added for the uncatalogued rocket body
Launch list updated
Includes USSF-481 launch from Vandenberg earlier today with lots of maybe and probably, and an estimated orbit
orbitalfocus.uk/2026#235
Rassvet 3
Launch 1 - 13 sats in 512 km operating orbit, two still climbing, one re-entered
orbitalfocus.uk/2026#061
Launch 2 - 11 at operating height, three climbing, one made a single thruster firing but now seems inactive, one with no activity at all
orbitalfocus.uk/2026#165
Multiple satellites in HEO, GTO and MEO have no recently published orbit info from @SpaceTrackOrg including satellite name
One month is quite typical
Elektro-L №3
Arrived near 14°.5 west Oct 11 where it will take over services from Elektro-L №2
orbitalfocus.uk/2019#095
№2 will move to graveyard orbit
The latest orbit info from @SpaceTrackOrg is more than one week old so does not reflect it
Launch list up to date including:
orbit info for the SDA Tranche 1 launch on Oct 10 orbitalfocus.uk/2026#231
plus re-entries and final orbits of Dragon Crew 12 orbitalfocus.uk/2026#031 and Cygnus NG-24 orbitalfocus.uk/2026#079
Transporter 18
Orbits and Catalogue info available for 21 of the initial 71 objects
orbitalfocus.uk/2026#227
Yesterday's launch of Hulianwang Digui group 27 from Hainan
Orbit info available
orbitalfocus.uk/2026#230
Transporter 18
List of 71 orbiting payloads carried, some will release further satellites over the coming weeks/months
orbitalfocus.uk/2026#227
Catalogue Number and Designations for five of them so far
In recent weeks @SpaceTrackOrg has retrospectively added three Lijian 1 rocket bodies to the Catalogue together with re-entry dates, but orbit info from the time of launch is not available
orbitalfocus.uk/2026#080
orbitalfocus.uk/2026#134
orbitalfocus.uk/2026#170
Launch list fully up date including this morning's KSLV-II from South Korea
orbitalfocus.uk/2026#229
Yinli 1 sea launch Sep 15
One of the nine sats has, so far, behaved differently from the others
I suspect that singles it out as the EUHT Technology Test Satellite where the other eight are the Qianfan Ji Gui Group 26 sats
orbitalfocus.uk/2026#211