Re: China tested a FOBS?

I've been trying to figure out what/when this launch was. It's hard to tell
as the article describes it as both an orbital vehicle ("circled the
globe") and a hypersonic glider. If it was the former, one would think it
would have been a space launch, but that could always have been a
misunderstanding by the reporter.

The end of that FT story has the following line:

The China Academy of Launch Vehicle Technology, which oversees launches, on
July 19 said on an official social media account that it had launched a
Long March 2C rocket, which it added was the 77th launch of that rocket. On
August 24, it announced that it had conducted a 79th flight. But there was
no announcement of a 78th launch, which sparked speculation among observers
of its space programme about a secret launch. CAAA did not respond to
requests for comment.


Does that make sense to anyone?

---------
Brian



On Sun, Oct 17, 2021 at 10:09 AM Bob Christy via Seesat-l <
seesat-l_at_satobs.org> wrote:

> Hello Marco
>
> I've checked through my notes of airspace closures during July and August
> and there are some 'orphan' closure zones flagged up around Jiuquan and
> Taiyuan. Some are near known drop zones but are different in shape and size
> from the ones we normally see for CZ launches, and they generally don't
> have the right 'feel'.
>
> A launch from Taiyuan to polar orbit has a ground track that crosses the
> Taklamakan Desert in western China at the end of its first circuit. There
> are often closure NOTAMS for that area and on some occasions there are
> accompanying 'corridors' directly back towards Jiuquan/Taiyuan. Those are
> obviously missile or atmospheric flight hardware tests.
>
> Taklamakan is a good area for clandestine operations - remote, and
> something landing awkwardly or off-target isn't going to do a lot of damage
> or inconvenience residents.
>
> There are two airspace closure NOTAMs for Taklamakan during the
> July-August period as noted in the FT article. They have similar boundaries
> and there are some nearby air route closures at the same time.
>
> They are August 4 and overnight August 8/9 UTC but there are no matching
> NOTAMS that might relate to a CZ launch.
>
> Unlike the Soviet FOBS tests in the 1960s, there is no tell-tale rocket
> stage or any debris catalogued.
>
> Robert Christy
>
> > On 16 Oct 2021, at 20:14, Marco Langbroek via Seesat-l <
> seesat-l_at_satobs.org> wrote:
> > 
> > Intelligence rumour that China last August tested a FOBS (Fractional
> Orbital Bombardment System) - a missile that briefly goes in orbit, like a
> satellite, and then is deorbitted to strike a target:
> >
> > https://www.ft.com/content/ba0a3cde-719b-4040-93cb-a486e1f843fb
> >
> > Marco
> >
> > _______________________________________________
> > Seesat-l mailing list
> > http://mailman.satobs.org/mailman/listinfo/seesat-l
>
>
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