iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

Jonathan McDowell @planet4589.bsky.social · 2h

No, that box had the screws to assemble the bed. Amazingly, the monitor cables were in the 2nd box I opened. 30 boxes down, 1140 to go...

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Jonathan McDowell @planet4589.bsky.social · 6h

But how many of them are VGA or SCSI ones that you 'had better keep just in case you need them someday'?

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Jonathan McDowell @planet4589.bsky.social · 12h

Just come visit it once it's done!

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Jonathan McDowell @planet4589.bsky.social · 12h

and of course the perennial ' can I actually afford to do this?'. To which the answer is now a relaxed 'absolutely not, but what the hell.'

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Jonathan McDowell @planet4589.bsky.social · 12h

D'oh. Crew-12, not Crew-13. It's been a long day.

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Jonathan McDowell @planet4589.bsky.social · 12h

A bit just flipped in my brain from 2 years of constant stress to relief and excitement. Not that there aren't challenges ahead, but nothing compared to 'will it fit? will the bookcases be able to fit coming down the stairwell? will the ship sink? will the floor be ready in time?' etc etc

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Jonathan McDowell @planet4589.bsky.social · 12h

omfsm thank goodness noone told me about that until now!

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Jonathan McDowell @planet4589.bsky.social · 12h

Oh but this is the fun part, and there is no great hurry. I am really looking forward to opening all my presents!!

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Jonathan McDowell @planet4589.bsky.social · 12h

Whew indeed. A couple minor breakages with a display cabinet and a computer table, and they managed to lose the screws needed to reassemble my bed, but overall for a move of this size nothing dramatic. A huge huge relief.

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Jonathan McDowell @planet4589.bsky.social · 12h

I've been busy, but: LAUNCH at 0323 Oct 7 of South Korea's Nuri 2 with five Neonsat imagers and 9 cubesats LANDING at 1534 UTC Oct 8 of Dragon Crew-13 off the coast of Los Angeles.

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Jonathan McDowell @planet4589.bsky.social · 12h

Starting to kit out my office area. If only I knew where in the 1,170 boxes the box with the monitor cables is..

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Jonathan McDowell @planet4589.bsky.social · 12h

The 1,170 boxes and ~200 bookcases are now moved in. Several months of unpacking still to do. Also more months of construction (plumbing , etc) and more bills to come. But this is huge.

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Jonathan McDowell @planet4589.bsky.social · 13h

The library space on Monday, ready to receive the movers:

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Jonathan McDowell @planet4589.bsky.social · 16h

... apparently yes, OSSIE ejected its passengers earlier than originally planned, at 1148 UTC Oct 2. OK!

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Jonathan McDowell @planet4589.bsky.social · 16h

Huh, so they deployed already? From OSSIE?

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Reposted by Jonathan McDowell

Marco Langbroek @marcolangbroek.bsky.social · 06/10/2026

1/x #France conducted a test #launch of an unarmed #SLBM (its Nuclear capable M51.3) from its submarine Le Vigilant from in front of the Bretagne coast today, targetting an area 665 km east of Bermuda at a range of ~4735 km. @planet4589.bsky.social @m514ever.bsky.social @nukestrat.bsky.social

301657Z SEP 26
HYDROLANT 1944/26
BAY OF BISCAY.
CELTIC SEA.
NORTH ATLANTIC.
FRANCE.
1. MISSILE OPERATIONS 0001Z TO 1100Z DAILY
04 THRU 21 OCT IN AREAS BOUND BY:
A. 46-16.38N 023-35.45W, 46-59.73N 019-44.15W,
45-07.98N 019-44.15W, 44-26.03N 022-49.63W.
B. 47-44.70N 005-23.50W, 47-48.72N 004-31.00W,
47-39.00N 004-01.00W, 47-21.72N 004-09.58W,
47-16.47N 005-17.68W.
C. 47-24.10N 009-51.67W, 47-31.00N 008-28.28W,
47-08.48N 008-24.55W, 47-01.62N 009-47.35W.
D. 47-31.00N 008-28.28W, 47-44.70N 005-23.50W,
47-16.47N 005-17.68W, 47-08.48N 008-24.55W.
E. 42-58.33N 034-54.68W, 43-46.17N 032-20.02W,
42-49.37N 031-48.72W, 42-02.25N 034-21.48W.
2. CANCEL THIS MSG 211200Z OCT 26.

301017Z SEP 26
NAVAREA IV 949/26
NORTH ATLANTIC.
1. HAZARDOUS OPERATIONS 0001Z TO 1100Z
DAILY 04 THRU 21 OCT IN AREA WITHIN
71 MILES OF 32-25.00N 057-21.00W.
2. CANCEL THIS MSG 220100Z OCT 26.

Map of the northern Atlantic with the hazard areas from Navigational Warnings NAVAREA IV 949/26 and HYDROLANT 1944/26 plotted, along with a fitted Ballistic trajectory

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Jonathan McDowell @planet4589.bsky.social · 04/10/2026

Update on Rassvet orbit raising: looks like Rassvet-3 No. 22 has belatedly begun orbit raising, but 23 and 17 continue to decay and 11 and 14 are stuck at 350 km

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Jonathan McDowell @planet4589.bsky.social · 03/10/2026

Apparenlty he does have that power, and the US Constitution is now merely a hazy memory from a bygone era.

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Jonathan McDowell @planet4589.bsky.social · 03/10/2026

My stuff arrives in London on Tuesday, at last!

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Reposted by Jonathan McDowell

Andrew Parsonson @andrewparsonson.bsky.social · 02/10/2026

Yesterday, DLR successfully launched the suborbital MAPHEUS-17 mission from Esrange, carrying several small experiments and technology demonstrators.

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Reposted by Jonathan McDowell

European Space Agency @esa.int · 30/09/2026

Our Smile mission is ready for science. Its ultraviolet camera has already captured this substorm rippling through the northern lights around Earth’s North Pole. @science.esa.int 🧪🔭

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Jonathan McDowell @planet4589.bsky.social · 02/10/2026

yep, but they didn't track it enough to get TLEs, as I understand it

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Jonathan McDowell @planet4589.bsky.social · 01/10/2026

LAUNCH at 1832 UTC Oct 1 of the Transporter-18 rideshare mission from Vandenberg

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Jonathan McDowell @planet4589.bsky.social · 01/10/2026

I saw some of those but had missed 1329, thanks

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Jonathan McDowell @planet4589.bsky.social · 01/10/2026

Jonathan's Space Report No. 860 published at planet4589.org/jsr.html

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Jonathan McDowell @planet4589.bsky.social · 01/10/2026

LAUNCH at 1510 UTC Oct 1 of the Crew-13 Dragon on a Falcon 9 from Canaveral

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Jonathan McDowell @planet4589.bsky.social · 01/10/2026

It is nonsense. This sat has been dead for decades so no reason to imagine an attack. Likely an impact by another bit of space junk

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Jonathan McDowell @planet4589.bsky.social · 29/09/2026

I *think* they (the authors of the CAS paper) are confusing things and the refuelling test was SJ-25/SJ-21 and not SJ-25/Beidou. But it is really odd and I admit I am perplexed.

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Jonathan McDowell @planet4589.bsky.social · 28/09/2026

Orbits for the Starlink Group 31-1 sats are now available on @celestrak.bsky.social showing them in a 262 x 275 km x 30.5 deg orbit.

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Jonathan McDowell @planet4589.bsky.social · 28/09/2026

They will stay at 30 deg inclination. This is why they need Starbase Louisiana: Starbase Texas forces them to launch to low inclination which is not ideal.

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Jonathan McDowell @planet4589.bsky.social · 28/09/2026

It turns out that the Space Force TIP message recording LINK's reentry on Sep 24 was incorrect. The Katalyst team inform me that the SWIFT reboost mission satellite sent its last data during reentry at 0638:12 UTC Sep 25. I have no explanation for the incorrect USSF data.

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Jonathan McDowell @planet4589.bsky.social · 28/09/2026

Starship deployed 26 Starlink V3 sats and then performed a deorbit burn at 2h12m; reentry underway

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Jonathan McDowell @planet4589.bsky.social · 28/09/2026

Ship remains in 250? x 276 km orbit, has deployed 26 Starlink sats.

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Jonathan McDowell @planet4589.bsky.social · 28/09/2026

Decision is to make the orbit burn. The engine that went out is not one that was going to be used going forward

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Jonathan McDowell @planet4589.bsky.social · 28/09/2026

Ship had one engine out during ascent; on marginal-orbit trajectory, attempt to do full orbit insertion may be cancelled for this flight but still reviewing...

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Jonathan McDowell @planet4589.bsky.social · 28/09/2026

Starship launch at 1248:59 UTC Sep 28

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Jonathan McDowell @planet4589.bsky.social · 28/09/2026

Yes, but the astronauts are what the public want.

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Jonathan McDowell @planet4589.bsky.social · 28/09/2026

I did a fun and well attended panel with Mark McCaughrean @markmccaughrean.bsky.social and Tanja Masson-Zwaan

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Jonathan McDowell @planet4589.bsky.social · 28/09/2026

Walking past the high bays at ESTEC. Last time I was here Rosetta was in the thermal vac chamber! It's been a while..

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