Chinese Rocket Body Disintegrates over North America

**American Patriot** · February 24th, 2015, 19:24

Space Weather News for Feb. 24, 2015
http://spaceweather.com

Last night, Feb. 23-24, observers across the western half of North America witnessed a spectacular cluster of bright lights in the sky. It was the re-entry and disintegration of a Chinese rocket body. Coincidentally, a geomagnetic storm was in progress at the time and more than one photographer caught the rocket's debris cutting across curtains of Northern Lights. Visit http://spaceweather.com for photos and more information.

DID YOU MISS THE STORM? On Feb. 23-24, auroras appeared over many northern-tier US States. Did you see them? Subscribers to our Space Weather Alert Service were notified by phone while the storm was underway. Sign up for alerts at http://spaceweathertext.com (text) or http://spaceweatherphone.com (voice).

**American Patriot** · February 24th, 2015, 19:25

CHINESE ROCKET RE-ENTRY: Last night, Feb. 23-24, sky watchers in the western half of North America witnessed a spectacular cluster of fireballs and meteors. We now know it was the re-entry and breakup of a Chinese rocket body, specifically stage 3 of the CZ-4B rocket that launched the Yaogan Weixing 26 satellite in Dec. 2014. Donny Mott photographed the glowing debris from Spirit Lake, Idaho:

Mott was watching last night's display of auroras around 10 pm local time when the fragments flew by. "It was super bright," he says. "You can see it breaking up in these 4 images I took 10 seconds apart."

Another photographer, John Arnold, caught the meteor flying over Craig, Montana: photos.

According to satellite tracking expert Ted Molczan, "there are confirmed sightings from Arizona, Utah, Nevada, Wyoming, Idaho, Oregon, Washington, Montana, British Columbia, Alberta. The most southerly observation I have noted so far was from Scottsdale, Arizona; the most northerly from Didsbury, Alberta. That spans nearly 3000 km of the descent." Molczan has prepared a map of sightings along with the ground track of the decaying rocket body:

The re-entering rocket body traveled from south to north. Molczan says "the approximate toe of the debris footprint (should any have survived to impact Earth) would be well into Canada."

Monitor the realtime photo gallery for more sightings:

Realtime Space Weather Photo Gallery

SOLAR WIND SPARKS AURORAS: A solar wind stream continues to gently buffet Earth's magnetic field. Last night, Feb. 23-24, a G1-class geomagnetic storm broke out, causing an outburst of auroras around the Arctic Circle. At the peak of the disturbance, Northern Lights spilled across Canadian Border into upper-tier US states including Washington, Montana, Idaho and, shown here, South Dakota:

"The lights were visible to the unaided eye and quite bright at times," says photographer Randy Halverson of Kennebec, SD.

The storm also sparked Southern Lights. New Zealand photographer Ian Griffin reports "an amazing night of auroras in Dunedin, Otago. We witnessed a display that lasted well over 4 hours with many pleasing beams and colors!" See his photos

More auroras could be in the offing. NOAA forecasters estimate a 20% chance of geomagnetic storms on Feb. 24-25 as the solar wind continues to blow. Aurora alerts: text, voice

**American Patriot** · February 24th, 2015, 19:26

Chinese Long March 4B launches Yaogan Weixing-26

December 26, 2014 by Rui C. Barbosa

The Chinese launched another satellite on the Yaogan Weixing series on Saturday. Launch of Yaogan Weixing-26 took place at 03:22 UTC using a Long March-4B launch vehicle from the LC9 launch complex at the Taiyuan Satellite Launch Center.

Chinese Launch:
As is usual for the Chinese media, this spacecraft is once again classed as a new remote sensing bird that will be used for scientific experiments, land survey, crop yield assessment, and disaster monitoring.

As was the case in previous launches of the Yaogan Weixing series, analysts believe this class of satellites is used for military purposes.
As was the case with the former Soviet Union (and in a smaller scale with Russia) with the ‘Cosmos’ designation, the ‘Yaogan’ designation is used to hide the true military nature of the vehicles orbited.
Yaogan-26 is probably the second Jianbing-11 4th generation of electro-optical satellites.
Developed by the Chinese Academy of Spaceflight Technology and based on the Phoenix Eye-2 platform, the satellite is capable of high-resolution observation and also carries an IR payload.
Previous satellite on the Joanbing-11 series was Yaogan Weixing-14 (28357 2012-021A) launched at 0706:04UTC on May 10, 2012, by the Chang Zheng-4B (Y12) rocket from Taiyuan’s LC9 launch complex.
Launch vehicle and launch site:
The feasibility study of the Chang Zheng-4 began in 1982 based on the Feng Bao-1 launch vehicle. Engineering development was initiated in the following year. Initially, the Chang Zheng-4 served as a back-up launch vehicle for Chang Zheng-3 to launch China’s communications satellites.
See Also

After the successful launch of China’s first DFH-2 communications satellites by Chang Zheng-3, the main mission of the Chang Zheng-4 was shifted to launch sun-synchronous orbit meteorological satellites.
On other hand, the Chang Zheng-4B launch vehicle was first introduced in May 1999 and also developed by the Shanghai Academy of Space Flight Technology (SAST), based on the Chang Zheng-4.
The rocket is capable of launching a 2,800 kg satellite into low Earth orbit, developing 2,971 kN at launch. With a mass of 248,470 kg, the CZ-4B is 45.58 meters long and has a diameter of 3.35 meters.

SAST began to develop the Chang Zheng-4B in February 1989. Originally, it was scheduled to be commissioned in 1997, but the first launch didn’t take place until late 1999. The modifications introduced on the Chang Zheng-4B included a larger satellite fairing and the replacement of the original mechanical-electrical control on the Chang Zheng-4 with an electronic control.
Other modifications include improved telemetry, tracking, control, and self-destruction systems with smaller size and lighter weight; a revised nozzle design in the second stage for better high-altitude performance; a propellant management system for the second stage to reduce the spare propellant amount, thus increasing the vehicle’s payload capability; and a propellant jettison system on the third-stage.
The first stage has a 24.65 meter length with a 3.35 meter diameter, consuming 183,340 kg of N2O4/UDMH (gross mass of first stage is 193.330 kg). The vehicle is equipped with a YF-21B engine capable of a ground thrust of 2,971 kN and a ground specific impulse of 2,550 Ns/kg. The second stage has a 10.40 meter length with a 3.35 meter diameter and 38,326 kg, consuming 35,374 kg of N2O4/UDMH.
The vehicle is equipped with a YF-22B main engine capable of a vacuum thrust of 742 kN and four YF-23B vernier engines with a vacuum thrust of 47.1 kN (specific impulses of 2,922 Ns/kg and 2,834 Ns/kg, respectively).
The third stage has a 4.93 meter length with a 2.9 meter diameter, consuming 12,814 kg of N2O4/UDMH. Having a gross mass of 14,560 kg, it is equipped with a YF-40 engine capable of a vacuum thrust of 100.8 kN and a specific impulse in vacuum of 2,971 Ns/kg.

Situated in the Kelan County in the northwest part of the Shanxi Province, the Taiyuan Satellite Launch Center (TSLC) is also known by the Wuzhai designation. It is used mainly for polar launches (meteorological, Earth resources and scientific satellites).
The launch center has two single-pad launch complexes, a technical area for rocket and spacecraft preparations, a communications centre, a mission command and control centre, and a space tracking centre.
The stages of the rocket were transported to the launch centre by railway, and offloaded at a transit station south of the launch complex. They were then transported by road to the technical area for checkout procedures.
The launch vehicles were assembled on the launch pad by using a crane at the top of the umbilical tower to hoist each stage of the vehicle in place. Satellites were airlifted to the Taiyuan Wusu Airport about 300km away, and then transported to the centre by road.
The TT&C Centre, also known as Lüliang Command Post, is headquartered in the city of Taiyuan, It has four subordinate radar tracking stations in Yangqu (Shanxi), Lishi (Shanxi), Yulin (Shaanxi), and Hancheng (Shaanxi).