8 Jun: In late May 2024 China re-located its TJS-10 satellite to the West of TJS-3. Since arriving in GEO in mid-November 2023 TJS-10 remained in the vicinity of TJS-3 with TJS-10 being just to the East of TJS-3 (TJS-10 at 173.3°E and TJS-3 at 173.1°E). With slight variation the two satellites remained in the same position until ~15 May when TJS-10 raised its altitude and began drifting West until it arrived at 172.6°E on 18 May. About 10 days later TJS-10 maneuvered to decrease its distance to TJS-3 and is now at 172.8°E. TJS-3 has conducted only minor maneuvers which appear to be station keeping 173.0°E. The missions of the two satellites remains unknown. China has stated TJS-10 was being “mainly used for multi-band and high-speed communication technology experiments.” Based on the proximity of the two satellites it is likely that TJS-10 is conducting these experiments with cooperation from TJS-3.
– It appears all maneuvers were in-track with the first happening on ~15 May when TJS-10 raised its orbit ~23km, initiating a westward drift. TJS-10 remained above the GEO belt until 17 May when it returned to its original altitude where it remained until 22 May where it settled at 172.6°E.
– On 22 May TJS-10 decreased its altitude a mere 1km initiating a slow eastward drift and back towards TJS-3. On 26 May it again decreased altitude another ~5km increasing its eastward driftrate until it arrived at 172.8°E. TJS-10 has made additional maneuvers to remain at that location.
– TJS-3 did maneuver during this time as well but these appear to be related to station keeping and remaining in its geostationary box located between 172.9-173.1°E.
– Looking at TJS-10 location history, the satellite stayed well within a box of 173.2 to 173.4°E from Nov 2023 – May 2024, then suddenly dropped to 172.5 degrees and then slowly approached TJS-3 from the West.
– As of 8 Jun 2024, both TJS-3 and TJS-10 are at approximately the same altitude and maintaining their current distance separation. Both satellites are also inclined 0.6°.
– We do not know the mission of either TJS-3 or TJS-10. TJS-3 launched in late-2018 (another holiday special) and was identified as a GEO belt “inspector sat,” and exhibited unusual behavior after launch, interacting with its apogee kick motor (watch COMSPOC Video).
– Chinese news media reported TJS-3 will test “double satellites co-position communications” as well as “multi-frequency and high speed comms.”
TJS-10 east of TJS-3 in November 2023, with the satellites located near 173.3°E and 173.1°E respectively (spaceaware.io).
TJS-10 west of TJS-3 in June 2024, with the satellites located near 172.8°E and 173.0°E respectively (spaceaware.io).
