Unidentified object likely connected to scheduled test launch from China
In concert with federal partners, the Offices of Guam Homeland Security and Civil Defense and the Mariana Regional Fusion Center identified last Thursday a seemingly bright fire or object falling from the sky over the Marianas to be likely connected to a scheduled satellite test launch from China.
Open sources report that a Chinese Long March 3B rocket was scheduled to launch the Palapa N1 communications satellite, also known as Nusantara Satu 2, from the Xichang Satellite Launch Center in China on April 9 at 7:40am EDT.
This scheduled commercial space launch occurred around 9:40pm ChST and corresponds with the timing of the widely circulated videos of the fiery object in the sky.
There was no direct threat assessed to the Marianas from the launch. (PR)
