[IGSMAIL-8568] BeiDou-3 satellites C47 and C49

[Peter.Steigenberger at dlr.de]

Dear colleagues,

The most recent pair of BeiDou-3 MEO satellites with the PRN numbers C47 and C49 has been launched in September 2024. Both satellites started transmission of navigation signals already in October 2024. Regular broadcast ephemerides transmission started around January 20, 2025. However, the PRN/SVN/NORAD ID assignment has been missing so far. In the past, such assignments have been usually done with information from TLEs provided by space-track.org. However, the TLEs of both satellites are outdated (October/November 2024) preventing their usage for the assignment of the PRN/NORAD ID.

Last week, the Test and Assessment Research Center of the China Satellite Navigation Office (CSNO/TARC) published the PRN/NORAD ID assignment on their website: https://www.csno-tarc.cn/en/system/constellation

Following that information and the IGS convention that the lower NORAD ID has the lower SVN, the following preliminary assignment will be used within the IGS:

PRN C47 = NORAD ID 61186 = SVN C234

PRN C49 = NORAD ID 61187 = SVN C235

Please note that this assignment might change in the future as soon as updated TLEs are available allowing for a match between TLEs and broadcast ephemerides as space-track.org is the official source of the NORAD ID. Furthermore, please note that both satellites still have the status "testing", i.e., they are set unhealthy.

C234 and C235 are now included in the latest version of the IGS satellite metadata file available at https://files.igs.org/pub/station/general/igs_satellite_metadata.snx

Best regards,

Peter Steigenberger on behalf of the Multi-GNSS Pilot Project

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Peter Steigenberger
Deutsches Zentrum für Luft- und Raumfahrt e.V. (DLR)
German Space Operations Center Oberpfaffenhofen
D-82234 Wessling
Germany

Tel.    +49 (8153) 28-3765
Fax     +49 (8153) 28-1450
e-mail  peter.steigenberger at dlr.de<mailto:peter.steigenberger at dlr.de>
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