Shijian 18 - launch June 2018

The previous experimental satellite, ShiJian-17, is making many strange orbit changes!
Launched on 3 Nov 2016, followed by several GEO locations: 163°E, 125°E, and then 118°E.
From mid-January 2018 ShiJian-17 started drifting East, a week later suddenly went inclined 4°, a very unusual thing to do!
The drift continued to a turning point near 178°W, where the drift reversed back towards the West (4.1°W/day).
I started thinking this satellite is out of control, but the latest TLE shows a drift slowdown to 1.9°W/day, location now near 40°E.
This satellite may also be for military purposes (observations in the GEO belt), similar to the USA GSSAP series.
SJ 17
China’s Shijian-17 Satellite settles in Geostationary Orbit for Experimental Mission – Long March 5 – Maiden Launch | Spaceflight101
Real time satellite tracking for: SJ-17 (SHIJIAN-17)
SHIJIAN-17_SJ-17_41838 InclLonTime.webp
 
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Well, another surprise move, as SjiJian-17 made a turnaround near 40°E right after I posted the message above. Busted! ^_^
Moving 2°E/day now.
Assuming a control station near Beijing, 40°E and 178°W were pretty close to the horizon!
 
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