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Hi Wang,

It's good to hear from you!

As you may know, the COSPAR ID to ILRS ID conversion algorithm is in the CRD and CPF manuals. I include it below. That explains the conversion, although there have been some exceptions over the years. The "i" is not used, as I understand it, because of its similar appearance to lower case "L" and the number "1". The letter "o" is apparently also not used because it looks like zero. Unfortunately, I don't have any source documentation on the COSPAR ID. I am cc-ing this message to Carey Noll and Julie Horvath, who have worked with the COSPAR ID more than I have.

As far as the debris data is concerned,  i.e., data that the ILRS analysts will never see, the ILRS ID could be set to "na" and the COSPAR ID could be included in a "00" comment record. You would still have the NORAD ID to identify the target, which should exist for all debris. (How much of the debris actually has a COSPAR ID? If stations are tracking rocket upper stages, farings, etc., do they have anything but a NORAD number?)

I am reluctant to say "use the COSPAR ID", because the ILRS ID is all numbers and the COSPAR-ID is numbers+letters+ "-". That could break current reading routines. The all-numeric solution you suggest might be a better idea, although that would have to be documented in the manual, too, and it is a bit clumsy. We could have a broader discussion in the DFPSG or the CB about changing the CRD manual so that the COSPAR ID could replace the ILRS ID for debris data only. You are right that this discussion would have been easier a year ago.  :-)

Take care,
Randy

COSPAR ID to ILRS Satellite Identification Algorithm:
COSPAR ID Format: (YYYY-XXXA)
YYYY is the four-digit year of when the launch vehicle was put in orbit
XXX is the sequential launch vehicle number for that year
A is the alpha numeric sequence number within a launch
Example: LAGEOS-1 COSPAR ID is 1976-039A
Explanation: LAGEOS-1 launch vehicle was placed in orbit in 1976; was the 39th launch in that year; and LAGEOS-1
was the first object injected into orbit from this launch.
ILRS Satellite Identification Format: (YYXXXAA), based on the COSPAR ID
YY is the two-digit year of when the launch vehicle was put in orbit
XXX is the sequential launch vehicle number for that year
AA is the numeric sequence number within a launch
Example: LAGEOS-1 ILRS Satellite ID is 7603901
-----------------------    Randy Ricklefs    ------------------------
                        ricklefs@csr.utexas.edu
      Center for Space Research,  The University of Texas at Austin
                            Austin TX 78712

________________________________________
From: WANG PEIYUAN <peiyuan.wang@oeaw.ac.at>
Sent: Friday, February 14, 2020 2:32 AM
To: Ricklefs, Randall L <ricklefs@csr.utexas.edu>
Subject: COSPAR ID convert to ILRS
 
Hello Randy,
 
 
Some question about COSPAR ID.
As you know LAGEOS-1 ILRS Satellite ID is 7603901 relating to COSPAR ID 1976-039A.
 
But how to convert targets ID like a decaded debris 1993-036ASU to ILRS ID, 93036011820 or something else?
,there A-01, S-18, U-20
Why S-18 not S-19? Because I found the letter “I” is not used in COSPAR ID
And I don’t know if any other letter also not used.
 
A example of S-NET serial, no “I” used.
43186 S-NET D  2018-014G
43187 S-NET B  2018-014H
43188 S-NET A  2018-014J
43189 S-NET C  2018-014K
 
I could not find the specification of COSPAR ID, and do you have it?
 
Do you see any chance that in CRD ver2, we just use COSPAR ID instead of ILRS format?  -- sorry a little too late.
 
Thanks in advance!!