Joint Analysis System

Good question. In terms of the output, they look nearly identical. Both are scheduled, meaning they are planned with predetermined launch and TOT times, so the ATO Gen won’t give you any insight into which is which. Specified orbit times will tend to be in “round” (i.e. on-the-hour) times, whereas Block times can be non-uniformly distributed throughout the day. Ultimately, however, there’s only one way to tell Block from Specified planned Flights: Block planned flights are the ones which are planned to fill Block DCA orbits! The ATO Gen instrument shows the name of the orbit for which flights are planned.