TELEDYNE SPACE IMAGING LAUNCHES NOT ONE BUT TWO IMAGING SENSORS IN SUN-SYNCHRONOUS ORBIT NASA EXPLORER MISSIONS - Sensors from Teledyne Space Imaging will play a key role in two prestigious NASA explorer missions that are ready to launch this month. Both missions launch on the same rocket on 28 February 2025 from Vandenberg Space Force Base, California, USA. The PUNCH mission (Polarimeter to UNify the Corona ... More (Source: Satellite Evolution - Feb 26)
PROPELLANT LEAK BLAMED FOR FALCON 9 UPPER STAGE UNCONTROLLED REENTRY - SpaceX said that a Falcon 9 upper stage that reentered over Europe earlier this week suffered a propellant leak that prevented it from doing a controlled reentry. The upper stage was placed in orbit on a Feb. 1 launch from Vandenberg Space Force Base in California. After deploying its payload of ... More (Source: SpaceNews - Feb 25)
SPACEX TO LAUNCH 21 STARLINK SATELLITES ON FALCON 9 ROCKET FROM CAPE CANAVERAL - SpaceX is preparing to launch 21 Starlink V2 Mini satellites into low Earth orbit from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station on Tuesday. The Falcon 9 rocket is targeting a liftoff from Space Launch Complex 40 at 2:11 a.m. EST (0711 UTC). Spaceflight Now will have live coverage beginning about an ... More (Source: SpaceFlight Now - Feb 25)
A CHINESE SATELLITE TESTS ORBITAL REFUELLING - Satellites often face a disappointing end: despite having fully working systems, they are often de-orbited after their propellant runs out. However, a breakthrough is on the cards with the launch of China’s Shijian-25 satellite which has been launched into orbit to test orbital refuelling operatio... More (Source: Universe Today - Feb 24)
SPACEX CROSSES 8,000 TOTAL STARLINK SATELLITES LAUNCHED WITH LATEST FALCON 9 FLIGHT - SpaceX launched the first of two planned Starlink flights over the weekend. Up first was the launch of the Starlink 15-1 mission on Saturday, which carried with it 22 Starlink V2 Mini satellites. Liftoff from Space Launch Complex 4 East (SLC-4E) at Vandenberg Space Force Base happened at 5:38 p.m... More (Source: SpaceFlight Now - Feb 24)
NASA RESPONDS TO MUSK STATEMENTS ABOUT DEORBITING ISS, BUTCH AND SUNI - The United States Space Force just offered a rare glimpse of its shadowy X-37B space plane in orbit. The photo, released on Thursday (Feb. 20), was taken by a camera onboard the X-37B while the secretive space plane orbited high above the African continent. One of the plane's solar panels is visi... More (Source: Space.com - Feb 23)
US SPACE FORCE REVEALS 1ST LOOK AT SECRETIVE X-37B SPACE PLANE IN ORBIT - The United States Space Force just offered a rare glimpse of its shadowy X-37B space plane in orbit. The photo, released on Thursday (Feb. 20), was taken by a camera onboard the X-37B while the secretive space plane orbited high above the African continent. One of the plane's solar panels is visi... More (Source: Space.com - Feb 23)
'IT'S EXTREMELY WORRISOME.' NASA'S JAMES WEBB SPACE TELESCOPE FACES POTENTIAL 20% BUDGET CUT JUST 4 YEARS AFTER LAUNCH - The scientists behind NASA's largest and most powerful space telescope ever built are bracing for potentially crippling budget cuts, and the observatory is only halfway through its primary mission. The team overseeing NASA's James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) has been directed to prepare for up to... More (Source: Space.com - Feb 23)
SPACEX LAUNCHES 22 STARLINK INTERNET SATELLITES FROM CALIFORNIA - SpaceX launched another set of its Starlink internet satellites from southern California on Saturday evening (Feb 22). A Falcon 9 rocket carrying 22 Starlink spacecraft lifted off from Vandenberg Space Force Station at 8:38 p.m. EST (5:38 p.m. local time or 0138 GMT Feb. 23).... More (Source: Space.com - Feb 23)
SPACEX TO LAUNCH 21 STARLINK SATELLITES ON FALCON 9 ROCKET FROM CAPE CANAVERAL - SpaceX is preparing to launch 21 Starlink V2 Mini satellites into low Earth orbit from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station on Sunday. The Falcon 9 rocket is targeting a liftoff from Space Launch Complex 40 is set for 11:42 p.m. EST (0442 UTC). Spaceflight Now will have live coverage beginning a... More (Source: SpaceFlight Now - Feb 23)
CHINA LAUNCHES CHINASAT-10R COMMUNICATIONS SATELLITE FROM XICHANG - China launched a new communications satellite into geosynchronous transfer orbit Saturday to replace the aging ChinaSat-10 spacecraft. A Long March 3B rocket lifted off at 7:11 a.m. Eastern (1211 UTC) Feb. 22 from Xichang Satellite Launch Center in southwest China. Exhaust from the rocket illumin... More (Source: SpaceNews - Feb 23)
SPACEX LAUNCHES 450TH FALCON ROCKET ON STARLINK 12-14 MISSION - SpaceX launched its latest batch of 23 Starlink V2 Mini satellites into low Earth orbit Friday morning. The Starlink 12-14 mission was the 450th launch of a Falcon rocket, accounting for 439 Falcon 9 and 11 Falcon Heavy flights. Liftoff of the Falcon 9 rocket from Space Launch Complex 40 (SLC-40)... More (Source: SpaceFlight Now - Feb 22)
MUSK CALLS FOR DEORBITING ISS “AS SOON AS POSSIBLE” - SpaceX Chief Executive Elon Musk said that NASA should deorbit the International Space Station “as soon as possible,” preferably in the next two years, to focus on missions to Mars. The sudden call by Musk to end the ISS years earlier than NASA currently plans, made on social media Feb. 20, t... More (Source: SpaceNews - Feb 21)
NEW TECHNOLOGY WILL HELP SATELLITES AVOID COLLISIONS IN SPACE - Space is becoming more crowded every day, with over 11,000 active satellites and nearly 40,000 pieces of debris in low Earth orbit. But Los Alamos National Laboratory has just demonstrated a new, patented technology called Extremely Low Resource Optical Identifier, or ELROI, that gives the space res... More (Source: Los Alamos National Laboratory - Feb 21)
MUSK SAYS US ASTRONAUTS ARE STRANDED ON SPACE STATION FOR ‘POLITICAL REASONS’—AS THEY REJECT CLAIM - Elon Musk suggested the two U.S. astronauts who have been on the International Space Station since June last year—due to safety issues with their return vessel, the Boeing Starliner—were left abandoned there for “political reasons,” reiterating a claim originally made by President Donald Tru... More (Source: Forbes - Feb 20)
GLOBALSTAR DETAILS NEXT-GENERATION LEO CONSTELLATION IN FCC FILING - Globalstar detailed plans for its next-generation Low-Earth Orbit (LEO) constellation to support Apple satellite connectivity in a filing this week to the FCC. Globalstar said in the filing it has been working on the new satellite system, called C-3, since October 2023. Last week, Globalstar ann... More (Source: Via Satellite - Feb 20)
SPACEX STICKS FIRST FALCON 9 BOOSTER LANDING IN THE BAHAMAS - SpaceX notched another spaceflight record as it completed the first orbital flight that featured a liftoff in one country and one in another. A little more than eight minutes after lifting off from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida, the Falcon 9 rocket booster landed on the droneship, ... More (Source: SpaceFlight Now - Feb 19)
ROCKET LAB LAUNCHES BLACKSKY GEN-3 SATELLITE ON 60TH ELECTRON FLIGHT - Rocket Lab (Nasdaq: RKLB) completed its second Electron rocket of the month and its 60th to date. The flight carried with it the first of BlackSky’s Gen-3 Earth imaging and analytics gathering satellites. Liftoff of the mission, dubbed ‘Fasten Your Space Belts,’ from Launch Complex 1 in Mah... More (Source: SpaceFlight Now - Feb 19)
CAPELLA SPACE EYES LATE 2026 FOR NEXT-GENERATION SATELLITE DEPLOYMENT - Capella Space plans to start deploying its next-generation satellites late next year as it looks to expand from its traditional X-band synthetic aperture radar (SAR) collection to other missions. “We will move beyond SAR,” Capella Space CEO Frank Backes said Feb. 16 on the sidelines of the In... More (Source: Aviation Week - Feb 18)
