CHINA BUILDS LARGE COMMERCIAL RADAR SATELLITE CONSTELLATION - The large-scale application of a Chinese commercial radar remote sensing constellation composed of 12 satellites began on Monday, according to PIESAT, a Beijing-based satellite firm. The announcement came after four PIESAT-2 satellites, which were launched into a 528-kilometer sun-synchronous orb... More (Source: Space Daily - Dec 28)
SPACECOIN DEPLOYS FIRST SATELLITE FOR DECENTRALIZED SPACE CONNECTIVITY - Spacecoin said it is successfully communicating with its recently launched debut connectivity satellite, designed to test technology for a decentralized space-based network shared by multiple investors. “We have established regular communication with the satellite,” Spacecoin founder Tae Oh s... More (Source: SpaceNews - Dec 28)
CHINA SUFFERS COMMERCIAL ROCKET FAILURE BUT SETS RECORD FOR ANNUAL LAUNCHES - A Chinese commercial Kinetica-1 solid rocket failed late Thursday, with the launch attempt setting a new domestic record for launches in a calendar year. The Kinetica-1 (Lijian-1) solid rocket lifted off at 8:03 p.m. Eastern Dec. 26 (0103 UTC Dec. 27) from the Dongfeng Commercial Space Innovation... More (Source: SpaceNews - Dec 28)
AMAZING IMAGERY FROM THE GOES-16 SATELLITE SHOWS MAJOR WEATHER EVENTS IN 2024 - The Earth was ready for its close-up this year. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's Geostationary Operational Environmental Satellites, or GOES-16 satellites, captured several spectacular weather events from hurricanes, supercell storms, wildfires and an amazing total solar eclipse... More (Source: USA Today - Dec 27)
SOYUZ LAUNCHES RESURS-P5 IMAGING SATELLITE - A Soyuz-2-1b rocket lifted off from Baikonur Cosmodrome on Dec. 25, 2024, carrying the fifth and final satellite in the Resurs-P series. It was the second launch of the dual-use observation satellite during the year and the 2000th mission of the vehicle in the R-7 family.... More (Source: RussianSpaceWeb.com - Dec 26)
STRANDED NASA ASTRONAUTS SEND CHRISTMAS MESSAGE FROM SPACE - Astronauts stranded on the International Space Station over Christmas have sent a festive message back to Earth. Sunita Williams, Barry Wilmore, Don Pettit and Nick Hague were launched into space on 5 June on what was due to be an eight-day test flight mission. But the Boeing-made Starliner space... More (Source: Sky News - Dec 25)
COULD THAT BE SANTA'S SLEIGH? EARLY RISERS CAN SPOT THE ISS FROM THE UK THIS CHRISTMAS - Is that Santa's sleigh pulled by a magical herd of reindeer? A bright streak of light in the pre-dawn skies above the U.K. tomorrow morning (Dec. 24) could easily be mistaken for Santa Claus getting an early start to his Christmas deliveries — but the glowing trail of light actually belongs to ... More (Source: Space.com - Dec 24)
CHINESE SATELLITE BURNS UP, DROPS DEBRIS OVER US - A defunct earth-imaging satellite made in China turned into a bright fireball Saturday night as it re-entered Earth’s atmosphere — and some of the remains may have made it to the ground in Mississippi, Missouri, Arkansas or surrounding states. The spectacle was widely mistaken for a meteor, b... More (Source: Forbes - Dec 23)
SPACEX LAUNCHES 30 SATELLITES ON BANDWAGON-2 RIDESHARE MISSION - SpaceX launched 30 satellites to orbit early Saturday morning (Dec. 21). A Falcon 9 rocket lifted off from California's Vandenberg Space Force Base on Saturday at 6:34 a.m. EDT (1134 GMT; 3:34 a.m. local California time), kicking off a rideshare mission SpaceX calls Bandwagon-2.... More (Source: Space.com - Dec 23)
ROCKET LAB SUCCESSFULLY DEPLOYS SATELLITE FOR SYNSPECTIVE, CAPS OFF YEAR WITH 60% INCREASE IN LAUNCHES YOY - Mahia, New Zealand. 22 December 2024 – Rocket Lab USA, Inc., a global leader in launch services and space systems, today announced it successfully completed the Company’s 16th launch for the year, deploying a satellite for Japanese Earth-observation constellation operator Synspective. The “... More (Source: Rocket lab - Dec 22)
ARISS SSTV EXPERIMENT 25 DEC 2024- 5 JAN 2025 - Just in time for the holidays and New Year, ARISS is planning an SSTV event from December 25 to January 5. Series 23 will consist in 12 pictures celebrating ARISS memories of 2024. – starting time of transmsissions will be tentatively 25 December 2024 at 14.55 UTC; – ending time will... More (Source: ISS Fan Club - Dec 22)
CHINA LAUNCHES COMMUNICATION TECHNOLOGY TEST SATELLITE - China successfully sent a test satellite for communication technology into space from the Xichang Satellite Launch Center in southwestern Sichuan Province on Friday. The satellite was launched by a Long March-3B carrier rocket at 11:12 p.m. (Beijing Time) and has entered the planned orbit. Thi... More (Source: www.gov.cn - Dec 21)
RETIRED MILITARY WEATHER SATELLITE BREAKS UP - A defunct military weather satellite has broken up in orbit and created more than 50 pieces of debris, the latest in a series of similar incidents involving that line of spacecraft. The U.S. Space Force reported Dec. 19 that it had identified a “low-velocity fragmentation event” involving the... More (Source: SpaceNews - Dec 21)
ROCKET LAB SCRUBS STRIX RADAR SATELLITE LAUNCH FOR SYNSPECTIVE OVER 'SENSOR DATA' - The spaceflight company Rocket Lab called off a planned launch of half a dozen commercial satellites due to concerns over sensor readings on Friday (Dec. 20). Rocket Lab scrubbed what was to be its 16th Electron rocket flight of 2024 less than 20 minutes before planned liftoff at 10:03 a.m. EST (... More (Source: Space.com - Dec 21)
ABORT! SPACEX CALLS OFF LAUNCH OF 'MICROGEO' SATELLITES AT LAST SECOND - SpaceX's plans to launch four small communications satellites to a high Earth orbit were called off as the countdown reached T-0 seconds on Saturday (Dec. 1). A Falcon 9 rocket carrying four "MicroGEO" satellites built by San Francisco company Astranis had been scheduled to lift off from Cape Can... More (Source: Space.com - Dec 21)
CHINA NEARS RECORD LAUNCH YEAR WITH CERES-1 AND SAR SATELLITE MISSIONS - Chinese launch startup Galactic Energy conducted its fourth sea launch early Thursday as China continued its recent high launch cadence. The Ceres-1 solid rocket lifted off at 5:18 a.m. Eastern (1018 UTC) Dec. 19 from a converted mobile sea platform off the coast of Shandong province, near Rizhao... More (Source: SpaceNews - Dec 20)
WATCH RUSSIAN COSMONAUTS INSTALL NEW X-RAY DETECTOR DURING ISS SPACEWALK TODAY - Two Russian cosmonauts will venture out into the vacuum of space today, and you can watch it live. Alexey Ovchinin and Ivan Vagner of Russia's space agency Roscosmos will begin a spacewalk, or extra-vehicular activity (EVA), outside the International Space Station (ISS) on Thursday (Dec. 19) begi... More (Source: Space.com - Dec 20)
SPACEX INKS DEAL TO LAUNCH 2 MORE ASTRONAUT MISSIONS TO THE ISS - SpaceX has signed a deal to fly two more private astronaut missions to the International Space Station (ISS) using its Falcon 9 rocket and Crew Dragon capsule. The flights were booked by California company Vast Space, which is developing a private space station called Haven-1 that could reach orb... More (Source: Space.com - Dec 20)
CHINESE ASTRONAUTS CONDUCT RECORD-BREAKING 9-HOUR SPACEWALK OUTSIDE TIANGONG SPACE STATION - Two Chinese astronauts just secured a spot in spaceflight history. Cai Xuzhe and Song Lingdong, part of China's three-person Shenzhou 19 mission, spent more than nine hours spacewalking outside the Tiangong space station from late Monday night (Dec. 16) through Tuesday morning (Dec. 17), accordin... More (Source: Space.com - Dec 19)
