HOW CHINA’S SATELLITE MEGAPROJECTS ARE CHALLENGING ELON MUSK’S STARLINK - China faces a tall order in its efforts to catch up to Elon Musk’s SpaceX satellite service. SpaceX’s Starlink already has nearly 7,000 operational satellites in orbit and serves around 5 million customers in more than 100 countries, according to SpaceX. The service is meant to offer high-spe... More (Source: CNBC - Dec 16)
NASA ASTRONAUT USES HOMEMADE STAR TRACKER TO TAKE INCREDIBLE DEEP SPACE PHOTO FROM ISS - Astronauts are many things. They're often scientists, engineers, or pilots. And in the case of NASA astronaut Don Pettit, he's also an astrophotographer. Pettit is currently on his third stay on the International Space Station (ISS), and he's continuing his long-running tradition of taking out-of... More (Source: Space.com - Dec 15)
CHINA LAUNCHES “LASER DIAMOND CONSTELLATION TEST” SATELLITES - China launched a set of satellites likely intended to test inter-satellite laser links early Thursday as the country moves ahead with major constellation projects. A Long March 2D rocket topped with a Yuanzheng-3 restartable upper stage lifted off at 2:17 a.m. Eastern (0717 UTC) Dec. 12 from Jiuq... More (Source: SpaceNews - Dec 15)
SPACEX LAUNCHES 22 STARLINK SATELLITES ON FALCON 9 ROCKET FROM CALIFORNIA - SpaceX launched its latest batch of Starlink satellites from Vandenberg Space Force Base Friday afternoon. It came as the U.S. Space Force’s Assured Access to Space (AATS) continues work to ensure resiliency from its two primary spaceports that’s seeing far more orbital launches than it has hist... More (Source: SoaceFlight Now - Dec 15)
SPACE FORCE TO TEST MODULAR SATELLITE TECHNOLOGY IN UPCOMING MISSION - The U.S. Space Force plans to use a “plug and play” satellite interface developed by The Aerospace Corporation for an upcoming mission under its Tactically Responsive Space (TacRS) program. The program seeks to validate technologies and tactics to shorten the timeline for launching payloads, suc... More (Source: SpaceNews - Dec 13)
SPACEX LAUNCH OF NASA'S NEW 3D-SKY-MAPPING SATELLITE SET FOR FEBRUARY 2025 - An ambitious NASA mission to map the sky in 3D using a space-based observatory now has a target launch date of late February 2025. NASA's compact car-sized observatory, called Spectro-Photometer for the History of the Universe, Epoch of Reionization and Ices Explorer (or just SPHEREx for short), ... More (Source: Space.com - Dec 12)
GEOMAGNETIC STORMS CAUSE “MASS MIGRATIONS” OF SATELLITES - A pair of major geomagnetic storms this year led to unprecedented “mass migrations” of thousands of satellites in low Earth orbit that create new concerns about space traffic coordination. The phenomenon was first seen in May during a major solar event called the Gannon storm. That event is b... More (Source: SpaceNews - Dec 12)
INTELSAT 33E DEMISE EXPOSES VULNERABILITIES IN THE SPACE DOMAIN - Intelsat 33e’s break-up in geostationary orbit (GEO) highlights an emerging threat for the contested space domain, an executive at U.S.-based space-tracking company ExoAnalytic Solutions said Dec. 10 during the Spacepower Conference here. Clint Clark, ExoAnalytic Solutions chief growth officer ... More (Source: SpaceNews - Dec 11)
LOCKHEED MARTIN TO LAUNCH 5G DEMONSTRATION ON FIREFLY ROCKET - Lockheed Martin announced plans to launch its Tactical Satellite (TacSat) aboard Firefly Aerospace’s Alpha rocket in 2025, marking the second mission in a multi-launch agreement between the aerospace giant and the upstart rocket company. The mission, funded internally by Lockheed Martin, aims ... More (Source: SpaceNews - Dec 10)
SENTINEL 1C RADAR SATELLITE BEGINS OPERATIONS TO ENHANCE EARTH OBSERVATION - A major addition to Europe's Earth observation capabilities, the Sentinel 1C satellite, has been successfully launched into orbit. Supported by the UK and launched aboard a VEGA-C rocket from French Guiana at 21:20 GMT on Thursday, December 5, Sentinel 1C will orbit 700 km above Earth to deliver cri... More (Source: Space Daily - Dec 9)
EUROPE’S MOST ADVANCED WEATHER SATELLITE IS NOW FULLY OPERATIONAL - The first of EUMETSAT’s Meteosat Third Generation (MTG) satellites is now fully operational. MTG-Imager 1 also receives a new name – Meteosat-12 – to mark the occasion. The two main instruments on board Meteosat-12, the Flexible Combined Imager (FCI) and the Lightning Imager (LI), play a cr... More (Source: Eurasia Review - Dec 9)
SPACEX LAUNCHES 23 STARLINK SATELLITES ON FALCON 9 ROCKET FROM CAPE CANAVERAL - SpaceX launched its latest Falcon 9 shortly after midnight on Sunday, adding 23 more Starlink satellites to its growing mega-constellation. The midnight hour launch features 13 satellites which have Direct to Cell capabilities. Liftoff of the Starlink 12-5 mission from pad 40 at Cape Canaveral Sp... More (Source: SpaceFlight Now - Dec 8)
WATCH SPACEX'S 31ST DRAGON CARGO CAPSULE HEAD BACK TO EARTH DEC. 12 AFTER DELAY - A SpaceX cargo capsule is set to head back toward Earth on Dec. 12, and you can watch the action live. A robotic Dragon freighter will undock from the International Space Station's (ISS) Harmony module on Thursday, Dec. 12 at 11:05 a.m. EST (1605 GMT), if all goes according to plan. An undocking ... More (Source: Space.com - Dec 7)
SPACE STATION TRAJECTORY DATA NOW AVAILABLE - Space Station trajectory data is now available to the public! This data, called an ephemeris, is generated by the ISS Trajectory Operations and Planning Officer (TOPO) flight controllers in the Mission Control Center at NASA's Johnson Space Center. TOPO keeps track of where the ISS is, where it is g... More (Source: Phys.org - Dec 7)
SUPERHERO SATELLITE SENTINEL-1C SOARS INTO SPACE ON A MISSION TO PROTECT OUR PLANET - On the 5th December 2024, all eyes were on the skies as ESA’s Sentinel-1C satellite launched aboard a mighty Vega-C rocket from Europe’s spaceport in Kourou, French Guiana. As the third satellite in the Sentinel-1 series, it will continue the important work of monitoring our planet's land ... More (Source: - Dec 7)
IRAN LAUNCHES ADVANCED MODULE TO DEPLOY SATELLITES TO HIGHER ALTITUDES, MEDIA SAY - Iran sent into space on Friday its heaviest-ever payload using the Simorgh carrier rocket including an advanced module for transferring satellites to higher-altitude orbits, state television reported. The Samān-1 transfer module, along with a CubeSat and a research payload "were successfully place... More (Source: Reuters - Dec 7)
ROCKET LAB SETS THE LAUNCH WINDOW FOR SYNSPECTIVE SATELLITE DEPLOYMENT - Rocket Lab USA, Inc. has announced a launch window for an upcoming Electron mission to deploy the latest satellite in Synspective’s growing Earth Observation (EO) constellation. The “Owl The Way Up” mission is scheduled to launch from Rocket Lab Launch Complex 1 in Mahia, New Zealand during a ... More (Source: SatNews - Dec 6)
LONG MARCH 6A LAUNCHES THIRD BATCH OF THOUSAND SAILS CONSTELLATION SATELLITES - China launched the third batch of 18 satellites for the Thousand Sails constellation late Tuesday as the firm behind the project aims for global services in 2025. A Long March 6A rocket lifted off at 11:41 p.m. Eastern, Dec. 4 (0441 UTC, Dec. 5) from Taiyuan Satellite Launch Center, north China. ... More (Source: SpaceNews - Dec 6)
ECLIPSE-MAKING DOUBLE SATELLITE PROBA-3 ENTERS ORBIT - A pair of spacecraft were launched together today from India with the potential to change the nature of future space missions. ESA’s twin Proba-3 platforms will perform precise formation flying down to a single millimetre, as if they were one single giant spacecraft. To demonstrate their degree of... More (Source: European Space Agency - Dec 6)
