A SHOEBOX-SIZED SATELLITE COULD EXPOSE HIDDEN NUCLEAR WEAPONS IN SPACE - Space is supposed to be free of nuclear weapons, but there’s no way to check. A newly proposed technique could search for illicit nuclear weapons in orbit. Since 1967, nuclear weapons in space have been prohibited by the Outer Space Treaty, which has been ratified by 118 countries, including Russia and the United States.   More
(Source: Science News - Jul 9)

FIRE DETECTORS, MILITARY TECH DEMOS, 3D PRINTERS AMONG SPACEX RIDESHARE PAYLOADS LAUNCHING ON MIDNIGHT FALCON 9 FLIGHT - A SpaceX Falcon 9, launched from California, ferried dozens of customer satellites from around the world into a Sun-synchronous Earth orbit shortly after midnight local time on Tuesday. The Transporter-17 mission, with 81 payloads aboard, is part of the company’s Smallsat Rideshare Program, which also includes the mid-inclination Bandwagon missions as well as the dawn-dusk Sun-synchronous orbit Twilight flight.   More
(Source: SpaceFlight Now - Jul 8)

EVEN ASTRONAUTS IN SPACE SAW AMERICA 250 FIREWORKS ON THE FOURTH OF JULY. SEE THEIR ISS VIEW OF LOS ANGELES - The U.S. just celebrated its 250th birthday, and Americans living off the planet had a great view of some of the parties down below. "The International Space Station orbited over Los Angeles on July 4th as America marked 250 years of independence with a burst of fireworks lighting up the city below — a celebration so bright it reached all the way to space!" NASA officials said on Monday (July 6) via the agency's ISS X account.   More
(Source: Space.com - Jul 8)

KOREA TO LAUNCH 4TH NEXT-GENERATION MEDIUM-SIZED SATELLITE FROM U.S. TUESDAY - Korea plans to launch its fourth medium-sized Earth observation satellite aboard a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket from Vandenberg Space Force Base in California on Monday, the space agency said. The Korea Aerospace Administration (KASA) said the 500-kilogram (1102-pound) satellite will be launched at 00:12 a.m. on Tuesday.    More
(Source: Korea JoongAng Daily - Jul 7)

SEMICONDUCTOR MANUFACTURING TEST BED FLIES ALONGSIDE STARLINK SATELLITES ON FALCON 9 LAUNCH - Two semiconductor fabrication test beds hitched a sub-orbital ride on the first stage of a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket that launched another batch of Starlink satellites from Cape Canaveral shortly after sunrise Sunday. Liftoff of the Starlink 10-50 mission from Space Launch Complex 40 happened on 6:50 a.m. EDT (1050 UTC). Space Force meteorologists predicted an 85 percent chance of favorable weather for launch.   More
(Source: - Jul 6)

AIRBUS TO BUILD AEOLUS-2 WIND-MONITORING SATELLITE - The European Space Agency has selected Airbus Defence and Space to start work on the successor to a wind-monitoring satellite. ESA announced July 2 it authorized Airbus to begin work on the Aeolus-2 satellite, funding the initial phases of the satellite’s development. The contract for that initial work is worth 51 million euros ($58.3 million), according to an Airbus spokesperson.   More
(Source: SpaceNews - Jul 6)

CHINA LAUNCHES GROUP OF COMMUNICATIONS SATELLITES - China launched a group of communications satellites from the Taiyuan Satellite Launch Center in Shanxi province on Saturday afternoon, placing the 13th batch of space-based assets of the Spacesail Constellation in orbit. The satellites were carried by a Long March 6A rocket that blasted off at 5:30 pm and soon arrived in their predetermined orbital positions.   More
(Source: China Daily HK - Jul 6)

CHINA’S LATEST SATELLITE ENGINE SETS GLOBAL RECORD: HIGH PERFORMANCE ALLOWS FOR LARGER, FASTER AND MORE MANOEUVRABLE SPACECRAFT - China has achieved a significant milestone in electric propulsion for satellites by successfully demonstrating a new 750-newton Hall-effect thruster, which completed a record-breaking orbital transfer mission and surpassed the performance of all comparable preceding systems. The engine powered Communications Technology Experiment Satellite 26A from its initial transfer orbit to geostationary orbit through five orbit-raising manoeuvres, firing for a cumulative 11,617 seconds (approximately 3.2 hours) during its maiden mission.   More
(Source: Military Watch Magazine - Jul 5)

AMERICA AT 500: WHERE WILL WE BE IN SPACE IN 2276? - The United States has taken some significant steps into the final frontier during its first 250 years. The nation has put people on the moon, helped build and operate a long-running space station in low Earth orbit (LEO) and sent fleets of robotic explorers to many corners of the solar system — and even beyond it, into interstellar space.   More
(Source: Space.com - Jul 5)

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