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 Space Force Station happened at 12:12 a.m. EST (0512 UTC).   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 attempt set for Dec. 6 was delayed "due to forecasted unfavorable weather conditions at the splashdown site off the coast of Florida" NASA said in a statement.   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 going to be, and most importantly makes sure it isn't at risk of colliding with other objects in space.   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 and oceans with special technology that can see through clouds and even operate at night. Armed with advanced radar vision, it will take detailed images of our planet's surface no matter the weather—rain, shine, or even a full-on storm. These images will be used to monitor everything from shrinking glaciers to rising seas, and even to help people during natural disasters like floods and earthquakes.   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 placed in an elliptical orbit with a high point of 410 km (255 miles) and a low point of 300 km," said the broadcast.   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 launch window that opens on December 18th NZDT (December 17 UTC). The mission will deploy a single StriX satellite to orbit for Synspective.   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. The state-owned Shanghai Academy of Spaceflight Technology (SAST) announced launch success hours later, once all payloads were deployed into their predetermined polar orbits.   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 control, the pair will produce artificial solar eclipses in orbit, giving prolonged views of the Sun’s ghostly surrounding atmosphere, the corona.    More
(Source: European Space Agency - Dec 6)

ISRO'S PSLV-XL LIFTS OFF WITH EUROPE'S PROBA-3 MISSION TO SPACE - The Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) launched Europe's twin Proba-3 spacecraft on Thursday. The Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle (PSLV-C59) in a picture-perfect launch began its journey to space a day after the launch was postponed.    More
(Source: India Today - Dec 6)

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