FIRST NORTHSTAR SSA SATELLITES TO LAUNCH IN 2023 BY VIRGIN ORBIT - NorthStar Earth and Space, a company planning a constellation of satellites to collect space situational awareness data, will launch its first satellites in mid-2023 with Virgin Orbit. NorthStar announced Oct. 27 that its first three satellites, 12-unit cubesats built by Spire, will be launched by Virgin Orbit in mid-2023. The companies did not disclose terms of the launch deal or where the launch, using Virgin Orbit’s LauncherOne air-launch system, will take place.   More
(Source: SpaceNews - Oct 31)

CHINA TO LAUNCH MENGTIAN SCIENCE MODULE TO TIANGONG SPACE STATION - China plans to launch its second space station module of the year aboard a Chang Zheng 5B rocket Monday. The Mengtian module is scheduled for liftoff at 07:37 UTC, completing the initial phase of construction for China’s Tiangong space station. The launch of the Mengtian Laboratory Cabin Module, meaning “Dreaming of the Heavens,” follows the successful addition of the Wentian module to China’s Tiangong station on July 24. Like Wentian and the Tianhe core module that was launched in April 2021, Mengtian will ride into orbit aboard China’s Chang Zheng 5B (CZ-5B) rocket, also known in English as the Long March 5B.   More
(Source: NASASpaceFlight.com - Oct 31)

ADVANCED EARTH-MONITORING JPSS-2 SATELLITE IS 'GO' FOR LIFTOFF ON NOV. 1 - A powerful weather satellite is all set to launch early Tuesday morning (Nov. 1) — provided the weather cooperates. The Joint Polar Satellite System-2 satellite, or JPSS-2 for short, and its United Launch Alliance (ULA) Atlas V rocket passed their launch readiness review, mission team members announced on Friday (opens in new tab) (Oct. 28).   More
(Source: Space.com - Oct 31)

CHINA SUCCESSFULLY PLACES SHIYAN-20C SATELLITE INTO ORBIT - The China Aerospace Science Corporation (CASC) successfully launched the classified Shiyan-20C satellite to low Earth orbit. Launched from Site 9401 (SLS-2) at the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center in China, the Chang Zheng 2D lifted off at 9:01 AM local time (01:01 UTC) on Oct. 29. Shiyan-20C marked the 147th orbital launch attempt in 2022 worldwide. While no official records are kept, this is the greatest number of orbital launch attempts made in any year ever, greater than the 144 launch attempt record set in 2021. According to CASC, the satellite was successfully placed into a 700 km altitude orbit.   More
(Source: NASASpaceFlight.com - Oct 31)

RUSSIAN CARGO SHIP DOCKS AT SPACE STATION - Russia’s Progress MS-21 resupply spacecraft completed an automated docking with the International Space Station at 10:49 p.m. EDT Thursday (0251 GMT Friday) to deliver more than 2.7 tons of cargo to the lab’s seven-person crew. The unpiloted cargo freighter launched Tuesday on top of a Soyuz rocket from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan, beginning a two-day pursuit of the space station. The Soyuz-2.1a rocket placed the Progress MS-21 supply ship into orbit about nine minutes after liftoff.   More
(Source: SpaceFlight Now - Oct 29)

AMAZON WILL OPEN 172,000-SQUARE-FOOT PROJECT KUIPER INTERNET SATELLITE FACTORY - Amazon said Thursday it will open a new plant in a Seattle suburb to build satellites for Project Kuiper. Unveiled in 2019, Project Kuiper, is Amazon’s plan to build a network of 3,236 satellites in low Earth orbit to provide high-speed broadband internet. Amazon notched a key milestone in 2020 when the Federal Communications Commission authorized the satellite internet system.   More
(Source: CNBC - Oct 28)

RUSSIA ESCALATES RHETORIC ON COMMERCIAL SATELLITES, CALLS THEM ‘LEGITIMATE TARGETS FOR RETALIATION’ - A Russian official speaking at a United Nations meeting on outer space security, criticized Western nations’ use of commercial satellites in military operations, adding fuel to previous declarations that Russia could target space networks operated by private companies. Konstantin Vorontsov, deputy director of the Russian foreign ministry’s department for non-proliferation and arms, called the West’s use of commercial satellites “an extremely dangerous trend that … has become apparent during the latest developments in Ukraine.”   More
(Source: SpaceNews - Oct 28)

SPACEX FALCON 9 LAUNCHES STARLINK GROUP 4-31 FROM VANDENBERG - SpaceX’s 49th Falcon 9 flight of 2022 has lifted off from SLC-4E at Vandenberg Space Force Base, California with 53 Starlink satellites. The launch occurred on time on Thursday, Oct. 27 at 6:14 PM PDT (01:14 UTC on Friday, Oct. 28). Falcon 9 launched to the southeast into a 53.2-degree inclined orbit to help fill out the fourth shell of Starlink satellites orbiting at 540 kilometers in altitude.   More
(Source: NASASpaceFlight.com - Oct 28)

CHINA ROLLS OUT ROCKET TO LAUNCH 3RD AND FINAL SPACE STATION MODULE - China is nearly ready to launch the third and final piece of its modular crewed space station. A Long March 5B heavy-lift rocket rolled out to the pad at Wenchang spaceport on Hainan island early Tuesday (Oct. 25), China’s human spaceflight agency (CMSA) announced. The Mengtian space station module is encapsulated in a 67-foot-long (20.5 meters) payload fairing on top of the 187-million-pound (849,000 kilograms) Long March 5B. The rocket and module were transported to the pad in a vertical position, covering roughly 9,200 feet (2,800 meters) in under three hours.   More
(Source: Space.com - Oct 27)

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