‘HUMANITY WOULD WATCH HELPLESSLY AS SPACE JUNK MULTIPLIES UNCONTROLLABLY’: HAS THE NUMBER OF SATELLITE LAUNCHES REACHED A TIPPING POINT? - “Since the start of the space age, we’ve had a throwaway culture – a bit like plastics in the ocean,” says Nick Shave, managing director of Astroscale UK, an in-orbit servicing company headquartered in Japan. Getting a satellite into orbit around the Earth used to be a big deal. From the launch of the first, Sputnik, in 1957, as it became easier and cheaper to put satellites into space, the numbers have boomed. In 2022, there were about 6,000 and by 2030, one estimate suggests there will be nearly 60,000 satellites in orbit around our planet.   More
(Source: The Guardian - Oct 20)

INTELSAT 33E LOSES POWER IN GEOSTATIONARY ORBIT - Intelsat 33e has lost power in geostationary orbit and the satellite is no longer providing communications for customers across Europe, Africa and parts of Asia Pacific, its operator announced Oct. 19. Intelsat said it is working with satellite maker Boeing to address the anomaly, but “believe it is unlikely that the satellite will be recoverable.” An Intelsat spokesperson said the satellite was not insured at the time of the issue.    More
(Source: SpaceNews - Oct 20)

SPACEX LAUNCHES 20 STARLINK INTERNET SATELLITES FROM FLORIDA - SpaceX sent yet another batch of its Starlink internet satellites to orbit tonight (Oct. 18). A Falcon 9 rocket topped with 20 Starlink craft, including 13 with direct-to-cell capability, lifted off from Florida's Cape Canaveral Space Force Station tonight at 7:31 p.m. EDT (2331 GMT). The Falcon 9's first stage came back to Earth about 8.5 minutes after liftoff as planned, landing on the SpaceX drone ship "Just Read the Instructions" in the Atlantic Ocean. Sponsored Links   More
(Source: Space.com - Oct 19)

CHINA LAUNCHES NEW EARTH OBSERVATION SATELLITE - China on Wednesday sent a new Earth observation satellite into space from the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center in northwest China. The Gaofen-12 05 satellite was launched at 7:45 a.m. (Beijing Time) aboard a Long March-4C carrier rocket and entered the planned orbit successfully. It will be used in a variety of fields including land surveys, urban planning, road network design, crop yield estimation and disaster relief.   More
(Source: Xinhua - Oct 18)

NASA WEIGHING OPTIONS FOR CONTINUOUS HUMAN PRESENCE IN LEO AFTER ISS - NASA is rethinking its desire for a “continuous human presence” in low Earth orbit during the transition from the International Space Station to commercial platforms to include options where, at least temporarily, the agency may not always have astronauts in orbit. In a talk at the International Astronautical Congress here Oct. 16 on NASA’s development of a low Earth orbit microgravity strategy, Deputy Administrator Pam Melroy mentioned what she called the “elephant in the room” of a desired continuous human presence in LEO. NASA has had astronauts in orbit on the ISS continuously since 2000.    More
(Source: SpaceNews - Oct 18)

ISS LEAKS AMONG 50 'AREAS OF CONCERN' FOR ASTRONAUT SAFETY: REPORT - NASA and its Russian counterpart have identified 50 "areas of concern" related to a long-running leak aboard the space station, a media report states. The leak has been ongoing since 2019 in the Russian segment of the International Space Station (ISS) and was the focus of a new report from NASA's Office of the Inspector General (OIG) published in September. While NASA and Roscosmos are addressing the leak, it remains a top "safety risk" for astronauts on board, the OIG report stated.   More
(Source: Space.com - Oct 18)

HOW MUCH DO SPACEX'S REENTERING STARLINK SATELLITES POLLUTE EARTH'S ATMOSPHERE? - Satellite megaconstellation operators are getting a lot of flak from atmospheric scientists lately for polluting Earth's upper atmosphere. But is the criticism justified? Who is the biggest contributor to the emerging environmental problem? About 40% of disused satellites burning up in Earth's atmosphere these days belong to SpaceX's Starlink megaconstellation, according to Andrew Bacon, the chief technology officer and co-founder of U.K.-based in-orbit manufacturing firm Space Forge.   More
(Source: Space.com - Oct 18)

CHINA LAUNCHES SECOND BATCH OF 18 SATELLITES FOR THOUSAND SAILS MEGACONSTELLATION - China successfully launched the second group of 18 satellites for the planned 14,000-satellite Thousand Sails megaconstellation Tuesday. A Long March 6A rocket lifted off from Taiyuan Satellite Launch Center, north China, at 7:06 a.m. Eastern (1106 UTC) Oct. 15. The China Aerospace Science and Technology Corporation (CASC) announced launch success over two hours after liftoff.   More
(Source: SpaceNews - Oct 16)

POLLUTION FROM ROCKET LAUNCHES AND BURNING SATELLITES COULD CAUSE THE NEXT ENVIRONMENTAL EMERGENCY - The growing number of rocket launches and satellites burning up in Earth's atmosphere could trigger the world's next big environmental emergency. Experts are racing to understand the new threat before it's too late. The space industry is booming. Over the past 15 years, the number of rockets launched per year has nearly tripled, and the number of satellites orbiting the planet has increased tenfold, according to Statista. The amount of space debris — old satellites and spent rocket stages — falling back to Earth has doubled over the past 10 years. A few hundred tons of old space junk now vaporizes in the atmosphere every year, experts say.   More
(Source: Space.com - Oct 16)

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