JAPAN LAUNCHES SOVEREIGN SATELLITE NAVIGATION NETWORK AS GPS CANNOT REACH ALL OF ITS COUNTRY - Mountainous terrain and densely packed city blocks across Japan can obstruct ordinary satellite positioning signals from reaching receivers on the ground. Standard Global Positioning System coverage was never built with those obstacles in mind, leaving gaps in accuracy across parts of the country. Japan has spent more than a decade building its own answer to that gap, and this week that effort reached a new milestone.   More
(Source: TechRadar - Aug 15)

SCIENTISTS HOPE TO SHED LIGHT ON YOUNG UNIVERSE BY USING FAR SIDE OF THE MOON - Little is known about what was happening shortly after the big bang, but now researchers are hoping to shed fresh light on the matter by harnessing the far side of the moon. Scientists plan to put a suitcase-sized satellite into orbit around the moon, using the data it collects as it passes the far side to search for a radio frequency signal emitted by neutral hydrogen atoms in the early universe.   More
(Source: The Guardian - Aug 15)

ONGOING SPACEWALK PREPS, EMERGENCY TRAINING KEEP CREW BUSY ON WEDNESDAY - Spacewalk preparations are ongoing aboard the International Space Station as two astronauts gear up to replace a high-speed antenna next week. The Expedition 75 crew members also practiced their emergency response skills in coordination with mission controllers on Earth.   More
(Source: NASA - Aug 15)

SPACEX WANTS TO PUT 1 MILLION AI SATELLITES IN ORBIT. WHAT WOULD THAT DO TO EARTH'S CLIMATE? - Concentrations of dangerous pollutants from rocket launches and satellite reentries in Earth's upper atmosphere might reach treacherous tipping points if constellations of hundreds of thousands of orbiting data centers get deployed in the next decade, experts say. There's no question that Earth has an AI data center problem. By 2030, AI data centers may be responsible for up to 17% of electricity consumption in the U.S., according to a forecast by the Electric Power Research Institute.   More
(Source: Space.com - Aug 14)

SATELLITE CONSTELLATIONS COULD CREATE SPIRALING SPACE DEBRIS - To date, close to 30,000 satellites have been launched into Earth's orbit, leading to mounting concerns over the debris created when they collide. In a new analysis posted to the preprint server arXiv, Hugh Lewis of the University of Birmingham shows that satellite constellations can grow so large that they cross a critical size beyond which they generate unstable, runaway amounts of debris. The findings point to an urgent need for tougher rules on which satellites are allowed into orbit in the first place.   More
(Source: Phys.org - Aug 13)

H3 LAUNCHES NAVIGATION SATELLITE - A Japanese H3 rocket successfully launched a navigation satellite Aug. 10, more than seven months after a similar launch ended in failure. The H3-22S rocket lifted off from the Tanegashima Space Center at 3:23 p.m. Eastern, after several days of delays caused by a passing typhoon. The rocket’s upper stage successfully deployed the Michibiki 7 satellite into its planned transfer orbit 29 minutes later.   More
(Source: SpaceNews - Aug 12)

SPACEX LAUNCHES 24 STARLINK SATELLITES ON FALCON 9 ROCKET FROM VANDENBERG SFB - SpaceX launched two dozen of its Starlink satellites to low Earth orbit from Vandenberg Space Force Base on Tuesday night. The Starlink 17-49 mission was SpaceX’s 51st flight from the West Coast so far this year. Liftoff from Space Launch Complex 4 East happened at 9:46 p.m. PDT (12:46 a.m. EDT / 0446 UTC). The rocket took a south-southwesterly trajectory.    More
(Source: SpaceFlight Now - Aug 12)

SPACEX LAUNCHES TUESDAY NOONTIME STARLINK MISSION FOLLOWING MONDAY SCRUB - After a launch scrub on Monday morning, SpaceX flew its Falcon 9 rocket from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station to deliver another batch of its Starlink V2 Mini Optimized satellites to low Earth orbit. The Starlink 10-19 mission represented the 72nd flight of these broadband internet satellites out of a total of 93 Falcon 9 rockets in 2026. Liftoff from Space Launch Complex 40 happened at 11:58:26 a.m. EDT (1558:26 UTC) on Tuesday, Aug. 11. The rocket flew on a northeasterly trajectory upon leaving the launch pad.   More
(Source: SpaceFlight Now - Aug 12)

STATION CREW GEARS UP FOR NEXT SPACEWALK, KEEPS UP MICROGRAVITY RESEARCH - The next spacewalk outside the International Space Station is set to take place on Tuesday, Aug. 18. Two Expedition 75 astronauts will work in the vacuum of space to replace a space-to-ground antenna to maintain high-speed data and communication transmissions between the orbital outpost and mission controllers. Flight engineers Anil Menon of NASA and Sophie Adenot of ESA (European Space Agency) are gearing up for next week’s spacewalk that will see the duo spend about six-and-a-half hours swapping an antenna on the orbital outpost’s Z1 truss segment.   More
(Source: NASA - Aug 11)

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