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)
VAST PROPOSES ITS HAVEN-2 DESIGN TO SUCCEED THE ISS - Vast is targeting a contract to build the successor to the International Space Station (ISS), unveiling Haven-2 on Monday, its proposed space station design. Vast said it developed Haven-2 to offer a compelling solution to ensure continued U.S. and international partner presence in Low-Earth Orbit (LEO) after the ISS is retired. The company declared its intent to compete for the NASA Commercial LEO Destination (CLD) program Phase 2 with the Haven-2 design on October 14. More (Source: Via Satellite - Oct 15)
CHINA’S SECRETIVE NEW 'THOUSANDS SAILS' SATELLITES ARE AN ASTRONOMER'S NIGHTMARE, 1ST OBSERVATIONS REVEAL - China's recently launched "Thousand Sails" satellites are so bright they can clearly be seen with the naked eye at night, far exceeding the limits proposed by astronomical authorities, experts say. Many more of the mysterious satellites will be launched over the next few years — some of which could be even brighter than the ones we can already see — potentially causing major headaches for scientists and space enthusiasts. More (Source: Live Science - Oct 15)
SPACEX'S CREW-8 ASTRONAUTS TO DEPART ISS FOR TRIP HOME SOON AMID WEATHER DELAYS - SpaceX's Crew-8 astronauts will have to wait a bit longer to begin their trip home to Earth after plans to depart the International Space Station Sunday morning (Oct. 13) were postponed by bad weather at their splashdown site. Crew-8's Dragon capsule, named Endeavour, was scheduled to undock from the International Space Station (ISS) at 7:05 a.m. EDT (1105 GMT) on Sunday and splash down off the coast of Florida no earlier than 3:38 p.m. EDT (1938 GMT) on Monday (Oct. 14). That plan was thwarted by poor weather conditions at their splashdown zone. More (Source: Space.com - Oct 14)
'STUNNING WAS THE WORD': ASTRONAUTS SNAP AMAZING AURORA PHOTO FROM ISS DURING SEVERE GEOMAGNETIC STORM - The auroras were pretty special on Thursday night (Oct. 10) — especially if you got to see them from orbit. NASA astronauts Don Pettit and Matthew Dominick are in that very exclusive club, getting a bird's-eye view of the amazing auroral displays — which were supercharged by a recent solar storm — from the International Space Station (ISS). And the sight took the spaceflyers aback. More (Source: Space.com - Oct 14)
IRAN SENDS SATELLITES TO RUSSIA FOR ROCKET LAUNCH, TASNIM REPORTS - Iran has sent two locally made satellites to Russia to be put into orbit by a Russian space vehicle, the semi-official news agency Tasnim reported Saturday, in the latest space cooperation between the two U.S.-sanctioned countries. The development of Kowsar, a high-resolution imaging satellite, and Hodhod, a small communications satellite, is the first substantial effort by Iran's private space sector, the report said. More (Source: VOA News - Oct 13)
SPACEX PULLS OFF MID-AIR LAUNCH PAD CAPTURE OF DESCENDING SUPER HEAVY BOOSTER - In one of the most dramatic, high-risk space flights to date, SpaceX launched a gargantuan Super Heavy-Starship rocket on an unpiloted test flight Sunday and then used giant “mechazilla” robot arms on the pad gantry to pluck the returning first stage out of the sky in an unprecedented feat of engineering. The Starship upper stage, meanwhile, looped around the planet and re-entered the atmosphere over the Indian Ocean as planned, enduring temperatures nearing 3,000 degrees as it descended to a controlled, on-target splashdown. More (Source: SpaceFlight Now - Oct 13)
CHINA LAUNCHES THIRD HIGH ORBIT INTERNET SATELLITE - China launched a new communications satellite towards geostationary orbit Thursday, although its precise role remains undisclosed. A Long March 3B lifted off from Xichang Satellite Launch Center, southwest China, at 9:50 a.m. Eastern, Oct. 10 (1350 UTC). The China Aerospace Science and Technology Corporation (CASC) declared the launch was a complete success over an hour after liftoff. More (Source: SpaceNews - Oct 12)
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