ROCKET LAB TO BUILD MILITARY SATELLITES FOR SPACE DEVELOPMENT AGENCY - The Space Development Agency awarded Rocket Lab $515 million to build 18 data transport satellites. The company joins Lockheed Martin and Northrop Grumman, who received awards in August to develop 36 satellites each. The spacecraft are part of the third generation — dubbed Tranche 2 — of SDA’s Proliferated Warfigher Space Architecture, a fleet of hundreds of small satellites operating in low Earth orbit, about 1,200 miles above the planet’s surface. More (Source: C4ISRNet - Jan 9)
ULA MARKS SUCCESS WITH THE INAUGURAL MISSION OF ITS VULCAN ROCKET LAUNCHING A MOON-BOUND ROBOTIC LANDER - With the company’s future riding on it, United Launch Alliance’s first Vulcan rocket successfully put a commercial robotic lander on course for the Moon after lifting off from Cape Canaveral’s pad 41 at 2:18 a.m. EST (0718 UTC). This mission was the first certification flight of Vulcan, an important proving ground for the first launch vehicle developed by ULA since it was established in 2006. The milestone comes roughly a decade after the rocket was first announced. More (Source: SpaceFlight Now - Jan 8)
VULCAN ON THE PAD FOR ITS FIRST LAUNCH - After a decade of development, United Launch Alliance’s Vulcan Centaur rocket is finally on the launch pad for its inaugural launch, carrying not just a lunar lander but also the company’s future. ULA rolled out its first Vulcan rocket to the pad at Space Launch Complex 41 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station on Jan. 5, ahead of a launch scheduled for 2:18 a.m. Eastern Jan. 8. The rocket’s primary payload is Astrobotic’s Peregrine lunar lander. More (Source: SpaceNews - Jan 8)
INDIA’S FIRST SOLAR OBSERVATORY REACHES DESTINATION - India has achieved another milestone in space exploration by successfully placing a spacecraft in an orbit from which it will study the sun for five years. India joined a select group of nations already studying the sun four months after it became the first country to land an unmanned spacecraft on the moon's southern polar region, cementing its reputation as a nation that is emerging on the frontlines of space exploration. More (Source: VOA News - Jan 8)
SPACEX LAUNCHES 23 STARLINK SATELLITES FROM FLORIDA - SpaceX launched 23 more of its Starlink internet satellites to orbit on Sunday (Jan. 7). A Falcon 9 rocket carrying the Starlink spacecraft lifted off from Florida's Cape Canaveral Space Force Station at 5:35 p.m. EST (2235 GMT). To plan, the Falcon 9's first stage came back to Earth about 8.5 minutes after liftoff, touching down on the drone ship A Shortfall of Gravitas, which was stationed in the Atlantic Ocean off the Florida coast. More (Source: Space.com - Jan 8)
NASA ADDS FUNDING TO BLUE ORIGIN AND VOYAGER SPACE COMMERCIAL SPACE STATION AGREEMENTS - NASA has added milestones and funding to agreements with two companies working on commercial space station concepts using money from a third agreement that ended last year. NASA announced Jan. 5 that it added a combined $99.5 million in funding to existing Space Act Agreements with Blue Origin and Voyager Space. The two companies received the original agreements in December 2021 as part of NASA’s Commercial Low Earth Orbit Destinations, or CLD, program to spur development of commercial space stations intended to succeed the International Space Station. More (Source: SpaceNews - Jan 7)
NASA, SPACEX INVITE MEDIA TO CREW-8 MISSION LAUNCH TO SPACE STATION - Media accreditation now is open for the launch of NASA’s eighth rotational mission of a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket and Dragon Endeavour spacecraft that will carry astronauts to the International Space Station for a science expedition. This mission is part of NASA’s Commercial Crew Program. Launch of NASA’s SpaceX Crew-8 mission is targeted for no earlier than mid-February from Launch Complex 39A at the agency’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida. More (Source: NASA - Jan 7)
CHINA LAUNCHES FOUR METEOROLOGICAL SATELLITES - China successfully sent four meteorological satellites into space from the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center in northwest China on Friday. The satellites, belonging to the Tianmu-1 meteorological constellation, were launched by a Kuaizhou-1A carrier rocket at 7:20 p.m. (Beijing Time) and have entered the planned orbit. They will be mainly used to provide commercial meteorological data services. It was the 25th flight mission of the Kuaizhou-1A rockets. More (Source: Xinhua - Jan 6)
SPACESUIT LOOP SCRUBS AND ROUTINE STATION MAINTENANCE FOR CREW ON THURSDAY - Another day of station upkeep is underway aboard the International Space Station on Thursday. The Expedition 70 crew spent most of the day on spacesuit and station maintenance, auditing equipment, and wrapping up experiments started earlier this week. In the morning, NASA Flight Engineer Jasmin Moghbeli was joined by ESA (European Space Agency) Commander Andreas Mogensen to perform a loop scrub on spacesuits that will be used during upcoming spacewalks this year. Moghbeli then reconfigured the hardware to initiate iodination, which is performed to remove contaminants from transfer loops. More (Source: NASA - Jan 5)
Previous Next
