SPACE JUNK DAMAGING SATELLITES: HOW DO WE REMOVE IT? - Every year, at least one satellite is destroyed by a space junk collision. With more than 130 million pieces of debris now trapped in orbit around Earth, the European Space Agency (ESA) expects that figure to rise. Combined with the increasing frequency of commercial space launches, which now acc... More (Source: DW - Apr 3)
HERE’S WHAT TO EXPECT FROM PROJECT KUIPER’S FIRST FULL-SCALE SATELLITE LAUNCH - Project Kuiper is set to send its first full batch of satellites to space, marking an important step in its mission to deliver fast, reliable internet to customers and communities around the world. The mission, named “KA-01” for Kuiper Atlas 1, will launch on a United Launch Alliance (ULA) Atlas... More (Source: Amazon - Apr 3)
SPACEX LAUNCHES 28 STARLINK SATELLITES TO ORBIT ON 1ST HALF OF SPACEFLIGHT DOUBLEHEADER - SpaceX launched another batch of its Starlink internet satellites from Florida's Space Coast on Monday (March 31). A Falcon 9 rocket carrying 28 Starlink spacecraft lifted off from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station at 3:52 p.m. EST (1952 GMT) on Monday. To plan, the Falcon 9's first stage cam... More (Source: Space.com - Apr 2)
SPACEX SCRUBS TUESDAY NIGHT FALCON 9 LAUNCH WITH 27 STARLINK SATELLITES - SpaceX stood down from a planned Falcon 9 rocket launch Tuesday night. The mission, dubbed Starlink 11-13, will deliver the latest 27 Starlink V2 Mini satellites into low Earth orbit and will be the 25th Starlink flight of the year. Liftoff from Space Launch Complex 4 East at Vandenberg Space For... More (Source: SpaceFlight Now - Apr 2)
NASA SWITCHES STARLINER CREW TO SPACEX DRAGON AS TESTING CONTINUES ON TROUBLED BOEING CAPSULE - The makeup of the SpaceX Crew-11 mission to the International Space Station was announced publicly Thursday evening and it includes three astronauts who were previously assigned to other missions. Leading the flight, scheduled for no earlier than July 2025, is NASA astronaut Zena Cardman. She wil... More (Source: SpaceFlight Now - Mar 31)
SPACEX SCRUBS THE LAUNCH OF 28 STARLINK V2 MINI SATELLITES ON FALCON 9 ROCKET FROM CAPE CANAVERAL - An afternoon of poor weather kept SpaceX from closing out the weekend with a Falcon 9 rocket launching a batch of 28 Starlink V2 Mini satellites. The weather forecast on Sunday was quite problematic, with meteorologists tracking storms that “may pack strong wind gusts and even small hail.” Li... More (Source: SpaceFlight Now - Mar 31)
AMSAT-OSCAR 7: THE HAM SATELLITE THAT REFUSED TO DIE - When the AMSAT-OSCAR 7 (AO-7) amateur radio satellite was launched in 1974, its expected lifespan was about five years. The plucky little satellite made it to 1981 when a battery failure caused it to be written off as dead. Then, in 2002 it came back to life. The prevailing theory being that one of ... More (Source: Hackaday - Mar 30)
CHINA LAUNCHES CLASSIFIED TJS-16 SPACECRAFT, COMPANION OBJECT EMERGES ALONGSIDE EARLIER TJS-15 SATELLITE - China launched the new TJS-16 classified satellite on Saturday aboard a Long March 7A rocket, continuing the opaque series of experimental missions. A Long March 7A rocket lifted off at 12:05 p.m. Eastern (1605 UTC) March 29 from the Wenchang Satellite Launch Center on the island province of Hain... More (Source: SpaceNews - Mar 30)
CHINA ROUNDUP: THIRD SUCCESSFUL EVA AND DEEP-SPACE AMBITIONS AS CHINA’S SPACE ECONOMY SURGES - The Shenzhou-19 crew recently conducted their third spacewalk this month as the China National Space Administration announced it is open to including international scientific payloads aboard a forthcoming Mars mission. Meanwhile, bold plans for planetary exploration have been revealed and a design h... More (Source: NASASpaceFlight.com - Mar 30)
SPACEX TO LAUNCH 28 STARLINK V2 MINI SATELLITES ON FALCON 9 ROCKET FROM CAPE CANAVERAL - SpaceX is hoping to close out the weekend with a Falcon 9 rocket launching a batch of 28 Starlink V2 Mini satellites. The weather forecast on Sunday, however, is quite problematic, with meteorologists tracking storms that “may pack strong wind gusts and even small hail.” Liftoff of the Starli... More (Source: SpaceFlight Now - Mar 30)
CYGNUS DEPARTS STATION AFTER RELEASE FROM ROBOTIC ARM - At 6:55 a.m. EDT, the S.S. Richard “Dick” Scobee Northrop Grumman Cygnus spacecraft was released from the Canadarm2 robotic arm, which earlier detached Cygnus from the Earth-facing port of the International Space Station’s Unity module. At the time of release, the station was flying about 260 ... More (Source: NASA - Mar 29)
CYGNUS SET TO DEPART FROM INTERNATIONAL SPACE STATION - The uncrewed Cygnus spacecraft is scheduled to undock from the International Space Station Friday after having delivered more than 4 tons of supplies, scientific instruments used in experiments, commercial products, hardware, and other cargo. The undocking is scheduled to begin for 6:30 a.m. EDT ... More (Source: UPI - Mar 28)
NASA CANCELS CARGO LAUNCH TO ISS DUE TO DAMAGED CYGNUS SPACECRAFT - NASA has called off a planned cargo mission to the International Space Station (ISS) due to a damaged spacecraft. The spacecraft is a robotic Cygnus freighter, built by the Virginia-based company Northrop Grumman. It had been scheduled to launch several tons of food, fuel and other supplies to th... More (Source: Space.com - Mar 28)
CHINA LAUNCHES NEW DATA RELAY SATELLITE - China successfully sent a new data relay satellite into orbit from the Xichang Satellite Launch Center in southwest China's Sichuan Province on Wednesday. The Tianlian II-04 satellite was launched at 23:55 p.m. (Beijing Time) aboard a Long March-3B carrier rocket and entered its planned orbit. ... More (Source: www.gov.cn - Mar 28)
U.S. SPACE FORCE CERTIFIES ULA’S VULCAN ROCKET TO BEGIN LAUNCHING NATIONAL SECURITY MISSIONS - In an announcement highly anticipated by United Launch Alliance and others in the spaceflight community, the U.S. Space Force’s Assured Access to Space (AATS) office affirmed that the Vulcan rocket is now fully certified to launch national security payloads. The completion of this multi-year pr... More (Source: SpaceFlight Now - Mar 28)
SPACEX LAUNCHES 27 STARLINK SATELLITES ON FALCON 9 ROCKET FROM VANDENBERG SFB - SpaceX sent a batch of 27 Starlink V2 Mini satellites into low Earth orbit on a Falcon 9 rocket launch Wednesday afternoon. The flight tied the record for the most number of these types of satellites launched from Vandenberg Space Force Base in California to date. The Starlink 11-7 mission lifted... More (Source: SpaceFlight Now - Mar 28)
ROCKET LAB LAUNCHES 8 WILDFIRE-HUNTING SATELLITES INTO ORBIT FROM NEW ZEALAND - Rocket Lab has launched its workhorse Electron rocket for the third time in two weeks. The New Zealand-based company successfully launched eight wildfire detection satellites on the "Finding Hot Wildfires Near You" mission for German-based company OroraTech today (March 26), from Rocket Lab's New... More (Source: Space.com - Mar 27)
SPACEX TO LAUNCH 27 STARLINK SATELLITES ON FALCON 9 ROCKET FROM VANDENBERG SFB - SpaceX is preparing to send a batch of 27 Starlink V2 Mini satellites into low Earth orbit. This flight ties the record for the most number of these types of satellites launched from Vandenberg Space Force Base in California to date. The Starlink 11-7 mission is targeting a liftoff from Space Lau... More (Source: SpaceFlight Now - Mar 27)
US SPACE FORCE CELEBRATES RETURN OF 1ST GUARDIAN TO LAUNCH TO SPACE - U.S. Space Force Col. Nick Hague is back on Earth after living on the International Space Station (ISS) for the last five-plus months. On March 18, Hague splashed down in the SpaceX Crew-9 Dragon capsule "Freedom" with fellow NASA astronauts Suni Williams and Butch Wilmore and Russian cosmonaut A... More (Source: Space.com - Mar 27)
