ROCKET LAB SETS THE LAUNCH WINDOW FOR SYNSPECTIVE SATELLITE DEPLOYMENT - Rocket Lab USA, Inc. has announced a launch window for an upcoming Electron mission to deploy the latest satellite in Synspective’s growing Earth Observation (EO) constellation. The “Owl The Way Up” mission is scheduled to launch from Rocket Lab Launch Complex 1 in Mahia, New Zealand during a launch window that opens on December 18th NZDT (December 17 UTC). The mission will deploy a single StriX satellite to orbit for Synspective.   More
(Source: SatNews - Dec 6)

LONG MARCH 6A LAUNCHES THIRD BATCH OF THOUSAND SAILS CONSTELLATION SATELLITES - China launched the third batch of 18 satellites for the Thousand Sails constellation late Tuesday as the firm behind the project aims for global services in 2025. A Long March 6A rocket lifted off at 11:41 p.m. Eastern, Dec. 4 (0441 UTC, Dec. 5) from Taiyuan Satellite Launch Center, north China. The state-owned Shanghai Academy of Spaceflight Technology (SAST) announced launch success hours later, once all payloads were deployed into their predetermined polar orbits.   More
(Source: SpaceNews - Dec 6)

ECLIPSE-MAKING DOUBLE SATELLITE PROBA-3 ENTERS ORBIT - A pair of spacecraft were launched together today from India with the potential to change the nature of future space missions. ESA’s twin Proba-3 platforms will perform precise formation flying down to a single millimetre, as if they were one single giant spacecraft. To demonstrate their degree of control, the pair will produce artificial solar eclipses in orbit, giving prolonged views of the Sun’s ghostly surrounding atmosphere, the corona.    More
(Source: European Space Agency - Dec 6)

ISRO'S PSLV-XL LIFTS OFF WITH EUROPE'S PROBA-3 MISSION TO SPACE - The Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) launched Europe's twin Proba-3 spacecraft on Thursday. The Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle (PSLV-C59) in a picture-perfect launch began its journey to space a day after the launch was postponed.    More
(Source: India Today - Dec 6)

SPACEX LAUNCHES LATEST BROADCAST SATELLITE FOR SIRIUSXM ON FALCON 9 ROCKET FROM THE KENNEDY SPACE CENTER - With a Thursday late morning liftoff, SpaceX sent the latest satellite in the radio broadcast fleet owned by SiriusXM on geostationary transfer orbit trajectory. The SXM-9 satellite lifted off on a Falcon 9 rocket off from NASA’s Kennedy Space Center at the opening of the 90-minute launch window at 11:10 a.m. EST (1610 UTC).   More
(Source: SpaceFlight Now - Dec 6)

WILL THE INTERNATIONAL SPACE STATION'S 2031 DEATH DIVE CAUSE POLLUTION PROBLEMS? - The International Space Station is something of a problem child. The orbital outpost is plagued by cracks, coolant and air leaks, even a surprising smell that recently wafted into the station from a just-arrived Russian Progress cargo ship. And the station has high-speed, close encounters with space junk from time to time that make the facility a risky residence. So, there's escalating worry that the aging complex has become a questionable home for crews to be safe and sound.   More
(Source: Space.com - Dec 5)

CHINA LAUNCHES NEW REMOTE-SENSING SATELLITE - China on Wednesday launched a new remote-sensing satellite from the Xichang Satellite Launch Center in southwest China's Sichuan Province. Launched at 12:46 p.m. (Beijing Time) by a Kuaizhou-1A (KZ-1A) carrier rocket, the remote-sensing satellite, equipped with synthetic aperture radar (SAR), has entered its planned orbit.   More
(Source: gov.cn - Dec 5)

EUROPE’S MOST ADVANCED WEATHER SATELLITE IS NOW FULLY OPERATIONAL - The first of EUMETSAT’s Meteosat Third Generation (MTG) geostationary satellites – called Meteosat-12 - has become fully operational. It gives an important and welcome boost to the ability of the WMO community to forecast extreme weather and monitor climate change. The two main instruments on board Meteosat-12, the Flexible Combined Imager and the Lightning Imager, play a crucial role in enabling meteorological services to help protect lives and livelihoods by providing high-resolution, accurate data for predicting severe weather events.    More
(Source: World Meteorological Organization WMO - Dec 5)

CHINA LAUNCHES CLANDESTINE TJS-13 SATELLITE, ROCKET REACHES MILESTONE - China launched a new communication engineering test satellite early Tuesday, adding to a series of satellites potentially for undisclosed military purposes. A Long March 3B rocket lifted off at 12:56 a.m. Eastern (0556 UTC) Dec. 3 from the Xichang Satellite Launch Center, southwest China. The China Aerospace Science and Technology Corporation (CASC) announced launch success, revealing the previously undisclosed payload to be communication technology experiment Satellite-13, or Tongxin Jishu Shiyan-13 (TJS-13). The satellite is expected to be in geosynchronous transfer orbit.   More
(Source: SpaceNews - Dec 4)

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