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)

NASA TO COVER ITS 31ST SPACEX RESUPPLY MISSION STATION DEPARTURE - NASA and its international partners are set to receive scientific research samples and hardware as a SpaceX Dragon spacecraft departs the International Space Station on Thursday, Dec. 5, for its return to Earth. NASA’s live coverage of undocking and departure begins at 10:50 a.m. EST on NASA+. Learn how to watch NASA content through a variety of platforms, including social media.   More
(Source: NASA - Dec 3)

FRUIT FLIES IN SPACE! CHINESE ASTRONAUTS SHOW OFF EXPERIMENT ON TIANGONG SPACE STATION - China's Shenzhou 19 astronauts have some winged companions to oversee aboard the country's space station. The astronauts arrived at the Tiangong space station on Oct. 29, beginning their six-month-long stay in orbit. They have since been joined by 15 adult fruit flies and 40 pupae, which arrived aboard the Tianzhou 8 resupply mission on Nov. 15.   More
(Source: Space.com - Dec 3)

OPEN COSMOS TO BUILD 3 SATELLITES FOR ESA TO MONITOR EARTH’S MAGNETIC FIELD - Open Cosmos won a 35 million euro ($37 million) contract from the European Space Agency (ESA) to build three satellites to monitor Earth’s magnetic field in the NanoMagSat mission. The first satellite is expected to launch by late 2027 with the second and third to follow. Open Cosmos will serve as the prime contractor and satellite manufacturer. CEA-Léti in France will contribute the payload development and magnetometer manufacturer and Comet Aerospace in Spain will deliver the deployable boom and optical bench.   More
(Source: Via Satellite - Dec 3)

GLOBAL PUSH FOR COOPERATION AS SPACE TRAFFIC CROWDS EARTH ORBIT - The rapid increase in satellites and space junk will make low Earth orbit unusable unless companies and countries cooperate and share the data needed to manage that most accessible region of space, experts and industry insiders said. A United Nations panel on space traffic coordination in late October determined that urgent action was necessary and called for a comprehensive shared database of orbital objects as well as an international framework to track and manage them.   More
(Source: Reuters - Dec 2)

ROSKOSMOS LAUNCHES KONDOR-FKA2 RADAR IMAGER - A Soyuz-2 rocket lifted off from Vostochny Cosmodrome on Nov. 30, 2023, carrying the Kondor FKA No. 2 radar satellite. It was the fifth mission to orbit an all-weather, day-and-night imaging spacecraft from the Kondor family, counting one previous FKA variant, one classified military version, known as Neitron, and two original Kondors.    More
(Source: RussianSpaceWeb.com - Dec 1)

LANDMARK SPACE MISSION SET TO CREATE ARTIFICIAL SOLAR ECLIPSES USING SATELLITES - Two satellites in Proba-3 mission expected to be launched on Wednesday in India and will work in tandem to study sun’s corona. Final preparations have begun for a landmark space mission that will use satellites flying in close formation to create artificial solar eclipses high above the Earth. The Proba-3 mission is the European Space Agency’s first attempt at precise formation flying in orbit and calls for two spacecraft to loop around the planet in an arrangement that never deviates by more than a millimetre, about the thickness of a human fingernail.   More
(Source: The Guardian - Dec 1)

CHINA LAUNCHES FIRST LONG MARCH 12 FROM NEW COMMERCIAL SPACEPORT IN BOOST FOR COUNTRY’S LUNAR PLANS - China launched its first Long March 12 rocket Saturday, marking an advance in its crewed moon plans and the debut of a new spaceport that will boost the country’s access to space. The two-stage, 62-meter-tall Long March 12 lifted off at 9:25 a.m. Eastern (1425 UTC) Nov. 30 from the Wenchang Commercial Space Launch Site. The rocket climbed into the night sky above the coastal spaceport, with amateur live streams from the area capturing the event.    More
(Source: SpaceNews - Dec 1)

SPACEX LAUNCHES COMBINATION OF NRO STARSHIELD AND STARLINK SATELLITES ON FALCON 9 FLIGHT - SpaceX launched a mission early Saturday that blends national security satellites with those supporting its non-governmental Starlink satellite network. Liftoff from Space Launch Complex 4 East (SLC-4E) at Vandenberg Space Force Base, California, occurred at 12:10 a.m. PST (3:10 a.m. EST, 0810 UTC) on Saturday, Nov. 30, hours after the successful launch of the Starlink 6-65 mission from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida.   More
(Source: SpaceFlight Now - Dec 1)

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