A POTENTIAL STARLINK COMPETITOR JUST GOT FCC CLEARANCE TO LAUNCH 4,000 SATELLITES - Aspiring Starlink competitor Logos Space Services has secured FCC clearance to launch more than 4,000 broadband satellites into low Earth orbit by 2035, as reported by Space News. Under FCC regulations, the company must deploy half of the approved amount within the next seven years. The company i... More (Source: Engadget - Feb 6)
NASA SELECTS TWO EARTH SYSTEM EXPLORERS MISSIONS - Two next-generation satellite missions announced Thursday will help NASA better understand Earth and improve capabilities to foresee environmental events and mitigate disasters. These two missions were selected for continued development as part of NASA’s Earth System Explorers Program, which condu... More (Source: NASA - Feb 6)
US NAVY WANTS COMMERCIAL SATELLITES FOR NIGHTTIME EARTH OBSERVATION - The U.S. Navy wants commercial satellites that can perform nighttime observation of the Earth, according to a Naval Research Laboratory Request for Information. “The objective is to understand the availability of systems that can provide data and services related to the remote sensing of nightt... More (Source: Defense News - Feb 5)
SPACEX GROUNDS ITS FALCON 9 ROCKET AFTER A PROBLEM WITH ITS UPPER STAGE. WILL THE CREW-12 ASTRONAUT MISSION BE AFFECTED? - SpaceX has temporarily grounded its workhorse Falcon 9 rocket, which is slated to launch four astronauts just eight days from now. A Falcon 9 delivered 25 of SpaceX's Starlink satellites into low Earth orbit (LEO) as planned on Monday (Feb. 2). But, after deploying the payloads, the rocket's uppe... More (Source: Space.com - Feb 4)
NASA BOOKS FIFTH AXIOM PRIVATE ASTRONAUT FLIGHT TO SPACE STATION - NASA has ordered a fifth private astronaut mission to the International Space Station from Axiom Space, targeting a launch no earlier than January 2027 from the agency's Kennedy Space Center in Florida. The flight, designated Axiom Mission 5, continues the series of commercially sponsored crewed mis... More (Source: Space Daily - Feb 3)
SPACEX EXPERIENCES FALCON 9 UPPER STAGE ANOMALY FOLLOWING STARLINK DEPLOYMENT - SpaceX kicked off the month of February with a Monday morning Falcon 9 rocket launch from Vandenberg Space Force Base. However, the rocket experienced an anomaly near the end of the mission. After liftoff from Space Launch Complex 4 East at Vandenberg Space Force Base at 7:47:11 a.m. PST (10:47:1... More (Source: SpaceFlight Now - Feb 3)
RUSSIAN 'INSPECTOR' SATELLITE APPEARS TO BREAK APART IN ORBIT, RAISING DEBRIS CONCERNS - A Russian satellite once used to inspect other spacecraft appears to have disintegrated in a graveyard orbit high above the Earth, according to ground-based imagery. The Luch/Olymp satellite, launched in 2014, is one of two secretive military Russian satellites that have been used to stalk spacec... More (Source: Space.com - Feb 2)
NASA SELECTS AXIOM SPACE FOR FIFTH PRIVATE MISSION TO SPACE STATION - NASA and Axiom Space have signed an order for the fifth private astronaut mission to the International Space Station, targeted to launch no earlier than January 2027 from the agency’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida. “The award of our fifth private astronaut mission shows that commercial spac... More (Source: NASA - Feb 1)
SPACEX WANTS TO LAUNCH A CONSTELLATION OF A MILLION SATELLITES TO POWER AI NEEDS - Elon Musk and his aerospace company have requested to build a network that's 100 times the number of satellites that are currently in orbit. On Friday, SpaceX filed an application with the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) to launch a million satellites meant to create an "orbital data center.... More (Source: - Feb 1)
SPACEX LAUNCHES OVERNIGHT STARLINK FLIGHT AS IT UNVEILS NEW ‘STARGAZE’ SPACE SITUATIONAL AWARENESS SYSTEM - SpaceX completed its 13th and final Falcon 9 rocket launch of the month, which flew from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station on in the predawn hours of Thursday morning. The Starlink 6-101 mission will add another 29 broadband internet satellites to SpaceX’s low Earth orbit megaconstellation. Pr... More (Source: SpaceFlight Now - Jan 31)
ROCKET LAB LAUNCHES SOUTH KOREAN SATELLITE - A Rocket Lab Electron launched a South Korean imaging satellite Jan. 29 on the rocket’s second flight of the year. The Electron lifted off from the company’s Launch Complex 1 in New Zealand at 8:21 p.m. Eastern. The launch had been scheduled for 7:55 p.m. Eastern but was delayed when the coun... More (Source: SpaceNews - Jan 31)
SPACEX LAUNCHES 11,000TH STARLINK SATELLITE TO DATE ON THURSDAY - SpaceX launched what is scheduled to be its penultimate Falcon 9 rocket of the month with a mid-morning flight from Vandenberg Space Force Base on Thursday. The Starlink 17-19 mission added another 25 satellites to its megaconstellation in low Earth orbit. Among the satellites was the 11,000th St... More (Source: SpaceFlight Now - Jan 30)
DECLASSIFYING JUMPSEAT: AN AMERICAN PIONEER IN SPACE - The director of the National Reconnaissance Office (NRO) recently declassified the existence of JUMPSEAT: the United States’ first-generation, highly elliptical orbit (HEO) signals-collection satellite. Launched from 1971 to 1987 under mission numbers 7701 to 7708, JUMPSEAT was the product of t... More (Source: NRO.gov - Jan 30)
AMAZON LEO SATELLITES EXCEED BRIGHTNESS LIMITS, STUDY FINDS - Seeing a satellite zip across the night sky can be a fascinating sight. However, what may be spectacular for people on the ground is becoming a major problem for astronomers. A new study published on the arXiv preprint server has found that satellites from Amazon's mega Leo constellation (originally... More (Source: Phys.org - Jan 29)
SPACEX LAUNCHES GPS 3 SATELLITE FOLLOWING SWITCH FROM ULA VULCAN ROCKET - The U.S. Space Force sent its ninth third-generation Global Positioning System (GPS) satellite into medium Earth orbit on Tuesday night. The satellite rode to space on a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket after the government moved the spacecraft from a United Launch Alliance Vulcan rocket. The mission, name... More (Source: SpaceFlight Now - Jan 29)
NASA AND SPACEX MOVE UP LAUNCH OF CREW-12 ASTRONAUTS TO FEB. 11 AS RELIEF CREW AFTER ISS MEDICAL EVACUATION - NASA has announced an earlier-than-expected target date to launch the next astronauts to the International Space Station (ISS). The agency is now targeting Feb. 11 for liftoff of the SpaceX Crew-12 mission, which will fly four astronauts to join the skeleton crew presently operating the orbital l... More (Source: Space.com - Jan 29)
EUROPE’S NEXT-GENERATION WEATHER SATELLITE SENDS BACK FIRST IMAGES - The first images from the Meteosat Third Generation-Sounder satellite have been shared at the European Space Conference in Brussels, showing how the mission will provide data on temperature and humidity, for more accurate weather forecasting over Europe and northern Africa. The images from Meteos... More (Source: European Space Agency - Jan 28)
WATCH SPACEX LAUNCH ADVANCED GPS SATELLITE FOR US SPACE FORCE ON JAN. 27 AFTER DELAY - SpaceX will launch an advanced GPS satellite for the U.S. Space Force from Florida on Tuesday night (Jan. 27), and you can watch the action live. A Falcon 9 rocket carrying the GPS III-SV09 spacecraft is scheduled to lift off from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station Tuesday, during a 15-minute win... More (Source: Space.com - Jan 27)
SPACEX LAUNCHES 25 STARLINK SATELLITES TO POLAR, LOW EARTH ORBIT - SpaceX launched 25 of its Starlink V2 Mini Optimized satellites from California on Sunday morning. The Starlink 17-20 mission sent the broadband satellites into a polar low Earth orbit. The Falcon 9 rocket flew on a southerly trajectory upon leaving Vandenberg Space Force Base. Liftoff from Sp... More (Source: SpaceFlight Now - Jan 26)
