'THIS IS REALLY INTOLERABLE': ASTRONOMERS PROTEST GIANT ORBITING MIRROR PROJECT AND SPACEX'S MILLION AI SATELLITES - Astronomers are up in arms, protesting against a proposed constellation of tens of thousands of orbiting mirrors intended to reflect light onto ground-based solar power plants and SpaceX's envisioned one million orbiting data centers. The projects, which have been put forward to the U.S. Federal ... More (Source: Space.com - Mar 23)
RUSSIAN CARGO SPACECRAFT SUFFERS GLITCH AFTER LAUNCHING TOWARD INTERNATIONAL SPACE STATION - A Russian cargo spacecraft encountered a problem shortly after launching toward the International Space Station on Sunday morning (March 22), but it should be able to power through. A Soyuz rocket topped with the robotic Progress 94 freighter lifted off from the Russia-run Baikonur Cosmodrome in ... More (Source: Space.com - Mar 23)
SPACE JUNK IS CLUTTERING EARTH'S LOW ORBIT WITH HIGH-VELOCITY PROJECTILES AND IT'S GETTING WORSE - The galaxy stretches out as a hazy band across a dark south-eastern Australian night sky. All is still, apart from the steady blinking of a high-altitude jet plane. A "star" appears to streak across the sky, then another, then another … dozens in a row. All along the same path. The "stars... More (Source: ABC News - Mar 23)
ESA TO PURCHASE SPACEX CREW DRAGON MISSION TO ISS - The European Space Agency (ESA) Director General Josef Aschbacher announced on 19 March that the agency intends to purchase a dedicated SpaceX Crew Dragon flight to the International Space Station (ISS) for its astronauts. In November 2022, ESA announced its newest class of five career astronauts... More (Source: European Spaceflight - Mar 23)
US SPACE FORCE MOVES GPS LAUNCH TO SPACEX FALCON 9 DUE TO VULCAN ROCKET GLITCH - The U.S. Space Force has swapped rockets for an upcoming GPS satellite launch. Next month's GPS III-8 mission had been slated to fly atop United Launch Alliance (ULA)'s new Vulcan Centaur rocket. But Vulcan has experienced issues with its solid rocket boosters (SRBs), so the Space Force is moving... More (Source: Space.com - Mar 22)
ROCKET LAB LAUNCHES PRIVATE JAPANESE 'STRIX' SATELLITE - Rocket Lab launched an Earth-observing radar satellite for the Japanese company Synspective on Friday (March 20). An Electron rocket topped with one of Synspective's Strix satellites lifted off from Rocket Lab's New Zealand site on Friday at 2:10 p.m. EDT (1810 GMT; 7:10 a.m. on March 21 local Ne... More (Source: Space.com - Mar 21)
SPACEX LAUNCHES 25 STARLINK SATELLITES ON FALCON 9 ROCKET FROM VANDENBERG SFB - SpaceX launched its 30th batch of Starlink satellites this year with a Friday afternoon launch of a Falcon 9 rocket from Vandenberg Space Force Base. Liftoff from Space Launch Complex 4 East happened at 2:51:49 p.m. PDT (5:51:49 p.m. EDT / 2151:49 UTC). The rocket will fly on a southerly trajecto... More (Source: SpaceFlight Now - Mar 21)
BLUE ORIGIN JOINS THE RACE FOR ORBITAL DATA CENTERS WITH 51K SATELLITE PLAN - Jeff Bezos’ Blue Origin plans on challenging SpaceX not just in rockets, but also in the emerging race to build orbiting data centers. On Thursday, Blue Origin filed plans with the Federal Communications Commission for “Project Sunrise,” the company’s own effort to operate space-based da... More (Source: PCMag - Mar 21)
NASA TO COVER PROGRESS 94 SPACECRAFT LAUNCH, SPACE STATION DOCKING - NASA will provide live coverage of the launch and docking of a Roscosmos cargo spacecraft carrying about three tons of food, fuel, and supplies for the crew aboard the International Space Station. The unpiloted Roscosmos Progress 94 resupply spacecraft is scheduled to launch at 7:59 a.m. EDT (4:5... More (Source: NASA - Mar 21)
AN AI CYBERATTACK COULD TRIGGER A SATELLITE APOCALYPSE IN THE NEXT 2 YEARS. ARE WE PREPARED? - AI systems could soon be able to hijack satellites in orbit and cause them to collide with other spacecraft, potentially triggering a dangerous cascade of smash-ups that could render the environment around Earth unsafe for years, according to experts. Cyber security researchers are already using ... More (Source: Space.com - Mar 20)
5 COMPANIES COMPETING TO REPLACE THE INTERNATIONAL SPACE STATION - NASA and its international partners plan to deorbit the International Space Station at the end of 2030, sending it to a fiery death as it burns up in Earth’s atmosphere. But that doesn’t mean humanity will be giving up its sustained presence in low-Earth orbit. The demise of the ISS will usher i... More (Source: Gizmodo - Mar 19)
WATCH LIVE TODAY: NASA ASTRONAUTS CONDUCTING SPACEWALK DELAYED BY ISS MEDICAL EVACUATION - Two NASA astronauts will conduct a long-delayed spacewalk today (March 18), and you can watch the action live. NASA astronauts Jessica Meir and Chris Williams will venture outside the International Space Station (ISS) today at around 8 a.m. EDT (1200 GMT), kicking off a spacewalk expected to last... More (Source: Space.com - Mar 18)
SPACE LAUNCHES 29 STARLINK SATELLITES ON A FALCON 9 ROCKET ON ST. PATRICK’S DAY MORNING - SpaceX kicked off the St. Patrick’s Day holiday on Tuesday with a Falcon 9 rocket launch, flying from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station. The Starlink 10-46 mission added another 29 Starlink V2 Mini Optimized satellites to the low Earth orbit megaconstellation. Liftoff from Space Launch Comp... More (Source: SpaceFlight Now - Mar 18)
SPACEX REACHES 10,000 SIMULTANEOUS STARLINK SATELLITES IN ORBIT FOLLOWING FALCON 9 LAUNCH FROM CALIFORNIA - SpaceX crossed the threshold of having more than 10,000 Starlink satellites in low Earth orbit simultaneously for the first time. The milestone comes less than seven years after launching its first batch of satellites in May 2019. Coincidently, the Monday night launch also coincided with the 100t... More (Source: SpaceFlight Now - Mar 18)
RUSSIA'S PROGRESS 92 RESUPPLY CAPSULE DEPARTS SPACE STATION - Russia's Progress MS-31 resupply capsule departed the International Space Station March 16 filled with trash for a destructive reentry into Earth's atmosphere. Also designated Progress 92 by NASA, MS-31 undocked from the space-facing port of the Russian segment Poisk module at 9:24 a.m. EDT...... More (Source: Aviation Week - Mar 17)
CHINA LAUNCHES NEW REMOTE SENSING SATELLITE - China successfully launched a remote sensing satellite from the Taiyuan Satellite Launch Center in north China's Shanxi Province on Sunday. The Yaogan-50 02 satellite was launched at 9:22 p.m. aboard a modified Long March-6 carrier rocket and has entered its planned orbit. The launch mission was ... More (Source: People's Daily - Mar 16)
SPACEX LAUNCHES STARLINK MISSION FROM CAPE CANAVERAL ON CLOUDY SATURDAY MORNING - SpaceX’s Falcon 9 soared in-between a patchwork of clouds, like a needle through fabric, as climbed away from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station Saturday morning to deliver 29 Starlink V2 Mini Optimized satellites into low Earth orbit. Liftoff happened at 8:37:10 a.m. EDT (1237:10 UTC), with th... More (Source: SpaceFlight Now - Mar 15)
SPACEX LAUNCHES 25 STARLINK SATELLITES ON FALCON 9 ROCKET FROM VANDENBERG SPACE FORCE BASE - SpaceX launched a Falcon 9 rockets from Vandenberg Space Force Base in California Friday morning, carrying 25 broadband internet satellites for SpaceX’s low Earth orbit megaconstellation. Liftoff from Space Launch Complex 4 East happened at 6:57:59 a.m. PDT (10:57:59 a.m. EDT / 1457:59 UTC). Th... More (Source: SpaceFlight Now - Mar 14)
SPACEX PLAN FOR 1 MILLION ORBITING AI DATA CENTERS COULD RUIN ASTRONOMY, SCIENTISTS SAY - SpaceX's plan to launch one million orbiting data centers to space worries astronomers,who say the satellite streaks caused by the proposed constellation would severely impair observations. Just as astronomers began to learn how to coexist with broadband megaconstellations in low Earth orbit (LEO... More (Source: Space.com - Mar 14)
