CHINA'S TIANGONG SPACE STATION DAMAGED BY DEBRIS STRIKE: REPORT - China will beef up its space debris procedures for astronauts after a partial loss of power on its Tiangong space station, according to state media. Astronauts on the Shenzhou 17 mission conducted two spacewalks outside the Tiangong space station this winter, most recently on March 1. At the time... More (Source: Space.com - Apr 25)
SPACEX COMPLETES 300TH FALCON BOOSTER LANDING DURING STARLINK MISSION - SpaceX completed a Falcon 9 launch, highlighted by the company’s 300th booster landing to date. The Starlink 6-53 mission also marked the 30th orbital launch from Florida in 2024. Liftoff from Space Launch Complex 40 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station happened at 6:17 p.m. EDT (2217 UTC). Th... More (Source: SpaceFlight Now - Apr 25)
ELECTRON LAUNCHES SOUTH KOREAN IMAGING SATELLITE AND NASA SOLAR SAIL - Rocket Lab launched a South Korean smallsat and a NASA solar sail experiment on the company’s fifth flight of the year April 23. An Electron rocket lifted off from Rocket Lab’s Launch Complex 1 in New Zealand at 6:32 p.m. Eastern. Liftoff was delayed nearly 20 minutes because of a problem wit... More (Source: SpaceNews - Apr 25)
NASA SETS COVERAGE OF ROSCOSMOS SPACEWALK OUTSIDE SPACE STATION - NASA will provide live coverage, beginning at 10:30 a.m. EDT Thursday, April 25, as two Roscosmos cosmonauts conduct a spacewalk outside the International Space Station. The spacewalk is expected to begin at 10:55 a.m. and could last up to seven hours. NASA will stream the spacewalk on NASA+, NAS... More (Source: NASA - Apr 23)
CHINA LAUNCHES SECOND YAOGAN-42 RECONNAISSANCE SATELLITE - China launched its second Yaogan-42 reconnaissance satellite over the weekend, weeks after sending the first such satellite into a similar orbit. A Long March 2D rocket lifted off from Xichang Satellite Launch Center at 7:45 p.m. Eastern (2334 UTC) April 20. The China Aerospace Science and Techno... More (Source: SpaceNews - Apr 22)
NASA SATELLITE'S 'SHOCKING' SPACE JUNK NEAR-MISS WAS EVEN CLOSER THAN THOUGHT - Humanity dodged an orbital bullet recently by an even slimmer margin than we thought. In the wee hours of Feb. 28, the dead Russian spy satellite Cosmos 2221 and NASA's TIMED craft, which has been studying Earth's atmosphere since 2001, made an uncomfortably close pass in orbit, zooming within a... More (Source: Space.com - Apr 21)
JAPANESE SATELLITE WILL BEAM SOLAR POWER TO EARTH IN 2025 - Japan is on track to beam solar power from space to Earth next year, two years after a similar feat was achieved by U.S. engineers. The development marks an important step toward a possible space-based solar power station that could help wean the world off fossil fuels amid the intensifying battle a... More (Source: Space.com - Apr 20)
CONSTELLATION OF STARLINK SATELLITES GROWS WITH LATEST SPACEX LAUNCH FROM FLORIDA - SpaceX launched a cluster of 23 satellites into low-Earth orbit Thursday, the 334th launch of the company's Starlink Internet satellites and the 268th time a reusable booster rocket has been used. The launch from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida occurred at 6:40 p.m. EDT. he booster ... More (Source: UPI - Apr 20)
SPACEX AND NORTHROP ARE WORKING ON A CONSTELLATION OF SPY SATELLITES - SpaceX is reportedly working with at least one major US defense contractor, Northrop Grumman, on a constellation of spy satellites for the National Reconnaissance Office. According to Reuters, development of the network of hundreds of spy satellites by SpaceX is being coordinated with multiple co... More (Source: Ars Technica - Apr 20)
CHINA ROLLS OUT ROCKET FOR NEXT ASTRONAUT MISSION TO TIANGONG SPACE STATION - China is all set to send its next crew to its Tiangong space station. The Shenzhou 18 spacecraft currently sits atop a Long March 2F rocket, on its pad at Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center. The rocket was transferred 0.93 miles (1.5 kilometers) by rail from the vertical integration building to the ... More (Source: Space.com - Apr 20)
SPACEX COMPLETES 40TH FALCON 9 LAUNCH OF THE YEAR WITH STARLINK MISSION - SpaceX completed its 40 Falcon 9 mission of the year with a launch from the Cape. The Starlink 6-52 mission added 23 more satellites to the growing low Earth orbit constellation. Liftoff from Space Launch Complex 40 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station happened at 6:40 p.m. EDT (2240 UTC), the o... More (Source: SpaceFlight Now - Apr 19)
SPACEX LAUNCHES FALCON 9 ROCKET ON STARLINK MISSION FROM KENNEDY SPACE CENTER - SpaceX completed its latest Falcon 9 launch from pad 39A NASA’s Kennedy Space Center early Wednesday evening. The Starlink 6-51 mission came about a week-and-a-half after the launch of its first Bandwagon-1 rideshare mission from that same launch pad. Liftoff of the Falcon 9 rocket happened 5:2... More (Source: SpaceFlight Now - Apr 18)
ESA IS LAUNCHING TWO SATELLITES ON A WORLD-FIRST MISSION TO CREATE A MAN-MADE SOLAR ECLIPSE - ESA says the "Proba-3" mission will be the first to create an artificial eclipse in a bid to better understand solar weather. The recent total solar eclipse primarily seen in North America left tens of millions in awe. Now, the European Space Agency (ESA) is working to create an artificial ecl... More (Source: Euronews.com - Apr 17)
NASA COMPLETES ANALYSIS OF RECOVERED SPACE OBJECT - In March 2021, NASA ground controllers used the International Space Station’s robotic arm to release a cargo pallet containing aging nickel hydride batteries from the space station following the delivery and installation of new lithium-ion batteries as part of power upgrades on the orbital outpost... More (Source: NASA - Apr 17)
SPACEX TO LAUNCH MAXAR WORLDVIEW LEGION 1 & 2 MISSION FOR LEADING RESOLUTION AND ACCURACY - These are the first two of six planned WorldView Legion satellites, which will enhance Maxar Intelligence’s constellation by delivering industry-leading resolution and accuracy. When all six WorldView Legion satellites are launched, it will triple Maxar Intelligence’s capacity to collect 30 cm-c... More (Source: SatNews - Apr 17)
DEAD SATELLITES ARE FILLING SPACE WITH TRASH. THAT COULD AFFECT EARTH’S MAGNETIC FIELD - A dead spacecraft the size of a truck ignites with plasma and pulverizes into dust and litter as it rips through the ionosphere and atmosphere. This is what happens to internet service satellites during re-entry. When the full mega-constellation of satellites is deployed in the 2030s, companies will... More (Source: The Guardian - Apr 17)
SPACE FORCE IS PLANNING A MILITARY EXERCISE IN ORBIT - The US Space Force announced Thursday it is partnering with two companies, Rocket Lab and True Anomaly, for a first-of-its-kind mission to demonstrate how the military might counter “on-orbit aggression.” On this mission, a spacecraft built and launched by Rocket Lab will chase down another s... More (Source: WIRED - Apr 15)
SPACEX LAUNCHES FALCON 9 BOOSTER ON RECORD-BREAKING 20TH FLIGHT - SpaceX shattered multiple records Friday night as it launched 23 satellites for the company’s Starlink internet service from Cape Canaveral. A Falcon 9 rocket lifted offf from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station at 9:40 p.m. EDT (0140 UTC). It was the first time a Falcon 9 first-stage booster fl... More (Source: SpaceFlight Now - Apr 14)
SUSPECTED SPACE-JUNK STRIKE IN FLORIDA SIGNALS NEW ERA OF ORBITAL DEBRIS - Three years ago astronauts threw out the largest piece of trash ever tossed from the International Space Station. Now some of it seems to have punched a hole through a house in Naples, Fla. In what may be judged as a bizarre and twisted case of “breaking and entering,” last month a plummeting cy... More (Source: Scientific American - Apr 14)
