SPACE STATION TRAJECTORY DATA NOW AVAILABLE - Space Station trajectory data is now available to the public! This data, called an ephemeris, is generated by the ISS Trajectory Operations and Planning Officer (TOPO) flight controllers in the Mission Control Center at NASA's Johnson Space Center. TOPO keeps track of where the ISS is, where it is g... More (Source: Phys.org - Dec 7)
SUPERHERO SATELLITE SENTINEL-1C SOARS INTO SPACE ON A MISSION TO PROTECT OUR PLANET - On the 5th December 2024, all eyes were on the skies as ESA’s Sentinel-1C satellite launched aboard a mighty Vega-C rocket from Europe’s spaceport in Kourou, French Guiana. As the third satellite in the Sentinel-1 series, it will continue the important work of monitoring our planet's land ... More (Source: - Dec 7)
IRAN LAUNCHES ADVANCED MODULE TO DEPLOY SATELLITES TO HIGHER ALTITUDES, MEDIA SAY - Iran sent into space on Friday its heaviest-ever payload using the Simorgh carrier rocket including an advanced module for transferring satellites to higher-altitude orbits, state television reported. The Samān-1 transfer module, along with a CubeSat and a research payload "were successfully place... More (Source: Reuters - Dec 7)
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 ... 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. ... 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... 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 windo... 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 sp... 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... 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 bo... 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 Chi... 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+. ... 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 ... 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 serv... 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 Octo... 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 ... 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. ... 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 Com... More (Source: SpaceNews - Dec 1)
