US SPACE FORCE IS SET TO INSTALL 24 SATELLITE JAMMING STATIONS CAPABLE OF DISRUPTING RUSSIAN OR CHINESE COMMUNICATIONS - The US military is installing modular state-of-the-art satellite jammers capable of disrupting Russian or Chinese communications, should the need arise. Even though the hardware is ground-based, the US Space Force will oversee installation and operation. The technology is already past prototyping. T... More (Source: SatNews - Jul 25)
RUSSIA UNVEILS TIMELINE FOR BUILDING ITS NEW SPACE STATION, STARTING IN 2027 - Russia has unveiled a comprehensive roadmap for building its newest space station and associated Earth-based infrastructure, with the first modules expected to launch within three years. On July 2, the leadership of Russia's space agency Roscosmos described their upcoming mission to create the n... More (Source: Space.com - Jul 25)
SPACEX STARLINK SATELLITES MADE 50,000 COLLISION-AVOIDANCE MANEUVERS IN THE PAST 6 MONTHS. WHAT DOES THAT MEAN FOR SPACE SAFETY? - Satellites in SpaceX's Starlink megaconstellation made nearly 50,000 collision-avoidance maneuvers in the last six months, about double the number made in the previous half-year. Although experts praise Elon Musk's space compay for its commitment to transparency, they warn about the implications... More (Source: Space.com - Jul 24)
ASTROSCALE UNLOCKS REMAINING SPACE AGENCY FUNDS TO DE-ORBIT ONEWEB SATELLITE - Astroscale has received the remaining government funds needed for a 2026 demo mission to remove a defunct OneWeb broadband satellite from low Earth orbit (LEO). The Japan-based venture said July 22 its British subsidiary secured around $15 million from the UK Space Agency and the European Space A... More (Source: SpaceNews - Jul 23)
NASA DELAYS ISS SPACEWALKS INDEFINITELY TO INVESTIGATE SPACESUIT COOLANT LEAK - NASA says its next spacewalk will be delayed indefinitely until engineers understand more about what caused a coolant leak on June 24. Tracy Dyson, a NASA astronaut, had a brief spacesuit leak a month ago while still in the hatch of the International Space Station (ISS). She and Mike Barrett had ... More (Source: Space.com - Jul 22)
NASA SETS BRIEFINGS FOR CREW-9 MISSION TO SPACE STATION - NASA will host a pair of news conferences Friday, July 26, from the agency’s Johnson Space Center in Houston to highlight upcoming crew rotation missions to the International Space Station. NASA will host a mission overview news conference at 12 p.m. EDT and provide coverage on NASA+, NASA Tele... More (Source: NASA - Jul 22)
THERE ARE 10,000 ACTIVE SATELLITES IN ORBIT. MOST BELONG TO ELON MUSK - For the first time in human history, there are now 10,000 functioning satellites above our heads, whipping around the Earth at high speed. It’s a milestone that showcases decades of technical achievement but might also make it harder to sleep at night if you think about it for too long. The cou... More (Source: Forbes - Jul 20)
CHINA LAUNCHES NEW GAOFEN-11 HIGH RESOLUTION SPY SATELLITE - China added a fifth Gaofen-11 high resolution satellite to its CHEOS constellation with a launch late Thursday. A Long March 4B rocket lifted off at 11:03 p.m. Eastern July 18 (0303 UTC, July 19) from Taiyuan Satellite Launch Center, north China. The launcher carried the Gaofen-11 (05) high resol... More (Source: SpaceNews - Jul 20)
ENHANCED DRAGON SPACECRAFT TO DEORBIT THE ISS AT THE END OF ITS LIFE - paceX will develop a souped-up version of its Dragon spacecraft for NASA to handle the deorbiting of the International Space Station around the end of the decade. At a July 17 briefing, NASA and SpaceX officials provided new details about the United States Deorbit Vehicle (USDV) spacecraft NASA s... More (Source: SpaceNews - Jul 19)
LOOKING AHEAD TO THE NEXT 25 YEARS OF PRIVATE SPACE STATIONS - Humans have occupied low Earth orbit (LEO) over the past half century thanks to the Salyut, Skylab, Mir and Tiangong programs and, of course, the International Space Station (ISS). Aside from providing incredible views of Earth, these space stations have proved that humans can live and work in space... More (Source: Space.com - Jul 19)
ISS COULD 'DRIFT DOWN' FOR A YEAR BEFORE SPACEX VEHICLE DESTROYS IT IN EARTH'S ATMOSPHERE - Though the International Space Station is meant to be replaced in the 2030s, it will take a long time for the orbiting lab to officially reach the end of its life, NASA says. SpaceX's newly commissioned reentry vehicle will only push the International Space Station (ISS) into Earth's atmosphere s... More (Source: Space.com - Jul 18)
RARE SPACEX ROCKET FAILURE SHOWS EXACTLY WHY NASA WANTS 2 COMMERCIAL OPTIONS TO FLY ASTRONAUTS TO ISS - Six years ago, a rare Russian abort during an astronaut launch caused delays in human spacecraft schedules. This week, NASA may face the same after a rare failure during a SpaceX launch. Back in 2018, a Russian Soyuz spacecraft was bound for the International Space Station (ISS) when a sensor iss... More (Source: Space.com - Jul 18)
SATELLITES AROUND EARTH AT RISK AS ACTIVE SUNSPOT NEARS 'THE DANGER ZONE' - A massive sunspot on the surface of the sun is moving toward a prime position where any explosion could shower Earth with protons. The enormous sunspot, named AR3738, has a volatile 'beta-gamma-delta' magnetic field that is set to send out explosions of solar plasma as coronal mass ejections or flas... More (Source: Newsweek - Jul 18)
‘GRAIN OF SAND’ TRAVELING AT WARP SPEED SLAMS SATELLITE, LEAVES HOLE, SCIENTISTS SAY - Science fiction movies that show microscopic meteoroids dramatically puncturing spacecraft aren’t far from the truth. The European Space Agency’s star mapping Gaia spacecraft was overtaken by “space dust” in April and one micrometeoroid left a hole, scientists say.... More (Source: Durham Herald Sun - Jul 18)
REFUELLABLE SATELLITES OFFER CRITICAL EDGE AMIDST INTENSIFYING THREATS IN SPACE - The United States Space Force’s deliberate approach to satellite servicing and refueling has provided time for debate and the development of qualified solutions that have now resolved both the technical and budgetary challenges holding refuellable satellites back. Recent advancements in afforda... More (Source: SpaceNews - Jul 17)
WEATHER SATELLITE PASSES BAKE AND SHAKE TESTS WITH FLYING COLORS - As climate change drives more frequent and severe weather events, the need for accurate and timely forecasting has never been more critical. And now, the next Meteosat Third Generation weather satellite has passed its environmental test campaign with flying colors, taking it a significant step close... More (Source: Phys.org - Jul 17)
SPACEX FALCON 9 ROCKET FAILURE FORCES NASA TO EVALUATE ASTRONAUT LAUNCH SCHEDULE FOR ISS - NASA is waiting to see if there will be "schedule impacts" for its next astronaut mission aboard SpaceX after a rocket failure last week, the agency said in a recent statement. SpaceX's Falcon 9 rocket had a rare anomaly during a Starlink satellite launch on Thursday (July 11). The second stage o... More (Source: Space.com - Jul 16)
U.S. NUCLEAR COMMAND SATELLITES NEED HARDENING AGAINST ATTACKS, REPORT WARNS - The United States should harden its low Earth orbit satellites that support nuclear command and control against radiation effects from potential high-altitude nuclear detonations, according to a new report from a prominent think tank. The Atlantic Council’s Scowcroft Center for Strategy and Se... More (Source: SpaceNews - Jul 16)
U.S. PLAN TO CRASH SPACE STATION IS CONDEMNED BY SPACE AGENCY LEADERS - An American plan to destroy the International Space Station by propelling it to burn through the atmosphere, and then crashing it into the Pacific Ocean, would rob citizens of the future of one of civilization’s greatest technological masterworks, and should be halted, say one-time leaders of NASA... More (Source: Forbes - Jul 15)
