ASTRONAUTS BEAM HOME CHRISTMAS WISHES FROM INTERNATIONAL SPACE STATION: 'I THINK WE MAY BE ORBITING A LITTLE HIGHER THAN SANTA' - They may not be home for Christmas, but astronauts in space are finding their own way to make the season bright. They've even hung their space stockings by the airlock with care. Four astronauts on the International Space Station (ISS) are sending their best Christmas wishes to Earth as they orbit our planet. NASA astronauts Mike Fincke, Zena Cardman and Chris Williams and Kimiya Yui of the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) have sent a video Christmas card home as they and three other crewmates spend the holidays 250 miles (400 kilometers) above Earth. More (Source: Space.com - Dec 26)
AVIO TO LAUNCH FOUR EARTH OBSERVATION SATELLITES FOR TAIWAN - The Taiwan Space Agency (TASA) has awarded Italian rocket builder Avio a launch contract for its FORMOSAT-8C and 8D, and FORMOSAT-9A and 9B Earth observation satellites. On 19 December, Avio announced that it had signed two launch contracts with undisclosed customers, with a combined value of over €100 million. While the company left it up to the customers to make the announcement themselves, it did share that one of the customers was European and the other non-European. More (Source: European Spaceflight - Dec 26)
SATELLITE POLLUTION - Ten years ago, there were about 1,200 satellites in orbit around the earth. Now there are about 12,000 and the numbers are growing rapidly. Starlink alone has 9,000 satellites in its communications swarm and may in a few years have as many as 42,000. By 2040, there may be more than 100,000 active satellites circling Earth. People worry about the physical dangers of collisions between satellites and the possibility of space debris raining down on Earth or crashing into airplanes, but there is also the alarming increase of satellite-generated pollution. More (Source: WAMC - Dec 25)
INDIAN ROCKET LAUNCHES AST SPACEMOBILE’S NEXT-GEN BLUEBIRD 6 SATELLITE - An Indian LVM3 rocket launched AST SpaceMobile’s next-generation direct-to-device BlueBird satellite Dec. 23, kicking off a rollout of dozens of spacecraft built around the largest commercial communications antenna ever deployed in low Earth orbit (LEO). More (Source: SpaceNews - Dec 24)
DOOMED SPACEX STARLINK SATELLITE PHOTOGRAPHED FROM ORBIT - We just got a great up-close look at a SpaceX Starlink satellite in orbit, thanks to Vantor's WorldView-3 spacecraft. On Wednesday (Dec. 17), this particular Starlink suffered an anomaly that caused a loss of communication with the ground and an unscheduled venting of its propulsion tank. The satellite is now tumbling and headed down toward Earth’s atmosphere, where it will be incinerated in a matter of weeks, according to SpaceX. More (Source: Space.com - Dec 24)
RUSSIA PATENTS SPACE STATION DESIGNED TO GENERATE ARTIFICIAL GRAVITY - Russian state-owned Energia rocket company has secured a patent for a novel spacecraft architecture designed to generate artificial gravity, a capability which could provide a huge boost for long-duration crewed missions. A report from Russian state media outlet TASS, which obtained the patent, states that the rotating system is designed to generate a gravitational force of 0.5g, or 50% of Earth’s gravity. More (Source: Space.com - Dec 24)
STARLINK IN THE CROSSHAIRS: HOW RUSSIA COULD ATTACK ELON MUSK’S CONQUERING OF SPACE - Two NATO-nation intelligence services suspect Russia is developing a new anti-satellite weapon to target Elon Musk’s Starlink constellation with destructive orbiting clouds of shrapnel, with the aim of reining in Western space superiority that has helped Ukraine on the battlefield. More (Source: AP News - Dec 23)
JAPANESE H3 ROCKET FAILS DURING LAUNCH OF NAVIGATION SATELLITE - The seventh-ever mission of Japan's H3 rocket did not go according to plan. The H3 launched from Tanegashima Space Center on Sunday (Dec. 21) at 8:51 p.m. EST (0151 GMT and 10:51 a.m. local Japan time on Dec. 22), carrying a navigation satellite known as Michibiki 5, or QZS-5, aloft. "However, the second stage engine’s second ignition failed to start normally and shut down prematurely," officials with the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) said in a statement early Monay morning (Dec. 22). "As a result, QZS-5 could not be put into the planned orbit, and the launch failed." More (Source: Space.com - Dec 23)
CHINA LAUNCHES NEW COMMUNICATION TECHNOLOGY TEST SATELLITE - A Long March-5 rocket carrying a new communication technology test satellite blasts off from the Wenchang Space Launch Site in south China's Hainan Province, Dec. 20, 2025. Launched at 8:30 p.m. (Beijing Time), the satellite has successfully entered its planned orbit. It will be mainly used to carry out multi-band and high-speed communication technology validation tests. The launch marks the 618th mission by the Long March carrier rocket series. More (Source: People's Daily - Dec 22)
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