BLUE ORIGIN ROCKET REUSABLE BOOSTER LANDS BUT SATELLITE MISSES ORBIT - The reusable booster of the New Glenn rocket launched from Florida on Sunday by Jeff Bezos' company Blue Origin touched down successfully but the rocket failed to deploy the AST SpaceMobile, opens new tab communications satellite it was carrying into the correct orbit. The launch was the latest chapter in Blue Origin's intensifying rivalry with Elon Musk's SpaceX. The rocket lifted off at around 7:25 a.m. ET (1125 GMT) from Cape Canaveral, with the booster touchdown coming about 10 minutes later. More (Source: Reuters - Apr 20)
'GLOBAL, 24/7, ALL-WEATHER RECONNAISSANCE COVERAGE': CHINA DEPLOYED "EYE OF SAURON" SATELLITE THAT CAN TRACK SHIPS — AND THE US NAVY — FROM ITS SAFE SKY ABODE - China has released radar images showing a geosynchronous orbit satellite successfully tracking a moving maritime target for the first time. The satellite locked onto the Towa Maru, a 340 meter Japanese tanker traversing rough seas near the Spratly Islands, from an altitude of 35,800 kilometers above Earth. This breakthrough could give Beijing continuous surveillance of US naval fleets across every ocean. More (Source: TechRadar - Apr 19)
THREE ESA-BUILT SATELLITES ON SHOW IN FRANCE - Three Earth observation satellites, developed by the European Space Agency (ESA) with European partners, and due to launch later this year, have completed their functional and environmental tests and are ready to travel to the European spaceport in French Guiana. But first, journalists were invited to have one last look. More (Source: European Space Agency - Apr 18)
CHINA'S SHENZHOU-21 ASTRONAUT CREW TO STAY IN SPACE AN EXTRA MONTH - China's Shenzhou-21 astronaut crew will stay in space for an extra month, after careful consideration from China's Manned Space Engineering Office, the country's state broadcaster reported on Friday. The Shenzhou-21 space rocket and its crew blasted off atop a Long March-2F rocket from Jiuquan Satellite Launch Centre in northwest China on October 31. More (Source: Reuters - Apr 18)
STATION ORBITS HIGHER AS CREW RUNS NEW SCIENCE EXPERIMENTS - The International Space Station is orbiting higher today after the Progress 93 resupply ship, docked to the Zvezda service module, fired its engines for just over five minutes Wednesday night. The orbital reboost places the space station at the correct altitude for the upcoming Progress 95 cargo mission scheduled to resupply the Expedition 74 crew at the end of April. More (Source: NASA - Apr 18)
THE LOOMING RISK OF TOO MANY SATELLITES AND DEBRIS IN SPACE - There was nothing terribly remarkable about the Iridium 33 and Kosmos 2251 satellites—at least not at first. Iridium was a 1,500 lb. communications satellite the U.S. launched into space in 1997; Kosmos, was another communications satellite, also tipping the scales at 1,500 lb., that Russia sent aloft in 1993. That’s a lot of metal moving with a lot of speed—17,500 miles per hour—and it paid for ground controllers to keep the ships flying true. When it came to Iridium, that was relatively easy, with occasional thruster tweaks holding the satellite upright and moving it out of harm’s way. Kosmos was a different matter. More (Source: Time Magazine - Apr 17)
PRIVATE JAPANESE SPACECRAFT WILL INSPECT 2 DEAD SATELLITES IN 2027 - Japanese space-sustainability company Astroscale has unveiled plans for a mission it says will be the world's first to inspect multiple defunct satellites in different orbits. The mission, named In‑situ Space Situational Awareness-Japan 1, or ISSA-J1, is scheduled for launch in 2027 and will inspect two retired Japanese satellites in orbit. It follows the success of the company's Active Debris Removal by Astroscale-Japan (ADRAS-J) mission, which delivered stunning close-up footage of a spent rocket stage in orbit. More (Source: Space.com - Apr 17)
NASA SELECTS VOYAGER FOR SEVENTH PRIVATE MISSION TO SPACE STATION - NASA and Voyager Technologies have signed an order for the seventh private astronaut mission to the International Space Station, targeted to launch no earlier than 2028 from Florida. This is the company’s first selection for a private astronaut mission to the orbiting laboratory, underscoring NASA’s ongoing investment in fostering a commercial space economy and expanding opportunities for private industry in low Earth orbit. More (Source: NASA - Apr 17)
BLUE ORIGIN ONE STEP CLOSER TO LAUNCHING NEW GLENN FROM VANDENBERG SPACE FORCE BASE - Days ahead of the planned third launch of a New Glenn rocket, Blue Origin was tapped by the U.S. Space Force to proceed towards developing its first launch site in California. The Space Force said it picked Blue Origin’s proposal to develop Space Launch Complex 14 (SLC-14) at Vandenberg Space Force Base, the next step towards the company gaining permission for construction and future launch operations. More (Source: SpaceFlight Now - Apr 16)
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