CHINA LAUNCHES NEW FENGYUN SATELLITE TO ENHANCE DISASTER WEATHER FORECASTING AND MONITORING - China launched a new meteorological satellite from Xichang Satellite Launch Center in southwest China's Sichuan Province on Saturday. A Long March-3B rocket, carrying the Fengyun-4 03 satellite, blasted off at 12:07 a.m., and has sent the satellite into the preset orbit. More (Source: CGTN - Dec 28)
SPACEX SCRUBS LAUNCH ITALIAN EARTH OBSERVATION SATELLITE DUE TO GROUND SYSTEMS ISSUE - SpaceX was preparing for its final Falcon 9 flight of the year, but had to scrub the mission due to a ground systems issue at its launch pad at Vandenberg Space Force Base in California. When it launches, the 70-meter-tall rocket will carry an Earth observation satellite for Italy to low Earth orbit. The Cosmo-SkyMed Second Generation Flight Model 3 (CSG-FM3) satellite nestled in the rocket’s payload fairing is an Earth observation satellite that serves dual purposes for the civilian and military sectors of the Italian government. More (Source: SpaceFlight Now - Dec 28)
RECORD LAUNCHES, REUSABLE ROCKETS AND A RESCUE: CHINA MADE BIG STRIDES IN SPACE IN 2025 - China is rounding off what has been a year of big progress in space, including major crewed lunar landing tests, new rockets and booster landing attempts, a new deep space mission and even successfully resolving its first human spaceflight emergency. The country has already smashed its previous record for launches in a calendar year (68, set in 2024), amassing more than 80 orbital launch attempts at time of reporting, with a couple of weeks still to go. More (Source: Space.com - Dec 27)
SANTA VISITS ARTEMIS II ROCKET - Santa Claus (NASA engineer Guy Naylor) poses with NASA’s Artemis II Orion spacecraft and SLS (Space Launch System) rocket in the Vehicle Assembly Building at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida on Dec. 11, 2025. The Orion spacecraft was stacked atop the SLS in October 2025. Set to launch in early 2026, the Artemis II test flight will be NASA’s first mission with crew under Artemis. More (Source: NASA - Dec 26)
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)
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