CHINA LAUNCHES NEW COMMUNICATION TECHNOLOGY TEST SATELLITE - China sent a new communication technology test satellite into space from the Xichang Satellite Launch Center in its southwest Sichuan Province on Friday. The Shiyan-21 satellite was launched at 6:55 p.m. (Beijing Time) aboard a Long March-3B carrier rocket and entered the preset orbit successfully. The satellite will be mainly used for satellite communication, radio and television, data transmission and other services — as well as for conducting related technical tests and verifications.   More
(Source: Shabelle Media Network - Nov 23)

FALCON 9 ROCKET CONTINUES STARLINK DEPLOYMENTS WITH LAUNCH FROM CAPE CANAVERAL - SpaceX launched a Falcon 9 rocket from Cape Canaveral in the early hours Saturday as the company continues to expand its network of more than 9,000 satellites for the Starlink internet service. Liftoff from Space Launch Complex 40 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station came at 2:53 a.m. EST (0753 UTC). It was the 150th flight of a Falcon 9 rocket in 2025 and the ninth of 11 Starlink missions planned this month and the 109th Starlink delivery run for the Falcon 9 this year.    More
(Source: SpaceFlight Now - Nov 23)

HOW MEGA-CONSTELLATIONS ARE LEARNING TO MANAGE THEMSELVES - Satellite megaconstellations are quickly becoming the backbone of a number of industries. Cellular communication, GPS, weather monitoring and more are now, at least in part, reliant on the networks of thousands of satellites cruising by in low Earth orbit. But, as these constellations grow into the tens of thousands of individual members, the strain they are putting on the communications and controls systems of their ground stations is becoming untenable. A new paper from Yuhe Mao of the Nanjing University of Aeronautics and Astronautics and their co-authors hopes to alleviate some of that pressure by offloading much of the control scheme and network decision-making logic to satellites themselves.   More
(Source: Universe Today - Nov 22)

ARIANESPACE TO LAUNCH EU'S GALILEO L14 ON DECEMBER 17, 2025, WITH ARIANE 6 - On December 17, 2025 at 2:01 a.m. local time (5:01 a.m. UTC, 6:01 a.m. CET), Arianespace will launch Galileo L14, a pair of satellites, with Ariane 6 from Europe's Spaceport in French Guiana. The mission, called VA266, will be the fifth flight for Ariane 6, Europe's heavy-lift launcher. It will be performed with an Ariane 6 with two boosters, the Ariane 62, which has successfully flown in this version since its inaugural flight in 2024.   More
(Source: Newsroom Arianespace - Nov 21)

FALCON 9 STARLINK MISSION MARKS 100TH LAUNCH OF THE YEAR FROM FLORIDA’S SPACE COAST - A Falcon 9 rocket lifted off from the Kennedy Space Center Thursday evening on a milestone mission marking the 100th launch from the Space Coast this year. The Starlink 6-78 mission, carrying 29 satellites for SpaceX’s internet service, soared spaceward at 10:39 p.m. EST (0339 UTC), the Faclon 9 rocket rising from a fog bank that had blanketed the area around launch complex 39A.   More
(Source: SpaceFlight Now - Nov 21)

ROCKET LAB LAUNCHES HYPERSONIC TEST FLIGHT FOR US MILITARY - Rocket Lab launched its hypersonic test vehicle for the sixth time ever this week. The HASTE suborbital rocket lifted off Tuesday (Nov. 18) at 8 a.m. EST (1300 GMT) from Rocket Lab's Launch Complex 2 on Wallops Island, Virginia, on a mission for the U.S. Defense Innovation Unit (DIU) and Missile Defense Agency (MDA).   More
(Source: Space.com - Nov 20)

STATION ORBITING HIGHER AS EXERCISE RESEARCH AND MAINTENANCE CONTINUE - The International Space Station is orbiting higher today after the Progress 93 cargo spacecraft, docked to the Zvezda service module’s aft port, fired its engines for over 14 minutes, 7 seconds at 8:04 a.m. EST on Wednesday. The reboost increased the space station’s altitude by 1 mile at apogee and 2.3 miles at perigee, leaving the station in an orbit of 265.5 x 255.9 statute miles.   More
(Source: NASA - Nov 20)

KEPLER ANNOUNCES LAUNCH DATE FOR FIRST TRANCHE OF OPTICAL SATELLITES - Kepler Communications will launch ten 300-kilogram-class satellites for its optical data relay network aboard a SpaceX Falcon 9 from Vandenberg Space Force Base, California, in Jan. 2026. The launch marks the beginning of Kepler’s next-generation operational constellation, designed to provide real-time connectivity, advanced on-orbit compute, and hosted payload services for government and commercial customers.   More
(Source: Satellite Evolution - Nov 20)

SPACEX RESUMES EARLY EVENING LAUNCHES AFTER FAA RESTRICTIONS LIFTED - SpaceX launched of a batch of Starlink satellites on Tuesday, its first early-evening flight since the FAA lifted restrictions on commercial launches prompted by the government shutdown. The Starlink 6-94 mission lifted off from pad 40 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station, Florida, at 7:12 p.m. EST (0012 UTC), carrying 29 satellites for SpaceX’s Starlink internet service. It was the 99th launch from the Florida spaceport this year.   More
(Source: SpaceFlight Now - Nov 19)

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