EUROPE'S MOST POWERFUL ROCKET LAUNCHES FOR 1ST TIME, CARRYING 32 AMAZON INTERNET SATELLITES TO ORBIT - Europe's new Ariane 6 rocket just notched another milestone. The most powerful version of the Ariane 6 — known as the 64, because it sports four strap-on solid rocket boosters — lifted off for the first time ever today (Feb. 12). The Ariane 64 launched from Europe's Spaceport in Kourou, French Guiana at 11:45 a.m. EST (1645 GMT; 1:45 p.m. local time in Kourou), carrying 32 satellites aloft for the Amazon Leo broadband constellation. All of the spacecraft were deployed in low Earth orbit (LEO) by one hour and 54 minutes after liftoff as planned, according to Arianespace, the France-based company that operates the Ariane 6. More (Source: Space.com - Feb 14)
SATELLITE MEGACONSTELLATIONS CONTINUE TO GROW. COULD THEIR DEBRIS FALL ON US? - As more and more satellite megaconstellations continue to be launched into Earth orbit, some researchers are beginning to calculate the chances that people on the surface could be struck by the incoming remnants of these spacecraft reentering the atmosphere. A new study by a team of Canadian researchers looks into eleven different megaconstellations and what would happen during their fiery reentry into Earth's atmosphere. What are the charred, declarative results? They find that there's a 40% collective risk of on-ground casualties if satellites do not burn up entirely. More (Source: Space.com - Feb 14)
SPACEX LAUNCHES CREW-12 ASTRONAUTS TO SHORT-STAFFED INTERNATIONAL SPACE STATION. 'WE HAVE LEFT THE EARTH, BUT THE EARTH HAS NOT LEFT US.' - A quartet of astronauts have reached orbit and are on their way to support the skeleton crew of three left behind after the first-ever medical evacuation from the International Space Station (ISS). SpaceX launched the Crew-12 mission this morning here from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station, sending four astronauts to the ISS for an eight-month stay. The Crew Dragon "Freedom" lifted off atop a Falcon 9 rocket from Space Launch Complex-40 (SLC-40) at 5:15 a.m. EST (1015 GMT) this morning (Feb. 13), carrying NASA astronauts Jessica Meir and Jack Hathaway, European Space Agency (ESA) astronaut Sophie Adenot and Roscosmos cosmonaut Andrey Fedyaev into low Earth orbit. More (Source: Space.com - Feb 13)
VULCAN SUFFERS SOLID ROCKET BOOSTER PROBLEM DURING USSF-87 LAUNCH - United Launch Alliance said an issue affected one of the four solid rocket boosters that helped propel its Vulcan rocket into space Thursday on a mission for the United States Space Force. Despite the problem the rocket, making only its fourth flight, continued on its planned trajectory, the company said. The 202-foot-tall (61.6 m) rocket thundered away from pad 41 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station at 4:22 a.m. EST (0922 UTC) but less than 30 seconds into the flight, there appeared to be a burn through of one of the nozzles on a Northrop Grumman-built graphite epoxy motor (GEM) 63XL solid rocket boosters (SRBs). More (Source: SpaceFlight Now - Feb 13)
NASA SELECTS VAST FOR SIXTH PRIVATE MISSION TO SPACE STATION - NASA and Vast have signed an order for the sixth private astronaut mission to the International Space Station, targeted to launch no earlier than summer 2027 from Florida. This private astronaut mission marks the company’s first selection 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 - Feb 13)
NASA, SPACEX TARGET FRIDAY FOR CREW-12 LAUNCH DUE TO WEATHER - NASA and SpaceX now are targeting no earlier than 5:15 a.m. EST, Friday, Feb. 13, for launch of the Crew-12 mission to the International Space Station from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida. Mission teams completed a weather review Tuesday morning and have waived off the Thursday, Feb. 12, launch opportunity due to forecast weather conditions along Crew-12’s flight path. More (Source: NASA - Feb 12)
AST SPACEMOBILE UNFURLS MASSIVE SATELLITE TO CHALLENGE CELLULAR STARLINK - AST SpaceMobile has successfully unfolded its massive 2,400 square-foot satellite in orbit as the company tries to challenge SpaceX’s cellular Starlink service. On Tuesday, AST SpaceMobile posted a picture of the satellite’s antenna array fully deployed, weeks after it flew into space in late December. Dubbed BlueBird 6, the satellite “features the largest commercial communications array antenna ever deployed in Low Earth Orbit,” AST added in the announcement. More (Source: PCMag - Feb 12)
EARTH ORBIT IS GETTING CROWDED. CAN THIS MAP OF 1 MILLION ROUTES AROUND OUR PLANET HELP PREVENT SATELLITE COLLISIONS? - Space is getting crowded — nowadays, over 45,000 human-made objects orbit Earth. A portion of that figure is indeed represented by the thousands of satellites humans use for internet, GPS and other communications, but it also takes into account space junk from humanity’s previous space escapades. Thus, figuring how to prevent collisions has become more important as space agencies continue to rocket new technology into low Earth orbit — and there's already a brisk launch schedule planned for 2026. As such, researchers at the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL) in California have developed a new method for modeling orbits in cislunar space, which refers to the space between and around Earth and the moon. More (Source: Space.com - Feb 11)
WEATHER DELAYS NASA’S SPACEX CREW-12 FLIGHT TO THE INTERNATIONAL SPACE STATION - The launch of the next crew rotation mission to the International Space Station will have to wait at least another day after NASA and SpaceX leadership determined weather along the flight path would be unacceptable. Leaders moved the launch of Crew-12 from pad 40 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station to no earlier than Thursday, Feb. 12. That would place liftoff at 5:38 a.m. EST (1038 UTC) for NASA astronauts Jessica Meir and Jack Hathaway along with European Space Agency astronaut Sophie Adenot and Roscosmos cosmonaut Andrey Fedyaev. More (Source: SpaceFlight Now - Feb 10)
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